EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

I have a plott/bmc thats about 1 1/2.... he hunts very well and has no problem crossing water after a hog, but his problem is coming back across... He acts like he is scared and when i call him he just cowers down and i usually have to go get him...

According to the guy i bought him from he hasnt been hunted in places with lots of water.... Just wondering if anyone else has had a problem with a dog doing this and if you have any tips on getting them over it....

What ive tried so far is when i go over to get him, i put him on a lead and pull him in the water...
Once he is having to swim around me, i pet him and tell him " good boy ".
I tried just walking off and leaving him, but he will just sit there... that usually always worked when i did it with other dogs ( mainly pups )

Any other tips would be much appreciated!!! This is about the only flaw i can see in this dog, but its a flaw that i CAN NOT STAND!!  >:(

Most our dogs love water until something happens to them in the water that they get scared. I have a couple of dogs that have almost drowned and are hesitant to get in the water but over time get over it and cross or they find somewhere else they feel comfortable to cross. The most recent incident with one of my dogs was our dog Cody got pushed in freezing cold water by a hog, it was a part of the creek where it was two walls on both sides so no way of getting out of there, he was in there for quite a while, by the time I saw him he was tired and almost about to drown. We got him out but for he rest of the weekend he would not touch water!!! They either cross or get left behind in our group! Like I said most of the time they cross but there are some dogs that just dont want to have anything to do with water.

I would leave him behind if your comfortable doing so. Give him time he will figure out that he will have to get in the water or get left behind.

I had a 9 month gyp wouldnt cross water for nothin, so i found a deep ditch (up to my waist) carried her in and dunked her.  Let her run/swim out then pulled her back in with the 25' check cord i had hooked to her collar.. shes still not real fond of water but for a pig or me shell get wet.  Did take a couple hours though.  She just needed to learn she could do it.  Not sayin it will work for you but thats what i did.

As long as the water is not deep we just throw the dogs in it. lol they learn

Thats kind of the idea i had in mind next.... either that or taking him to the lake and throwing him out of the boat and letting him swim for a little bit....


I tried that, but he will just sit there or run alittle ways up and down the creek....
But #1, If i leave him for a good distance and have to walk back to get him, i will be twice as mad for having to go back,
And # 2, im not too comfortable leaving that much moneys worth of dog and equipment out in the woods...  ;)

I dont think i would try the lake thing.. Start small, if he figures out he only has to a go few feet to hit dry land he may learn if hes gotta swim a while it may make your problem worse.

This is usually the idea i get when im pissed at him...  ;D  rolleyes

But we are fixing to start hunting some islands out of the boat, so he better learn quick or he will be in the lake with his floaties on....  :D

Those floaties arent made out of concrete are they?  ;) :D

;D  Naw, ill prolly have to get him one of those duck floaties and tie a rope to it and drag him behind me!!  :o

ha ha.. just put him in one of those tubes kids ride in behind the boat.. its got sides so he wont "fall" over  ;)

I have one like that he don't like water for nothing.  He will go with encouragement but try and get him back  ticks me off.  Bad part he is the same way about fences and he is 2.  I can watch him jump over or through a fence but he don't want to come back across.  He is getting better but then he will have a relapse lol ticks me off

I bought a bmc/ mountain cur gyp when i first started huntin hogs. She does then same stuff as yers does. Its because she cant swim. She is almost 7 now and still cant swim. Except fer when shes lookin at the hog. How do you teach a dog to swim?

Mine knows how, just doesnt like to.... i would think just putting the dog in water it would learn to swim...
If she doesnt, I will let you borrow my dogs floaties when hes done with them...  ;D

Academy has their dogy life jackets on sale

x2

Got a parker gyp that does the same thing, she's to good to get rid of for it so i just deal with it. Aggrivating as all get out though, we usually just got to sweet talk her across...LOL

if the dont come on i usually ride over there , ropem  and jerkem across . 2 or 3 times of that and they usually skip the ropin and jerkin part  ;D

 ;D ;D ;D :)

He got alittle taste of something like that last night.... he wouldnt come across so i went over and got him, hooked him behind the 4wheeler and drug him through every water hole i could find..... he better be glad i dont hunt with a gun...  >:(  >:(  >:(

X3 We just leave em behind and then they figure out a way to get to us.

Trenton I would cull him and give him to a guy you know that lives in Pittsburg.  Lol

 :D  HAHA!!   You got to see him on his best day....You've seen what kind of dog he can be, and as much as we were in the water that day you wouldnt think it wouldnt bother him... I dont know what his deal is.... I guess you will just have to hunt with me when i get pissed off at him... then you might have a chance at getting him for free just so i dont have to go get him....  ;)

Lol I hear ya. Heck even if I'm not with ya just call and tell mw where he is if you don't want to go get him.

x4

if u dont mind em yippin for a while they will figure it out just leave em.(or leave em on tha chain)

Like i said previously, i tried leaving him but that doesnt work.... he will just sit there....and he doesnt yip either... he may run up and down the creek a few yards but thats about it....

Also, besides crossing the creek, he hunts too good to leave him on a chain.... i would give him to Jet308 before i feed a dog to just sit at the house..

i hear ya just gotta weighh ur options if hes a good enogh hog dog youll figure out how to fix it or just hunt him on places that dont have rivers...good luck

Man if there was a bay on the other side of that creek im sure that sucker would cross to get to it  ;D ;)

Like I said some dogs will want nothing to do with water, I have a couple but they had a bad experience and they sure did not forget it either lol if its something that bugs you im sure theres someone who wont mind his water issues.

Thats the thing, if there is a bay or if he is on a hog, the water is not a issue... its coming back once they lose it/ kill it/ or whatever that he has a problem with.... Im going to try alittle one on one of making him cross small ditches or creeks and try to work it out of him... he would be an easy dog to sell but i would hate to loose him... hopefully i can work him through it...

thats the spirit

i guess i should have brought my dogs the other night, guess i'm gonna have to teach your dogs now lol......j/k

Well we did catch one, and stayed on pigs all night. But as i remember, your sorry catahoulas didnt catch sh!t yesterday!!!!  ;D

.22LR

 rolleyes

Don't worry about Trenton ole Clyde will show him how to cross a creek and swim under water lol

I would rather him stay a hog dog then turn out like that duck dog of yours!!!  ;D

Trent maybe try a hog squeel. Thats how I get mine back when I dont want to cross water. I just bump it and they come flying to see what it was. I dont blow it much so they dont get used to it. It way better than getting wet for nothing.

Thanks wade, i will give that a try!!!!  ;)

hey booboo send him to central texas we dont have much water ..  ;D

Im afraid thats what im gonna have to do if i cant get him over it... maybe we can work out a trade!!  ;D

Cody keeps saying we are gonna come down there and make a hunt with you one weekend..... im still waiting for him to get his sh!t together so we can go...  rolleyes

Wade thats a good lil tip right there , never thought of that, ima try it out.

Haha, that totally works for getting our cd back if a bay breaks. We can usually get all the dogs back except for our cd Voodoo, he will just keep going until my husband is really ticked off. A friend of ours (dirtyblackmouth) suggested that we make a pig squeal. So we did and let me tell you, that dog did a u-turn and came back to us like a torpedo!  :D Since we don't always have a pig on hand I was wondering what is on the market that would be good to use.

all you got to do is show up well go jump in catus without him got some pups comin heard you were interested

I use to have a hog squeal call....im pretty sure i got it at Academy...  ;)


He starts his new job next month, so hopefully we can make it down there before too long...  ;)

Yeah Cody told me you should have some " Jets " on the way.... if you have any extras id be interested....

I cant take credit for it. The guys that help get me started use it to call there dogs in when its time to go. I use it on my short range crew when hunting and they get to close to property lines, roads, cross a deep creak.. Like I said I just bump it and they come see whats up. I turn and go the other way and they just go back to hunting. Doesnt really sound like a hog squeel to me but they "always " come to it even just a squeek.

Just my .02 but I think the dog just lacks the confidence to cross.the water. When he is on track or going to a bay he is not thinking about the water, all he knows is that there is a pig on the other side. Rough handling ( dragging behind a four wheeler, jerking him in and through the water, throwing him in the water, etc.) of the dog is probably not going to help him, it.will more than likely make it worse. You already said that he will cower down when you go to get him. He is obviously associating the water with something bad happening to him and by doing the things you have tried it will only get worse. Try the squealer and just take your time with him. I know it sucks but if he is.as good as it sounds he will be worth it. No dog is perfect, just consider this his bad habit and work through it.

I guess i made it sound alittle worse than it actually was... I have hooks on my dog rack and i hooked two leads together... I would go at a slow pace and he would walk behind just fine...when i would go through the water he would try to pull back... i gently just pulled him into the water and he came on across..... i praised him at let him know he did good... When i had to wade the creek to get him, i pulled him in after me and got him swimming around me....again i praised him...

Yes, i have gotten extremely angry with him at times, but held back... like you said, i knew it would only make it worse....   ;)

I am going to try some one on one with him this weekend.... Thank you for your advice!!!  ;)