EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Over time I have come to figure out that making that once in a life time dog is like chasing Ghost's   A Ghost is only going to show himself when he wants to show himself and there is not a damn thing you can do about it till he is ready to manifest himself  . Its like a great dog he is coming when he wants to come not when you want him to come .   A man is lucky to have a once in a life time type of dog "A Ghost"  and he is very very blessed if he ever has two in his life time.  I have come to the conclusion over time "30 yrs" that is best to just hunt and have fun with what you do have and breed your best to your best and hope for even better.  Sure you can add this and that and that and this and have fun along the way.  But the most important thing is if you got really good dogs is enjoy them because not everybody is as fortunate.  Hell if you got dogs that finds you hogs regularly enjoy them and quit worrying about well he don't have this are he don't have that .  He got you the hog didn't he ?   Am very completive person have been my whole life and it will drive a man nearly crazy trying to figure out how to make the greatest dog .  I have figured out to just kick back breed your best to your best and let the "Ghost' come to you because he is not going to be found unless he is ready to be found .  If it is meant to happen it is gonna happen sooner are later and if it is not meant to happen well we cannot control that part of it .  I know men that have went to their graves with frowns on their faces because their best was never good enuff,  now really if you think about that its a damn shame really .  Why because some of these men were great dog men and breeders of their times and their best never was good nuff.  This is not only true in the dog game but other walks of life.  The rich can never have enuff money they just want more and more till they ruin their lifes and never enjoy a damn thing and go to their graves with frowns on their faces.

No as I get older and wiser I have decided the dogs I have and hunt are good nuff for me and that's all that matters.  Does that mean they are good nuff for the next man ?  I doubt it but they ain't hunting them I am.  Does that mean that I will ever stop trying to get the dogs better and better  ?  Nope sure don't I will always try to make them better because the min you think you got the best there is that is the min you are done in the dog game .  It just means am learning to enjoy what I have and let things come to me and if don't ever get here that's just fine to because Am already enjoying the dogs I do have.

What it means is that am going to learn to enjoy what I have while I can because tomorrow is never promised .  All the BS and the bickering , bashing ,  who's right, who's wrong and everything that goes along with it , there is no one answer for all of it because one mans yes is another mans no .  That's just life !

Amen Brother Jummy!

well put

Jimmy...that was good... :)at one time I wanted the best...good range find a hog quick and bay kind of dog and all dogs in the pack to find pork alone and each basically have the same style....if the hog is in the woods I want my dog to find it first...run your pack in the woods and I come behind you with my dogs and produce pork...these type of dogs made for looong nights and long walks deep in the woods...I already been down that road and now I am looking for something different in my dogs...different goals...hopefully short walks...

I can back a lot of this up over my old bulldog years of breeding dogs.  We bred dogs on top of dogs any which way you can think about are even dream about.  It was not just one of us but it was a clan of us that were all friends on top of friends that were all striving for the one thing .  "The Ghost Dog" .  Over all and out of all this time that I put in and dedicated to breeding these dogs I only had one "SUPER GHOST DOG" in my life time of breeding Bulldogs. He was the complete and I do mean the complete dog with all the credentials to back it up !  

Now I had many many many great dogs that went on to be who they are and all can be backed up,   but only 1 of the once in a life time dogs we are talking about here.

 You know what the damnest thing about it is ?  He come when I least expected it and young in my career .  Not only did he come but he came with two other bros and two sisters that were damn damn damn great dogs and well known  but he was the " Ghost Dog" that every dog man looks for in his life time .  Out of all the breedings out of all the work he came when I never expected it .  To say it was a shock is a under statement its almost like you don't know what to do .

Also I will tell you this .  A once in a lifetime Ghost dog usually comes early in a dog man career when he don't even really know what he is looking at .  So beware you young men out there .  Be able to recognize him when he comes and put him to great use if not it will be many years before you ever see another one if you even do .

Also not just me but out of all my bulldog friends that I speak of up there I would say maybe a 1/4 of them ever seen their Ghost Dog and others either gave up and went their separate ways and others died in their graves still trying to find that once in a life time dog and a few are still searching .  Now folks we are not talking about 100's of breedings we are talking in the 1000's between everybody that were breeding to get the real deal lots of folks lots of breedings going on.  That's how rare a real GHOST DOG  is !

 .So always stay ready and be able to recognize that Ghost dog because he is coming when you least expect him to .  Don't loose your chance to breed this dog and carry his gene pool on for many years .  Because one he is gone he is gone just like a Ghost and he will leave you searching for many more years to come and you are not likely to see one again

ahahha I hear you Rueben short walks for me too hahahahhahaahha

I like that Mr. Jimmy.....a "ghost" dog is a good way of putting it.... you can try and try and try to produce it but you just never know when or where it will show itself. Good post Sir!

Justin I been calling them that for years on end.  Because u cant catch a Ghost bro and you only have them around for so long and then they are gone again .

Am a firm believer that if a man trys hard nuff and is dedicated enuff to his program he stands high chances of that Ghost popping up  .  U just got to cross all your T's and dot all your I's after that all you can do is stand ready !  You will get him man just enjoy what you got till he gets here.

Jimmy...my once in a lifetime dog came early as well...I have had quite a few dogs as good as him...dogs that are as good as they get...but the difference was the brains...the dog just dazzled me with what he could do that the average great dogs don't do...as a little pup I could lay a track down and he led the pack around just like he did all his life...I laid a hard track out for him and he followed it like it was a straight line...once I saw that I just moved on to something else...first time in the woods at 3.5 months old he rolled out and made a good loop and hit the slough like a duck takes to water...and did it in a pitch black night...that pup was striking and trailing hogs at 4 months or so...didn't trail them far but trailed them a quarter mile or so...he was working tracks that the other curs wouldn't take at 5-6 months old...I can write a book on this dog...all my other great dogs did ok as pups but they didn't start doing pretty good until 8-10 months of age...

while the other dogs were working a feeding track he just made a big loop and found the exit tracks and rolled out and was bayed before the other dogs lined it out...he did this at 10-12 months of age...

but a big part of breeding good dogs is starting with a good line and not deviating from it...and another thing is to not let the best pups go...test them and keep the very best...if not sure keep 4 or 5 of what have tested the best and then breed the best one once he or she has proven to be the best...and the cream will rise to the top...

but I can say of many pups I raised that I only had ONE "once in a lifetime dog"...

This going to be on the dog trade now I can see it in the tittle GHOST DOG for sale

Yup that sounds like a great one "Ghost" there Rueben not many are going to do that ,  that young.  What ever happened to him Rueben ?

I have had some damn good ones so far with the hog dogs but no Ghost yet am just standing ready hoping he is gonna show himself are herself.  I know what am looking for now back then at 20 something yrs old I was just a damn fool LOL nobody could tell me noting . It was all Harleys,  beer, dance halls, women and bars LOL .

O chit man I hope we don't see no Ghost dogs for sale in the dog trade .  We will damn sure know they are full of chit if we do Lmao !   

I think often times these super dogs happen early in the career because rooks don't know what they really got. Meaning more easily impressed than you would be after 10-20-30 or more years of looking at good quality dogs and often, absence makes the heart grow fonder, know what I mean? You take that same dog as a grown man and I garuntee you'd find the faults in it and probably focus harder on those faults than you did before you knew they were faults.

It's like girls. That first awkward, impulsive, clumsy time you got a lil honey on yer stinger probably wasn't all that great, and we probably weren't the Don Juan/John Holmes's we remember ourselves as. Matter if fact, in reality, the girl weren't probably as hot as we remember either if we were able to time machine ourselves back to the ol cornfield, but thru time and recollection we paint the scenario a bit more rosey than it was.

My opinion only. Don't know you or your dogs.

What I do know is lots of guys who have the best dog around and would match their dog against anyones! lol Well... that is right up until they put em out in the same track as a better one...

I've got a freakin nice bitch right now who gets me awful proud (maybe even cocky) from time to time, then I go hunt with Chance, or BigE and his crew or my buddy Josh's ol retired Shinola bitch, and all the sudden I'm remembering the bitter taste of humble Pie! Hahahaha!!!!!  :laugh:  :laugh:

yea...I deviated from the dogs for a while as well...  8) >:D

that dog got ate by a gator at about 8 years of age...we were on a hunt and we let the dogs out and they rolled out down the road with rice fields on each side...they turned into the woods and went to working some hog sign...yeller left out after the dogs but took a track into the rice field but couldn't work it...he came back out in about 15-20 minutes...then he moved on out towards the other dogs and went about 3/8th of a mile in the woods and struck pretty quick...all the dogs went to him and the hog broke and he led the dogs to a small lake that was full of gators...it was my first time there and gave that place up after a few hunts...about as many gators as hogs in that place...

Damn man .

No dogs down from him anywere?

his son was a good dog himself and I bred him quite a bit...he was father and grandfather, great grand father, and uncle to lots of my dogs...I have a pretty good dog right now that has that blood in him...

Jimmy I agree with you, and you even have me to thinking.  It may be time to slow down and enjoy the dogs I feed.

I guess I have a pack of ghost dawgs hangin around.. I wonder if they have gotten any better in the afterlife?

Yes sir Jody.   There comes a point when a person might want to just step back and take a gander at the big picture .

You are absolutely correct that we are usually blessed with these kinds of dogs early in our careers. I've owned one that was super, one that was close to being super, and hunted with one for years that was beyond amazing, and she belonged to my father. All three came during my teens and early twenties. My two died way too young. One died giving birth and the other from West Nile. Dads gyp lived to a ripe old age. That's one reason I considered her to be a ghost because she had the brains to match her brawn. She only weighed 40 lbs but would find and catch every bad SOB we went after. I hunted her hard for many years and she only got cut bad once and that wasn't even serious. I miss that girl and imagine I will spend the rest of my life tryin to reproduce her. Even with all that said, you are right we should be happy with what we got and enjoy our short time.

Old timer, your 100% right about slowing down enough to enjoy your dogs and hunting. For me though, I will always be trying to improve what I already have going. I'm proud of what my circle of friends and I have going.  I don't think any of us believe the are the best dogs in the world but they for what we are wanting pretty good. If I bite the bullet tomorrow, I will go out proud of what my friends, myself, our dogs have accomplished, but there is always room for improvement. That's just my nature whether it's  raising my little man, hunting, or showing horses. I enjoy it all right now though. 

In my younger years my super ghost dog came at the rip ole age of 24 yrs old . This dog was no fluke and I knew what I had as soon as I looked at him but it was such a shock to see such a perfect and I mean perfect freak and work of nature that that not only me but others were in total amazement and almost shock and this being dog men of 30 are more years of experience at that time.  This dog went threw four like wet paper and in the toughest and hardest top flight competition in the World and was open not only to the USA but to the entire world with no takers. I owned both his momma and his daddy.  He would have been a GR Ch but no takers any were !  Cant nobody on earth tell me blood don't make the difference here is some proof.  His  one sister was a Gr.Ch. in top flight completion, his other sister was just as great and his two other brothers was as good as good comes 16 wins in a liter of five.  His mother herself was a Gr Ch and her daddy was a Gr Ch   and he was out of the famous Gr Ch Art himself who was out of the famous Eli Jr who was a liter brother to Bullyson himself both out of Eli x Spook and this is just the bottom side .  His daddy was a famous dog known world wide and he was out of the famous Gr Ch Zebo himself bred to a bitch that was bro x sister bred Eli Jr x Brendy.  This is not even to mention the Wendell Trussells breedings that was in the bottom side of his mother that came straight off Dibo himself .

No there was no looking at these dogs and not knowing what was what back then it was just youngness and dumbness that comes with age the macho effect that is worse today that it was every thought about years and years ago,   because I would take any of those dogs back then all takers period and mop the floor with todays dogs no questions asked  .

I am now 52 years old then I was 24 and I spent the next 25 years are more looking for another dog like that .  Noting ever even come close and have never seen another one like it anywere .

That's a true Ghost dog right there here one min gone the next never to be found again and that dog is the reason I started calling them Ghost dogs.

Tbob...you are right about good dogs...they get better after they are dead and gone...and when we are younger we tend to be more amazed as to what we perceive to be a great dog...and when we have a yard full of these dogs later down the road it becomes old hat until you get rid of them and then try to replacing them...makes you appreciate good dogs all over again...

and when we have a yard full of these dogs later down the road it becomes old hat until you get rid of them and then try to replacing them...makes you appreciate good dogs all over again...


Yes sir I agree.  They are hell to replace if it can be done which a lot of times you cannot .

I sure agree with that guys