EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Ok I have been useing pices of hog hide for my drags and my pups do really good at finding them well last night I got some pigs for the bay pen and one of the pigs got out and I set my pups out on it just to see if they could find it and Thay couldn't pick it up at all and all. They wanted to do is play with the the older dogs

So have I been useing drags that don't smell like live hogs am I doing something wrong please help!

They're puppies, you let em go together and they are probably gonna do nothing but play. They call em puppies for a reason, they're full of play. 

they are still puppies...plus if it was that easy to train a dog/pup to find a hog id be rich.

True but I know what they can do with the drags  I gess I'm just going to have to give them more time and work harder with them

But do pices of hide off a hog smell the same as a live hog
And how do I get them to range out father because right now they won't go Fauther than 50 yards unless I follow them

They're just pups, they aren't going to wonder to far from their "safe spot" which is around you.

Ok last thing do the pices of hide I cut from a hog I killed fine to use as drags or do I need to use a live pig ?

How old are said dogs?

4-5 monthes old and it was there first time to be around these dogs

Then most definitely let them be puppies man! I would work with the drags a lot until they are just blowing it out of the water... then drag it and tie up a live shoat to a tree. Take the dogs down wind of the tied up hog a good ways away and start walking slowly to it... I can't promise anything will work, but I'd put them into all kinds of different situations like this as much as possible... but always remember that they are puppies. I'd think about only putting a couple down at a time working the drags though. It just depends on what the dogs are showing. If they are showing you that they are ready for all that then do it, but pay attention to the dog. The dog will let you know when it's ready for the next step. JMO and hope it helps.

I don't think you're doing a thing wrong at all.  Keep running the drags and start working them some some on a live shoat.


I disagree and will say pups (at least speaking about my own) that are purposely bred with a lot of go and independance will get gone from the first time they hit the ground.  Then again, perhaps it's because I don't allow myself to be their "safe spot".  People often times without even realizing will "train" a pup to stay close by their attempt of socialization (which in my opinion is NOT needed to bond).

To your question ur in a since teaching them to be blood dogs.  Do the drags with a live hog so the pups are having to smell the hog not the blood.  Your not doing nothing wrong at all your teaching them to trail just need to start switching to a live hog.

try tying a stick on about three foot of rope to a shoats leg so he will get tangled let him run out of sight with the pups watchin then cut em loose on em and watch the race it should be short this way your not leaving your scent when you drag if it gets away use a bigger stick...lol

Ya, im kinda with purebreed on this.  I used  a rope to hobble one loosely so it had to bunny-hop to run off then turned out the dogs, that worked well.

I won't say it's the right way or anything, but I don't like messing with pups under 7-9 months all that much. I believe in trusting a breeding to produce good dogs and then just let them grow up. Once they are capable of keeping up, I like to have a hog bayed and turn them into it. Go catch it, tie it and leave it. Then later go back and turn it loose and let a pup go find it again. It's feet and body should be pretty sore so it oughta be a good enough match.

And as u can see there are a 1000 ways to skin a cat, so just feed em tracks and scent and if they have it they'll make dogs and you'll learn some stuff along the way! Lol! ;D good luck with em!

all i ever do is take ears and feet off of hogs i kill and let them chew on it, til they are seven or so months and then show them a live one with another dog.  Once they get the idea to bay it, they run with the big dogs.  Never more than one pup at a time, so they dont get side tracked.

When I have been doing the drags I leash them to a tree in the woods and go off in the woods and make the drag and come out a diffrent way then where I whent in to the drag and then I let them go and it looks like my 2 pups work together to find the drag and no matter where I drag the put the drag they find it so I need to start switching them to live hogs and not do it around new dogs because when it's just me and them they work good

i agree with the bloodline its there or its not but they r pups i would maybe start working one dog at a time to see whos a me too dog and whos a real dog maybe just the way i do it works for me to cull

1 thing that I didn't see listed above that may or may not be a problem.......im just throwin it out there so its on the table...........i would make sure that when you are puttin down the drags you are wearin rubber boots or at least clean shoes that arent covered in your sweat/scent just to be sure that your pups AREN'T trailin you and they ARE trailing the intended target.

x2

I always spray my rubbers down with kool aid or a scent eliminator I try to even spray scent killer all over if I'm gonna be draggin threw brush and what not , most time tho I take hogs tied withh 2ft 2x4 and let um go for bout 5 min or so then turn the pups out let um work I even got crazy enough one time to turn hog out with garmin collar :o haha pups found him and I watched um track it bout 700 yards