EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Me and Tyler went out with a guy this morning on the Blue river and got on some hogs and wound up bringing out two one alive and one dead. We had a great time and I made a new hunting buddy. We didn't get the big one though. The first hog we got on was a 200 lb boar and pertains to my question. The guy we were with had a started catch dog, good size pitt that was its first time in the woods. Shortly into our hunt  mine and Tylers dog bayed up the big one. We led the baypen started pitt right to the bay and let it go. All of us were just standing there watching the bay and the pitt would just stand there and look at the hog while the bay was going on. Never did anything. The hog was too big for the curs to want to catch so it eventuall left out. We went to another spot and got on a little boar and Tylers dog caught like it usually does on smaller hog. When Tylers dog caught all the dogs caught including the pitt. It redeamed itself I guess. I was questioning that pitt in my head about that first boar on weather it needed to be culled or not but I never said anything out of respect. But then it helped catch the small boar. My question, is it common for a pitts first time on a real hunt to behave this way and not go in and catch?

i have seen pits that have never seen a hog,, and we got in there and the guy turned it loose and it caught like a champ right on the ear,, been catchin hogs every since,, its just your own opinion if you wouldve culled the dog or not,, most people prolly woulda got rid of him when he didnt catch the first time, and some woulda kept him because he caught the other hogs

just my .02

If the dog had seen and caught a hog before it would have never stepped foot in my yard again.  Too many good bulldogs out there to mess around with junk.

My honest opinion on catch dogs is this........

Pits are a dime a dozen. I have never paid for one and never will. If a mature pit does not hit a pig the first time it sees one, and hold without falter, it goes away and I pick up another one to try. There are just way to many FREE good ones out there to mess with one that you may or may not be able to rely on.

With that said though, a good catch dog earns its food, respect and vet bills just like any other but becomes a part of the family more so than any bay dog. at that point, you couldn't buy one of our FREE Pits.

Steve

Not a big deal at all, when I've had inexperienced dogs(woods wise), that I know can catch in a pen, sometimes they just get confused that first time in the woods.  Sometimes you can just pick the dog up and throw him on the hog and he'll "snap" into gear.  Now if it happens more than once.... time to cull.

Very well put, Steve.  A hunting partner of mine (actually you've met Randy) has never bought one either.  Basically they work or they don't.  The training involved with all pits I've been around wasn't how or when to catch..they just did that, but rather how to walk on a lead, be quiet in the box and such.

I picked up a good looking white female pit off the side of the road about two weeks ago.  It appeared she was a drifter...a little scarred up and the pads were worn off her feet.  Seemed like a friendly dog, so I called and asked Randy if he wanted her.  I took her out there later that day, walked her up to the baypen and she got all worked up just standing there watching the hogs without even a dog barking.  Turned her in, and she hit like a train.  We had to break her off, and let her catch about three more times each time hitting hard and holding.  He was tickled to have her, and she might make a good one.

Thanks for the resopnces guys. The way I feel is they will or they wont also. And that they are too easy to come by also to mess with one that might or might not. I don't have alot of experiences with catch dogs but have hunted behind a few good ones and I know what a game pitt should act like. That dog wouldn't go hunting with me again if it were mine but it wasn't so it's up to him. Noah you might be right  but I feel if it had caught in a pen like he said, it should be a no brainer at the bay. We're gonna go hunting some more this weekend maby so I will let yall know how it works out with that dog.

i dont know my experiences with catch dogs i have never put one in any kind of pen i just took them to the woods and they caught even tho they had never seen one before, it was weird seeing that guys catch dog not goin in on that bay we were less than 10 feet from the bay and that catch dog didnt go in and catch. i am goin out tonight with him again so we will see what happens tonight

My buddy's 110# AB caught great in a pen but the first time we got out in the woods(at night) he acted like he didn't know what to do, like I said, I picked his but up and threw him on the boar and he snapped in gear.   Been a great dog ever since.

I got no problem with culling, just hate to see a dog not given a second chance(now a third chance is another story ;))

Noah i agree with you 100 % i just culled one that i bought because it would not catch anything but my two strike dogs i give him two different chances so he got culled.

If it was the dogs first time in the woods... always send it in behind a proven catch dog. I would never send an unproven dog to do a job it's never done before. The dog needs to learn it's job and build it's confidence.

...or like Rowdy said, catch one of the strike dogs. That's bad news and the main reason I never let a "rookie" hunter bring their bulldog on a hunt with me.

Mike it was supposed to be started real good is what i was told but it didnt appear that way so he is in a better place!! ::)

I think Mikes talking about my hunt Rowdy.

I talking about your hunt and referring to Rowdy's... a pit has such a high prey drive, what's to stop it from catching another dog with all the barking and commotion going on. Ya'll could have been in the same situation as Rowdy was.

The dog eeds to know it's job... if you say it has caught in a pen, then you know it will catch? Let it catch behind a proven catch dog in the woods a few times and you'll know what you have.

Maybe someone can enlighten me, but I don't really see the relavance of being in or out of a pen.  If the dog catches in a pen, it should catch in the woods.  Now I'm not talking about going to a bay...I'm talking if you get the dog close enough to see and then release it.

If that dog is paying attention to whether or not a fence is encircling it, it needs a new home.

My .02

I can't enlighten you. A catch dog is not fed to think around here, just catch.

Steve

Bryant, he said started in a pen... what does that mean? Too many different scenarios. He may have held a 20# shoat up and got it to squeal and the dog caught it?

All the started in the pen aside, the point I was making is that the dog needs to catch behind a proven dog in the woods to know what its doing. There's no way in hell I would trust or go in behind a bulldog that's never been there and done that.

I've seen a bunch of bulldogs first time in the woods act like that... they didn't know what to do. But let them catch a few times and they made great dogs. That's pits, AB's, dogo's and any cross in between.

He may be a cull... but find out for sure first. ;D

I like one that does think... they live alot longer. ;D

Maybe my post came across incorrectly.  I agree with you Mike in that I would not expect an un-seasoned dog to know how to catch or how to hold, but I would expect the dogs prey-drive to kick in and for it to do something other than:


My point was simply that if the dog had shown aggressiveness towards a hog in a baypen environment, then it should have gotten "gamey" in the woods as well, but your right in that to what extent did he show promise in the pen.

Mike summed it up for everyone.  Always send one in behind a proven catch dog.  One of my best catch dogs Pedro caught his first one(in the woods) solo.  Because my proven dog caught one that ran in front of her as they were going to the bay, Pedro went and caught the bayed hog. Even after that I still sent him behind a proven catch dog until he was trusted. ;)

Exactly, when he said the dog caught on the second hog with the others... made me wonder how "started" he was.

I just thought that I might also try to be helpful..... Here is how we get catch dogs that we can always count on for FREE.

My hunting partner made friends with a local and independent Pit Bull rescue group. That's it, I don't think that he ever invested more than a bag of food. What he did though is explain to them what a catch dogs job is and why that job is so important. He made sure that they understood that the pits would be well protected, showing them the collars and vests and explaining the task at hand in detail.

In the end, the rescue group is happy that their dogs go to a home where they will be cared for and that feed bills no longer come out of their pocket.

We go pick a dog that looks good and try it out on a BIG pig. If it does not go strait to catching on a BIG pig, it goes back and we pick another.

Now I might make it sound like we take advantage of this frequently but the truth is that we have only done it 3 times. Twice for us and once for a friend. All three of those dogs have been catching for 3-4 years. During these trials, at least 5 others went back to the rescue.

I hope this helps some others come up with a good method of getting A+ catch dogs at little to no cost. It remains my opinion that if I catch dog thinks about what it is doing, even once, it is a risk to the rest of your pack.

Steve

well i went out with the guy today that has this dog to see what happened, we didnt catch a hog but one his dogs started to open up and that pit was pullin that lead wanting to, the bay was never strong enough to release him but he was wanting to go on the bark. later in the hunt we took her off the lead and let it walk around with us another dog opened up and she darted in the woods that way we didnt get anything again but that pitt sure was showing alot more promise today, im pretty sure his catch dog is goin to make a good catch dog.

I have found another way to get some catch dogs. It's called craigslist.com. Go to the pet section and type in pitt. There's people all around here that are moving or cant keep theirs for some reason or another and will give them away or sell them cheap. Theres a nice fm brindle in Caddo Mills right now for $20 adn some free greatdane/pitt in Denton. I really like craigs list cause you can deal directly with the seller and dont worry about bidding like on ebay. I bought a truck on it a couple weeks ago. Hope this helps.

Update on this dog in question. She's hittin like a freight train on the ear and has to be broke off now. I guess she just had to figure it out. She hasn't got on a real big one yet so I guess that will be the real test.

Glad to hear it, just keep feedin' her hogs and you ought to have a good'n!

Big difference in pen and woods. First is your actions...Your excited running around and acting crazy the dog is confused unless you run around like that at home. Second is unless you have a wooded pen then the view is totally different. Hey may have focosed on the hog and not the dogs barking. Never being in the woods he didnt know. I bet that if he was put in the situation again he will probably catch because the dogs showed him or he may not and wait for the others to catch first. Needs to be run with a older catch dog so he can be shown a couple of times to go to the bark and catch the hog when he gets there like Mike said.

 ;)

Agreed