EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Starting my first pup from scratch. Tips, info, etc. anything is appreciated.

I hunt my pups with mature dogs when they are old enough to keep up.   
How old is your pup?
Do you have someone to hunt with?
Whatever training "tips" you get here, remember real hunting is the only way to see if your pup will make a dog. 

12 weeks. And yeah I run with my cousin. We got 2 kemmers together  out of good stock after he fell in love with my last kemmer.

I'm just looking for anything to do with them until they're old enough to put in the big woods besides just throwin em in a pen with a choate.

Real hunting for sure will make a dog but if you don't do anything with them unroll their 8-9 months old your throwing the pup way behind.

Your gonna get more than a few responses I'm sure but here's what I do....

12 weeks is perfect for starting in a pen or letting them bay at pigs from outside a pen if no big pen is available. Sometimes they will start on their own, sometimes they need an older dog with them to get them started. I like to let mine see a pig at least a couple times a month till they are 4-6 months.

At 4-6 months I start doing trailing, mock hunts.

I use to wait and start mine in the woods at near a year but I think it depends on the pup. I've got some going now I started at 8-9 months and will do the same with two more I have.

I use to take my pups when I ran my traps until they where old enough to work in a pen to see how they would act towards one it gave them riding time on the truck and I could see if they where going to be rough or loose or even interested that was just me though every one has their own ways

What did u use for scent on mock hunts?

And how big is too big to put a 12 week old in with?

A shoat for the mock hunt.

You don't want a pig that's going to wreck a pup. You would rather the pup catch the pig than vice versa ; )

Yeah I had a ybmc that I had given to me when he was 10 months and he was scared to death of an 80 lb boar when we threw him in the pen. Did all he could to get outta there. Thing with as small as these are I'll try to find a tiny little shoate. Like you said, better for them to catch than vise versa. And how did that work dragging the shoate through the woods?

It works great as far as leaving a trail but it can be hard on the shoat if the drag is to far. Better yet, Halfbreed had a good system. A small cage with some type of skid built on the bottom. Wet the pig down so he drips scent. Then do your drag. You can either leave shoat in cage or take him out and tie him.

After getting the pup going good on small shoats bump them up to one that will fight them better, just so they figure out pigs ain't all easy ; )

Alright thank y'all for all of the help.

Do you hunt with the dogs on the ground or on the hood