EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

I was wondering what are some of the different ways some of yalls train yalls pups. I live in SC and you cant transport live hogs here so I cant use a baypen . I have a pup Ive been hunting very regular and he's showing really good potential he hunts with the other dogs and bays with them, but I want him to be able to do the same by himself if he has to, I want more than a " me to dog". I have my own ways of training but I always want to learn more so any insight and advise would be appreciated.

Hide drags

If you run in a pen to much they wil be looking for a pen I the woods ain't found one yet lol jmo good luck just run em feed em tracks take care of them and they will show you what they got

pen work dose not hurt hunting dogs that have the hunt in them if any thing its approves them! Independent HUNTING dogs don't look back!   

If you are already hunting your pup, start putting him out first. Give him every opportunity to go find the hogs first. That way he will not get dependant on the older dogs.
  I am very fortunate that I can let my pups run loose. They start off running rabbits, squirrels, dillars, whatever & by the time they are 5 or 6 months, they have graduated to deer. It does not matter what they are running at this age, they are learning to run & track. You have to break them anyway & by the time I start taking them to the woods, they already know what the deal is.
  I introduce them to a small hog in my small pen & then start putting them in my big pen. I can see at a early age, which dogs will have the nose & hunt. I only keep running hogs in my big pen. When I am ready to start hunting them I always let the pups out first to try & figure out a track & I do keep a tritronics on them & if they mess up they get bumped but that is how they learn.
  The running loose part as puppies, really takes the work out of it for me. They just learn so much more.

   x-2 on the running loose part Cajun !  and I miss not having the meens to do that anymore . so instead I use the drags and I don't mean a little 100 foot drag off the side of the road lol  when I lay a drag for training the starting point is an hour old when I get back . i'll bring it out into the open and put a lot of gitchy goos in it that they will have to figure out . then I can watch and see which one has the best work ethics and finds and lines it out . and I agree if the dog is bred right the pen won't hurt a bit . just shows a dog what he's after and how to work the right end of it .

mock hunts are really easy tie one of the back leg with a 6' rope then run it thou the center of the 5 lb to 10lb weight an tie it to the other back leg.. this will let the pig to go pretty fair an walk an dart out at the pups to keep them from catching, the rope feeds back an forth thou the center of the weight while hes walk or running. once u got them rolling good for 1 hog do 2 hogs like that an teach them to role out for other hogs .. don't get it wrong some dogs an pups do this by there self's but it is a great thing to start while they are young.  yall it's just my way..

Going on vacation Friday....my pups will be 8 weeks when I get back. Gonna start doing a little testing then. Have noticed a couple throwing their noses up and winding....mamma is out of sight but only about 50-60 feet away....I'd imagine that's who their winding. Like seeing that and it's been noted  ;)

Funny thing....yesterday evening I was sitting out in the dog yard next to the puppy pen just watching. The office called and I have "pig grunt and squeal" on my phone as my ring tone. It's a pretty loud/aggressive grunt and squeal....well...most of the pups high tailed it to the box and started barking! Haha! But, 3 sat right where they were...bout three feet away doing the head bob and weave....trying to figure out where it was coming from, lol. Again....noted  ;D

Hey mr whiten I got some dogs out of your dog boedroew don't know how it was spelled and Sadie crossed with Brandon's fl cur they will do very little in bay pen but they hunt really good and very rough dogs and has been my experience with other dogs as well with pen work got other dog it doesn't matter pen work don't matter jmo pens are just to start very few times have had better luck just turning one lose and let them get it good luck to every one which ever way you do it more than one way to skin a cat that pe paw said

There ain't much middle ground...people either use a pen because they believe in it for one reason or another or they hate it and think it either doesn't help or actually does harm.

I use the pen to check pups out early...I just personally like early starters and I believe a pen is a good place to get a pup fired up in a controlled environment. In SOME instances a pup will show you something of merit regarding style, something true. I.E. My Jasper pup bayed like a champ at an early age and was never catchy. In the woods now He's pretty much the same. On the other hand, Whistlers Buzz didn't pay much mind to a pig in the pen...when he did he just caught it. In the woods now He's a DAMN good young strike and bay dog and isn't just catchy.

Ive always used a pen to start pups and its never hurt them but Once a pup has started trailing on mock hunts or is started in the woods there really is no reason to put them back in the pen. Just feed them tracks.

   lol   yeah Boudreaux wouldn't bark a lick at a hog in a pen , him and my old boar hog willy was buddys . and that Catahoula line in that cross are all straight up rcd's . I bought my first bulldog pup when Boudreaux was seven years old just to help him out on those big hogs . I all ways went to the grunt or the squeal when hunting behind my catahoulas . if I heard a bay going on it was because IT WAS  A BIG UN  and they had already been whooped off and were hurtin  lol  Sadie was Boudreaux's daughter out of my old marie gyp which just passed this week . lot's of old blood running thru those veins  . I do have one of sadies sister on the yard still should be having some pups out of her and my mnt. cur next month after a little accident or should I say negligence on my part . no such thing as an accidental breeding according to the old man that beat my behind when I was a young one   lol . post up some pics  I talked to rob and he said he had the Sadie dog  .

Since you can't transport hogs anywhere in your state, just get somewhere with good population of hogs, find a wallow or rooting and cut the pup loose on it. Even better if you find one where a sow an pigs are frequenting so that the pup has higher odds of being successful.

I will have to get one of the kids to due it I can't figure these dang phones or computers out one of those dog cowboy he is big and rough 90 lb but he ain't slow good dog to

     here's a pic of Boudreaux and marie  back about 2003   they were both  BIG  healthy Catahoula's  Boudreaux was in peak performance at around 80lbs .

    (http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj507/halfbreed3/whitten-R1-018-7A.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/halfbreed3/media/whitten-R1-018-7A.jpg.html)



        ok you boys can get back to training discussion now   lol 

great advice i really enjoy all this info