EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

 With all threads about line breeding,in breeding and puppy mills, I got to thinking.


   Have you ever hunted behind a great dog? If so then how do/did they hunt? What makes them top dog in your mind? A good dog to me isnt a good dog to the next guy. Just want to see what people classify as a great hog hunting dog. And please only describe dogs that you hunted behind.

best ive seen was buster a ybmc, medium ranged, unbelievable amount of bottom, gritty but not stupid, hunted with him probably 30-40 times, had one dry run ONE and that day we had about a 3 hr chase on some runners. the dog was still less than 3 years old when he was killed by a truck a couple months ago, no telling how good he would have been.

I have hunted behind a good number of what I considered great dogs and not very many of them were mine.

All these dogs whether I owned them or someone I hunted with had several things in common.

1...completly trust worthy, no trash not even when "bored"
2...great drive and stamina "bottom"
3...simi to closed mouthed
4...enough grit to stop one but will back off and bay
5...hunts nose in the air, not diggin up the ground all the time
6...runs a track nose in air when possible, covers more ground faster this way
7...if bayed stays bayed no matter what, will not leave the bay for any reason
8...stays in front of the truck or out front when walking never falls behind for any great length of time
9...checks in reg to see where you are 5-15 mins

No real order to these I just numbered them to keep track, these are what I want in a top dog, what i have hunted with from top dogs and what my top dog is and does now. There are some other things but these to me show the diff between a sure eoungh top dog and a dog that one day could be top dog.
What is a top dog to me may not be to anyone else, it would depend on what else you have or what else you have hunted with. If all a person has is, so so, someday, maybe, might could be dogs, then a top dog there wouldnt need to be much.

What makes a top dog? What you as handler and owner think of that dog, I have an ole dog that never was "top dog" in the pack but in my mind he is and always will be one of my "top dogs". Why? Because he earned it.

Never owned what I consider a top dog. Hunted over a plott cross named Jessie and I consider him one.....always found a hog, no matter where we were or how long he had to hunt.
Also can say that I bred a hell of a set of littermates named Dan and Ann that were the same.
All three of the above had everything it takes to hunt every other night, no matter what, period.
The credit to the training goes to one man and he will see this shortly and know exactly who he is.
Thank you sir for being what I consider a true friend. Hope to see you Saturday.

I know who your talking about Slim, and your right, jessie is badass.  I think we may cross him over my good BMC this spring.

I haven't hunted with enough different dogs to know that I can clearly label a dog great but I've hunted with several of what I consider to be "very good" dogs.  To make a long story short, the thing that impressed me about these very good dogs is they were truly professionals of the game.  When they were released they were all business with a one track mind....find a hog.  Their ranges may have been different and they have worked tracks differently but they were efficient and driven.  

Also, these dogs could be considered magicians.  I know that sounds weird but its almost like these dogs could pull a hog out of hat if they had to.  When all the other dogs have come back this one knows there is a hog in the area and just won't quit it.  Just when you are starting to wish he would come back so you could move on because there aren't any hogs in the area, he sounds off and pulled one out his butt.  When a dog does this on a regular basis, it becomes very apparent that this dog is playing the game at a completely different level than the rest.  Or the rest of the dogs on the ground are crap. LOL  :laugh:     

I have always said a top dog can draw a hog in the dirt and make it come to life just to run it.

Have hunted with and owned a few of the goodins, and they all have one thing in common, when they were droped to go hunt one of two things happened , bay a hog, or i am yelling at them to lets go ;D

My old Dixie female is the best find and bay dog I ever hunted with...bar none and I would say that if someone else owned her. The dog just had no faults which is very rare.She wouldn't trash...ever. In about 8-9 years of hunting her I NEVER had her mess with trash- nothing, no deer, dillers, coons, etc. She is 100% silent too, even when a hog broke. If she barked she was eye to eye with the hog.

She had an excellent nose, could wind off the truck or could cold trail a track you put her on, but once the track warmed up would run with her head shoulder high and drift. Not take every step the hog did. Guys that hunted with her used to kid me she was trailing hogs that had already died of old age.... NOW she was wasn't THAT cold nosed but had an excellent nose for a cur dog.

She didn't fight other dogs, wasn't people aggressive, would catch a small pig and when you got there the pig would be slimey from her soft mouthing it, but she wouldn't break the skin. Then you could bring it home in the dogbox with her and she wouldn't mess with it.

On bigger hogs she would put teeth on one to stop it, then bay. She would catch a bigger hog by herself if I got there and talked her into it. She knew I would grab the hog as soon as she did so often times I could talk her into catching something she ordinarily wouldn't catch.  But she was all catch when you turned the catch dog in.  She was going to have an ear when the dust settled, every time.

You could catch a big hog, tie it, put it on the flatbed with her and keep hunting, and she would never mess with that tied hog, even though she was loose on the truck with it. She could wind hogs up to a half a mile away with that live hog tied under her feet. I never could understand how she could do that.............

She bayed hogs for me everywhere I took her, without fail. Even after we hunted other guys dogs and came up empty I could hunt her through the same block and many times bay hogs their dogs couldn't smell. And stay bayed for hours by herself. We have even gone in to her bayed, shined the hog, left to go get a catch dog and come back an hour or more later and her still be bayed by herself. I had to leave her bayed once for 4 hours waiting on a buddy and his catch dog and I listened to her bay from about 1/4 mile away until she got hoarse and you almost couldn't hear her. But she helped catch when the catch dog finally got there.

The last time I hunted her (this was after she got cancer, had to be spayed and almost died, getting down to about 30 lbs - half her normal weight) she had not been in the woods in over a year and was out of shape. I had hunted two days with some other guys on a public land hunt. We ran deer, caught dillers, etc but no hogs even though we were in hog sign. Neither had ever hunted with Dixie and they kept razzing me saying its easy to talk about how good a dog is/was if you won't hunt it. It finally made me mad enough I said I would bring her the third and final day IF they would leave their sh*teaters in the box. They agreed.

By 8:30 AM we had caught a 140 lb boar hog with 3" teeth...alive, and by 3 PM had caught five other hogs, all with Dixie ,hunting the same place their dogs couldn't find a hog.

That was the last time she will ever be hunted. She lays on the porch here now, and she turned 11 years old last March. She earned her retirement and has nothing left to prove. I could write a book about hunts with this dog and hogs caught. Me and a buddy once caught 43 BOAR hogs with just her and her brother (Rock) in one two week period of time. Thats not counting sows, pigs or barr hogs. Thats boar hogs we cut and released.

She is truly my "once in a lifetime" dog I am proud to say I raised and trained. Now, if I can just raise another like that..........I will be set!!!

Here is a pic of Dixie in her youth. You guys can probably tell I "kinda" liked this dog.........

(http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt293/MarkFreddy/43170.jpg)

Here is the 140 lb boar she found and caught on that public land hunt....after not being hunted in a year and after almost dying of cancer. After seeing the teeth on this hog I made up my mind to retire her after that hunt.
(http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt293/MarkFreddy/GSW4.jpg)

CONSISTANCY!

No matter what you like, be it a hound or a cur, a trail dog or a wind dog, one that you can see if its not on track or one that hunts a mile deep....... If the dog is not consistent, its not great! If you know exactly what that dog will do EVERY TIME that it hits the ground, it would likely make a great dog in someones eyes.

Steve

IMO a good dog to me is one that you can drop out and will GO and find you hogs consistently by themselves if needed and stay with the hog as long as it takes to get the job done. If a dog can do this, then I think that pretty much covers most of the desirable traits that are mentioned in the above posts. Although one sentence summing it up can make it sound easy, theres alot more to it. I don't think a particular breed plays in any part of making a good dog. Good dogs are where you find them. I've hunted with some good 20-30lb gremlins to larger BMC. JMO

Looks like Steve beat me to the punch on consistency... ;D

Consistancy is where it is at.  I am with ya'll on that.  


Cracker,

I would have liked to see her in her prime.  She sounds like what we all strive for.  You always hear about such dogs, but most never see them in action.  You are a very lucky man to have been part of the prime of her life.  The love you show for her speaks volumes, and is a true testament to the relationship and bond that many will strive for their whole life.  Thank you for sharing.

Regards,
Josh

CRACKER THATS AWESOME, I LOVE TO HEAR OF DOGS LIKE THAT THEY SURE ARENT EASY TO COME BY, AND SHE SURE DOES SOUND LIKE A ONCE IN A LIFETIME DOG, I DONT REALLY LIKE TO BRAG BIG TIME ON A DOG I WILL PET EM UP AND TELL THEM GOOD JOB AND SPEAK OF THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS. BUT I HAVE TO BRAG ON ONE DOG MY DAD HAD ABOUT 10 YRS AGO HE ENDED UP DYIN FROM A HEAT STROKE, BUT THAT DOG WAS AWESOME, I CANT EVER REALLY MEMBER MY DAD COMIN HOME FROM A DRY RUN WITH OLD DUKE, HE WOULD GET HOME AND ID BE RUNNIN TO SEE WHAT OLD DUKE HAD FOUND, IT NEVER GOT OLD, BUT I SURE WOULD BE MAD IF I DIDNT GO WITH HIM, BUT ID STILL COME TO SEE WHAT THEY GOT, HE WAS 3/4 WALKER AND 1/2 LAB, U COULD PUT HIM UNCHAINED IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK TAP THE TOP OF THE TRUCK, AND HE WOULD JUMP OVER ONTO THE HOOD, AND IF HE WINDED ONE HIS TAIL WOULD STAND STRAIGHT UP AND U STOP THE TRUCK AND HES GONE, AND IF U WNATED HIM BACK IN THE BED OF THE TRUCK, U JUST TAP THE TOP AGAIN AND HE WOULD HOP RIGHT BACK BACK THERE, I KNOW THERE ARE SEVERAL STORIES AND MORE THINGS ABOUT THIS DOG THAT MY DAD WOULD LOVE TO TELL BUT THIS IS JUST WHAT I KNOW.... RIP DUKE U ARE MISSED GREATLY!!! AFTER THAT MY DAD HAD A FEW MORE GR8 DOGS HOSS, CHIP, SAMPSON,- SAMPSON GOT TO RUN WITH DUKE ONE TIME THEY WERE OUT AND THEY LOST THEM AND A FEW DAYS LATER MY COUSIN FOUND THEM RIGHT DOWN THE ROAD FROM OUR HOUSE THEY WERE ON THEIR WAY HOME, LOST THEM IN LAKE JACKSON AND LIVED IN JONES CREEK---ANYWAYS I COULD TELL MANY OF STORIES, BUT THATS NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT...BUT TO ME AS LONG AS THEY STAY OUT IN FRONT OF THE WHEELER, HUNT, FIND HOGS-OF COURSE CONSISTENTLY, STAY WITH THEM, DONT QUIT, AND DNT TRAST BORED OR NOT, THATS WHAT I LIKE, THERES A FEW MORE THINGS BUT THOSE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT TO ME!----SAMANTHA FRAZIER

I was never any good with math, but that fraction seems off ;D Either way sounded like a great dog....

HA U CAUGHT MY SCREW UP LOL 1/4 LAB 3/4 WLAKER MY BAD!  :D

dont be to tough on her, my wife is a teacher and she will tell you all girls need a multiple choice question when it comes to math....lol

ha hey hey raider im pretty good at math thank u just not the best typer lol  :D

Just Pickin ;D

hehe i kno i kno! thats how i know im welcome here  :D

This tread brought back memories,,,,,,,,,,, Had a deer dog named GOOD FUN,,,,  running walker. He was the man.......... My dad told me,,,,, you only get 1 great dog in your life son and you got yours. What made him so good? He had a heart as big as Texas and the desire and ability to do what he was breed to do.  RUN AND HUNT.Never quit, tough as that old boot in back of your closet. Run a track to a T. He was the best walker dog I ever had and ever seen. RIP Good Fun

When I think of dogs that just blew my expectations outta the water the main dog that comes to mind would have to be my uncles dog Telo! He trained numerous dogs for just me alone and brought pigs outta forests where guys run there dogs daily and come out with nothing but a cramp! I shared this video with Lionandboarhunter but if the rest of you would like to check it out, please feel free! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZK9Rg8FO48

Dang those are some good hogs in that video

Well, I am truly glad I owned and hunted my Dixie dog, but she kind of spoiled me too. She made things look so easy and she is what I compare all my other dogs to....and so far have found them all lacking something.

Like I said before, I could write a book about this dog, but most people wouldn't believe most of it. Like the time she bayed FIVE black barrs in one bunch, all over 200 lbs and all with teeth!! Thats the night I took some of the best pics I ever have in my life, only to loose the camera in a pond and ruin all the film.....

Dixie alos had OPPORTUNITY, which means a lot. I managed a 3000 acre ranch at the time and I controlled all the hunting on it. So Dixie was with me every time I left the house. We caught  literally hundreds of hogs in 7-8 years while we were "working"  then hog hunted 3-4 nights a week!!

If a dog is going to make a good dog, that will do it!! So she had the ability and the opportunity to develop that ability. My poor dogs now can go months without ever going to the woods!!

So she was probably the best I will ever have. I am just glad I had the time I did to hunt her. Made me realize what a REAL good dog is capable of doing by themselves. Thats why I find it hard to find male dogs to breed to. I hunt with them, compare them to Dixie and find them lacking..........so I breed to the best I can find and hope the pups turn out okay.

The best dog I have ever hunted behind, was a hound, if you can believe it.  His name is Rambler.  It doesn't matter what the conditions are he is gonna find a hog.  It may take all night but he'll git r done.  I just wished I owned him!!!

I like a dog that gets out....like 800+ out..

A dog that has a great nose...

A dog that listens...

A dog that will find, stop, but only bay a hog....

A dog that will take off in the woods and "not" run down an open road or pipeline like so many dogs do.

Thanks Slim, Jessie, Dan, and Ann are pretty darn good hog dogs. I got a few more in the pipeline....

yeah, i guess if i were a dog and had the option to run down an open or clear pipeline and avoid all the stickers and heavy cover, i would probably do the same! ;D

Well I hunted behind several of my dogs that I think was top notch but I want to reconize several that I did not own that was some of the best.. I am very open minded because some of these dog owners I don't care much for but the dogs were and are awesome....   

Murry Chreenes   Lep dog        1 of the best  RIP
Brother Chreenes    Sam dog    1 of the best
Randy Murrays       Pretty dog  1 of the best   RIP
Joey Rollins           Tiny bitch    1 of they best Rip
Bruce Hightowers    Duke Dog    1 of the best Rip
Winston Sizemore    Bubba dog   1 of The best  Rip
Jermey Beals          Bull     dog   1 of the best   Rip     Breed by me
Jody Stone            number 2    dog   1 of the best   Rip      Breed by me      Rusty Shrouse   owened him last
Travis  Tibedeux     Winchester dog   1 of best  Rip     
Travis  Sneads       Mo dog        1 of the best   Rip

Danny Bradons       Big Boy dog   Real good
Brian Millicans         Poncho Dog    Real good
Clint Millicans         Jet bitch      Real good
all I can say is these dogs everytime you went to the woods and there were hog in the area you found hogs with them!!