EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

I Dont get to Hunt as much as i used to.  is it ok to let the dogs loose and run around the yard alittle to stay in some kind of shape HAHA.  Anybody do that???

Yup, gotta let them stretch.

all my dogs run in the yard when im home. some times i have to seperate a few at a time so it doesnt turn into a gang fight.

I wouldnt do it, for one if they have any hunt in them they are probably going to get gone but even if they dont get gone I believe it is sending them a mixed signal, you would be telling them its OK to hang around with you. Part of what gives a hunting dog its drive is penned up aggresion, meaning when he is penned up all week when you turn him loose on Sat. he should knock the back of the woods out looking for something to get into. This is my opinion, I went to Howard Carnithan's in Mississippi to pick up a couple of pups once and noticed he lived right on the highway but all 25 of his dogs were running loose and I asked him about it, he said nah! they know what time it is when I take them to the woods. I have owned hunting dogs for over 30 years and in my circle of friends the rule of thumb was when a pup starts treeing squirrls and cats, its time to put him up! just my two cents

yeah i wish i could let my dogs loose but if i do they would be gone as soon as i unsnap them off their lead... (Im not bragging in no way) thats just the way they are... to tell you the truth i wish i could let them loose in the yard now and then

 Based on my personal experience, I question that logic.

What would your dog do if you hunted him several times a week, without the penned up agression? Would he stop hunting? Does he hunt harder if he is on a chain 6 days vs 3 days? 

 During the week, if not hunting, I let my dogs out to run around and cut loose, they get cut loose in the yard(2-1/2 acres) that is  pipe fence and cattle panel so I don't have to worry about them leaving the country if they chose to.

I worried bout mine cause they have done it b4 they got out of the kennel and i find them hours later, worrying but they seem to make there way back home if i didnt find em, but if i had a set up like circle then i could see where it may actually make them hunt more, it is like a big kennel to them and when u cut them loose there ain no fence stopin em

I let mine run loose but i only let one out at a time because my dogs seem to see which one can out run the other when i let them all out. i also have about a 1/3 of an acre net fenced i let them all in if i dont have a hog in it.

I let my dogs run around on about a acre that is completely fenced and haven't had any problems.  My major concerns were fights that I wouldn't be there to break up and them figuring a way to get out.  So far so good but my dogs have little to no dog aggression.  I like the idea of them being able to run around and get all the excercise they want. 

Well there are alot more people that let there dogs off to run around then i thought. Do yall do it everyday or just a couple of times during the week???

I let my dogs run out of their pens every day for about an hr unless hunting   

I based my logic on MY personel experience! not your personel experience! I tried to give my two cents without going into e very possible sceniaro. I stated that penned up aggresion is "Part" of what gives them thier drive. I dont think it would effect an older finished dog as much as it would a younger dog, I dont think  K9's posess the ability to reason to the point they could know when its OK to hang around and when its not. I have yet out of hundreds of dogs  in my lifetime  to see a dog that would hunt hard after it has run loose all its life. Does this mean there are none out there? probably not but I believe it is the rule and not the exception. I have found in this Hog Doggin business nothing surprizes me, I think it is a miricle when I see a cur dog you dont have to kick out from under your feet. I guess those hounds ruined me.

my dogs dont get turned out cuz they go to the highway. but i do get em out and exersice em

I kinda figured that ;D   That's why I said I question it based on what I have experienced...Just two different opinions on the same subject...Nothing more.

Usually let the dogs out every day to run around for 20-30 mins in a fenced 2-3 acre yard. They need to get out of the kennel and exercise some IMO.

I do the same, I think they like it and they get to socialize with each other. 

My opinion.. it really depends on the dog.  One of my best strike dogs runs loose on my place 24/7.
We don't have a fenced in place for her, she just knows when it's time to go hunting and when it's time to stay home.
She is a very smart catahoula gyp that is the family dog.  My wife would put me in a pen if i didn't have her running loose.
I hunt right behind my house, as in i can turn the dogs loose in my back yard and start walking.  We've caught hogs as close as 150 yds from my back door.  I have others that if you turned them loose, they'd hang around with some attention, but sure as the world, you walk inside or turn your back for some time and they'd hit the woods and be gone.  My relationship with this one gyp i think is the key to her working so hard for me in the woods.  She really has a personality that requires my attention around the house, and she will hunt her butt off for me in the woods.  I can agree that it does seem that some dogs need to be penned and when turned loose in the woods they seem to 'run off' all that energy they've bottled up all week or however long between hunts.  On the other hand, i know of several hunters over the years that had dogs that i considered the best strike dogs in the country that he left loose at his house just like mine.
I even have a gyp out of one of those males, and she is just about the same way(only she likes to hunt all my neighbors cats, so she has to be confined  ;) )  I am a fan of cutting them loose to have some running time if you don't get to hunt them that often.  They need the exercise just like we 2 legged folks, especially if they are hard hunters.

Maver!ck

PS - to raider54... this is a so called cur gyp, that you don't have to kick out from under your feet, and she does possess the knowledge to know when to hunt and when to stay home.  Ever want to go hunting with her, she'd love to work for you too   :)  but that is my personal experience, i hope everyone gets to have a dog like her in their lifetime.

Mine run the yard about 3 hours 5 days a week. So far they have no confusion, when I snap the leads on they know its time to hunt and ready for it.

I turn mine out regularly to run around the yard.  Lets them stretch their legs and makes cleaning kennels and such a little easier. ;) 

Thanks Guys.  I have been letting them out every once and a while when i dont get to go hunting alot.  But now i belive im goin to let them off alot more  ;D

That is what I was always told. Its good to let a pup run free when they are young. Its gives them exposure to different things. But as soon as they start going to hunting around, put them up. They have already shown you that they may potentially have the hunt and there would be no reason that I could see to let them get trashy. Instead put them in the woods with solid trash broke finished dogs and let them learn exactly what they are supposed to be looking for. This is the method I was shown and has worked good for me so far. They will have experienced the free roam and build drive off of it and appreciate the time to free roam again in the woods. Although, I dont think it will create that much drive in a dog that dosent have it bred into them or make a dog hunt who dosent have it in them.

Just a example. Me and a buddy of mine both raised a couple of pups from the same litter. He would let his run free all day until the dogs started chaseing rabbits and baying up his horses. I on the other hand, could not let my two run free because I lived off the highway.

About 7 or 8 months later, we started those dogs in the woods. I was impressed at the confidence, curiosity, and hunt that his dogs were showing. It seemed that my two dogs had a learning curve that it took them a while to get over until they were on the same level as his. JMO

I let my dogs run the yard for excercise and fun, they have alot of hunt in them but they know the difference in play and work. The way they are trained makes them hunt because they love it and enjoy doing what makes me happy and congradulate them, rather than hunt out of fear cause they are afraid of gettin in trouble. they even run the yard the day before a hunt. I think its all about individual preference and training. Most will do as you ask, even if its runnin around havin fun on off days.

I let my pups run till there about 10 months old... let them bay cows, horses run deer rabbits etc.

I think that helps a pup learn to use his nose, and to produce a hunting drive

Part of what gives a hunting dog its drive is penned up aggresion


This maybe some of yalls experience but I let mine out alot of the time.
I actually have a finished male lacy that stays in the yard and rides with me everywhere,
I also have two other dogs that do the same.
And when we hit the woods they act like they have been in a kennel for awhile.
They know the difference from the yard and the woods.
I wont say every dog needs to be let out alot, because I do have a couple that I can't
let out because they would climb fences to get out and hunt something.

Part of what gives a hunting dog its drive is penned up aggresion

My 0.02

If a dog has HUNT in him, he is going to hunt today tommorow and next week whether he is kept in a pen or on the yard.  You cant force an animals nature.  If a dog has to be confined so that it will run around wild and "hunt" when let go, it just doesnt have it and you cant make it have it.

The "old people" left their meet dogs loose on the yard.  They took no junk and made no excuses for dogs.  If it didnt do its job it didnt hang around, and those dog HUNTED. When hunting became a hobby dogs were not held to the same standards they lost some of what they had. 

If the dog has it, it has it. Some dogs cant be trusted to stay around the house if let out. I like a dog that I can let run free.

Now it is toatally understandable to not be able to leave a dog out for its own good. ;)

Nobody wants trouble or injured/dead dogs. ;)

My opinion of letting them loose in the yard is that I know that my dogs know when they come off there chain its time go hunting not just goof off and it seems to work for me but that is just how i have raised my dogs.

Exactly, what's wrong with letting a dog excersise and play, basically be a dog? I let mine run around my yard for about an hour every day. I think it helps keep em in shape, plus it's my time to socialize with them and each other.

i've always let my dogs run loose at least 2-3 hours a day.  be it labs, shorthairs, or my hog dogs.  it gives them the exercise they need to be able to hunt longer, gives them time to socialize with each other so they ain't playin sniff butt in woods cause the only time they get to smell each other is in the woods.  i've never seen it hurt a dogs drive, that seems silly to me.  either a dog is gonna hunt or it ain't regardless of how much energy they have balled up.   seems to me if i haven't been able to let em out to exercise in a while that first hunt all they do is run for about the first 30 minutes.  then they'd get to hunting, but when they were let out on a regular basis as soon as they hit the ground in the woods they'd go straight to work. 

dogs can and do tell the difference between work and play.  they're not as dumb as some people would like to think, and if they are it's cause they aren't bred very well.   it's about repeated action.  When i raised labs i could toss birds out of my launcher and they'd fetch em up but they also had a bit of a laid back feel to em.  as soon as the shotgun came out they were all business cause they knew what they were going to do.  it's no different than when you load your dogs up in the box, if they've been hunted enough they know what they're going to do.

Well there you have it git rid of the kennels! they hunt much harder if you let them lrun loose all day, If you keep them put up like I do they wont go hunting! My opinion seems to differ with about 90% of your guys so I guess all there is left to say is CUT EM LOOSE!!!!!

 ???  i think everyone handles their dogs differently.  what works for others may not work for you and vice versa.  if it works for me i don't care if 99% of people have a different opinion than i do, i'll keep doing what works for me.   

I dont have my dogs in kennels or on chains ne more. i just bought some nkc kennels from tractor supply and made a fence divided my yard the dogs like alot better than being in the kennels of chain. since i went to this i havent seen ne change in there behavior hunting wise. i also put some pallets on with legs on them in the middle to help them with there excersice. they use them as shade and they chase each other around jumping from platform to platform kinda like an obstacle course.