EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

Howdy,

I go to school in South Carolina but work on my ranch in Brazoria County over the summers.  I have a 2 year old rhodesian ridgeback that i purchased for a hog dog but have not had the time or people around the ranch to help me out. When I am not working, I am hog hunting and would like to be able to get him trained.  My question is two fold;  is it too late to train a two year old dog?  Also, if not, would anyone be willing to bring some of their dogs out sometime over the summer for some hog hunting/training?

Its not too late. Work the dog in a pin regularly with a hog. Make it a normal routine. Lots of praise, make it a game like playing fetch or some thing.

Then when you want to hunt take the dog and put it on the ground. It might be slow but the dog may surprise you one day. There has been more than one dog made by just putting it in the woods, checking hog traps, or what ever else. It can be alot faster with other dogs to hunt with it but its not the only way to do it. :)

it might not take as long as you think...by 2 most dogs have got all the puppy out of them, so they are more serious about what they are doing. i bet if you took him on a couple of hunts with some experienced dogs and you get on hogs each time i bet he starts looking for them by himself real quick....i'm from richwood where is your ranch in brazoria county?

Thanks for the help yall, my ranch is on county rd 25 near Columbia Lakes.

There are some people that hunt that way and i am sure would help ya out. If not then you are welcome to come up my way for some hunts. I had a catahoula that i took hunting and put her on pigs and she wouldnt do anything but knowing her bloodline i let her stay and at around 2 years old i think is when she finially starting baying a hog and from there it seemed she progrees to a strike dog and within a year she was the best dog i ever had. Good luck with your search and like i said you are welcome to join us.

Check your PM I sent you a message live close to there and would be happy to help you out.

I live in Sweeny, know your part of the country pretty well.  Is your place close to the Black Ranch?

Some things are TOP SECRET ;D. But however i would not put in a bay pen too much. If planning on being a strike dog i would think if you put them in a bay pen too much it will cause them to be shorter range and expet you to put a hog in front of them, instead of the other way around. Most of my dogs have never been in a bay pen. I start them in the woods. But that is what i always thought, I may be wrong so correct me if i am. Thanks

See i knew someone would help ya out. ;D

i guess maybe i should have went into more detailed. he was wondering if it was too late to start a 2yr old dog. then it was stated that it would take awhile to get it started. i was saying that it wouldn't take to long to get him going. meaning it could possibly take him less time to get started because he is a little older.

didn't mean to make it seem 'just that easy'.

When I first started... I burned my dogs out in a pen. I worked them three or four times a week. Then we'd turn some the hogs loose and have a "staged" hunt.

Now I will put a pup in the pen a few times to show what a hog is and get them baying... but that's it.

I'll start hunting them in the woods when they're a year old... once they've matured.

This is how some of theses old timers in my neck of the woods do it... seems to work out pretty good. ;D

I start carrying my pups to the woods at 7 mons old, By the time they are 8 mons old they are going to a bay & baying . By the time they are 9 mons old they are running the hog with the other dogs if the hog breaks. By the time they are 10 mons old they are on the hood rigging with a old dog. Leaving the hood with the old dog and getting in on the strike. By 1 yr old they should be very vell started with about 150 hogs under thier belt by then . I've seen many finished trained hog dogs at 12 to 18 mons old. YOU HAVE TO HUNT A LOT.

I think it goes different with each dog. Like mike he runs mostly cataoula dogs and they seem to take a little longer to get going then some cur dogs however, once they get going they learn alot faster. Atleast from my experience. And i think it all has to do with the maturaty of any given dog. I have had a dog as young as 4 months in the woods. Then again i have most of them wait until they are over 1 year old brfore they even see a hog. It all has to do with the maturity of the dog. I have a brindle cur female that is 2 yrs and she still acts like a 3 month old puppy, but she is going to be a good dog once she gets going. ;D

Hey Brute you ever tried this method?

(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y265/Flatbroke/Smoochy_watching_Video.jpg) LOL   ;D

Ya, I also buy toy pigs from WAL-MART and let the dogs play with them as pups. YOu can never start too early. ;D

i have to agree with elliscountyhog about the catahoula dogs. the ones i had were slow to start and did take longer than the currs. and i agree with hipockets, i have seen alot of curr dogs finished at a year.
i have seen 4 year old dogs, be taken to the hog pen a few times and with in 6 months are top strike dogs. i guess you have to find the want to hunt button in the dog. good hunting.

On a regular basis we put older dogs in with pups to get them going. Doesn't hurt anything...

I would question the dog if putting it on hogs... too much... had a bad effect on it. My mind can not grasp that. Do yall have limits on how many hogs yall catch in a year so yall don't burn yalls dogs out or what?  :D

In a pin... in the woods... its still a hog dog. Its still going to work the hog.  ???

i don't know, can't say i fully agree with that. i have heard for years and years that too much pen time can have a bad effect on a dog. have had people in this sport for many more years than i have been say that it can take some of their drive to go out and find a hog out of them.
now, not saying this happens with your dogs. but when that many old timers say the same thing about pen training a dog too much, i know there must be something to it. here in east texas it seems to be a tip that's been passed down for quite some time. remember, what works one way for some might not work the same way for others. we all catch hogs on here, so maybe one way isn't the only way.
"A closed mind is a dying mind"...

In my training and learning if you throw a dog in a BAY pen too much then it will have a great effect on a dog.

Brute you are right in a pen in the woods they are all hog dogs and are trained to work a hog. However i just feel that with my strike dogs i like to keep them outta the pen becasue i want them to know they have to find the hog if they wanna play ;D. I dont want them to feel like i am going to put a hog in front of there face 2-3 times a week unless they get out and find it. Brute not to be rude or anything but just opinion, do you think that because you put your dogs in a bay pen so much cause them to be so short range? ;)

Sorry i posted at the same time sean did. But i think we are on the same page and yes this is just what has worked for me and what i have been told so, not to say brutes way is wrong, just tring to help and i know you are trying to get some rangeier dogs and i think that might have an effect on that.

brute like sean was saying think what people are saying by too much pen time, is that it doesn't teach them to FIND a hog. they become used to you taking them to the hog and them baying. we all want them to learn to FIND a hog. we want them to know everytime we unclip them they are to get out and find that hog, not expect me to take them to the hog. it is our jobs to teach them the behaviour we want them to display. my opinion is that everyone here is saying that too much pen time teaches a dog not to range out and find a pig, but to expect you to lead them to a pig.

i'm sure you have made many good/great strike dogs your way. whatever works best for you do that, because that is what you are used to and that is what has made you happy AND more importantly has produced pigs for you.

that sums it up for me right there. ;)

Not to derail this thread, but I've talked with a guy that has a very over grown 10 acre high fenced pen that he keeps a couple hogs in and a bay pen attached to it.  He likes to let a cur dog go in the 10 acre pen to find a hog and he uses a catch dog to catch it.  He then ties the hog, takes it to the bay pen and lets his pups get some work in.  On occassion he will let a pup run with an older cur to strike the hog in the pen to simulate a real hunt in a semi-controlled enviroment.  Seems like a heck of a good set up to train all stages of his dogs when he can't get to the woods. 

Any thoughts on a set up like this?

To me that would be a 100% better than working one in a bay pen... that's an actual hunting situation.

mr.mason has this type of set up, but it is a 6acre pen. he keeps many hogs in it though. that's how he trains them. when i took my dog to him, first thing he did was take him straight to the pen to see what he would do. he put another dog in there with him and my boy found him a pig. we let work it a little then we took him out. wasn't a good 10min. after that mr.mason didn't take him back to the pen again. it was straight to the woods. this man has started many dogs and fine tuned many dogs, so figure that is a dang good way of working your dogs.

realdogs i like your idea too. from jump it's all about FINDING the hog, never SHOWING them a hog.

Realdogs......Thats the same top secret method i've been using.  I wonder who sqealed on my secret method, and told you.  LMAO.

But seriously......that is a great way to start a dog.  First time, let them see the loosely tied hog first, so they know, or actually so you know they will bark at it.  Then let them find it, and make it harder and harder for them to find it each time.  And give the hog a little more fredom to fight back each time.  Well bred dogs will bark at hogs without any example from older dogs.  But it does not hurt to provide a good example and may help build thier confidence faster if an older dog is present.  Just dont tie the hog too loose.  I did that once......A freind of mine drug the hog off to make a scent trail and but when he turned the hog loose it got up and ran off, and he started waving and hollering at me to turn the dogs loose.  So I un snaped the pups and sicked them on the trail. They hit the trail but the hog had too big a head start and smoked them eventually.

On hog size when using this method. Just get a hog that is big enough to keep the pup or dog from catching it, but small enough so that it is not a chore to catch, tie, and untie every time.  I certainly would not want to wrastle with a 180 sow when a 60-80 lb shoat would work just fine.  Although, a big hog would be good to teach a dog to respect the hog which will likely prevent some bad wrecks later on, but that might only be important if the dog comes from a line that is notorious for being hard headed and gritty.

A 2 year old dog is not to old to start.

Waylon

Not all my dogs go in a bay pin that much... just some. We have dogs that hunt close, a couple that will disappear, some that will go with a hogs and never stop, some that you can call off, some that wind off the hood and run with their noses up, some run with noses to the ground. They all get raised the exact same way. The ones that want to go far go far, the ones that want to stay close stay close. Different dogs hunt different.

To say that working all dogs in a bay pin will make them short distance is pretty bold because all dogs are different. My opinion is if the dog REALLY wants to hunt... there is nothing you can do short of injuring them to slow them down. I will also say that the dogs that are easily effected by little stuff like that were weak from the start.

That is just my limited, and humble opinion. I totally understand what yall are saying about them not wanting to hunt because you are always putting hogs right there in front of them.. and it makes sense.. and I could see where is may effect some dogs.

BUT, has any one actually ruined a dogs by doing it? Any first hand experience here? Was it actually woking the dog in the pin too much that caused it or did some thing else stupid happen that the dog stopped hunting?

Lots of factors and I have never been one to listen to people tell me you can't do some thing because it didn't work for so-and-so.

Just a thought. Again, I think we are making it harder than it seems. We all catch hogs so why does it matter, RIGHT? :D Yall have made me curious now. We really need a hog hutning mythbusters crew. :D