There's two kinds of finder/holders I have found. Ones that run pigs down and pull them to a stop, and ones that run a pig till it trips or slows up to navigate an obstacle and catches it then. Truth is most dogs cannot out run a pig and have to wait till it trips or gets caught up in the brush before they can catch it. Imo rough dogs or RCD's will not improve your chances of catching "runners" unless they can flat out smoke a pig down. I hear people say all the time they are switching to a all catch pack or all rough dogs because of the runners. If that pack is all dogo or cur bulldog cross ect, ect... they will still be disappointed because these dogs lack the raw speed needed to run down a pig that is already spooked and on the run. Sure these dogs will catch feeding and bedded pigs and make it look easy but will fall flat when the pig is already spooked by the dogs or if they hit and miss a hog. In finder/holders speed and nose kills. And I mean raw unadulterated flat out speed.

Used to work in a plastic shop and I would not use plexi. Use Lexan or it's knockoff and do not tighten the bolts down tight or it will spider around the bolt holes. Either way you will need a plastic drill bit. It should have a 60 degree angle on the tip. Those so called plastic drill bits at Home Depot will not work.

That 4R looks way to restrictive and would chaff bad. You can see in the pictures the leg hole catches the elbow.

The chain can set off the collar as well as metal on some models. Doesn't pay to go cheap on bark collars. Had some that would shock the dog every time he got close to the wall of the kennel.

It's 1.85% Ivermectin not the usual 1% that is recommended. It is way over the normal dose and almost impossible to dose accurate.

From Dr, Chip.....


Damn, I knew I shouldn't have commented on this post. This subject has been beat to death on every dog forum on the net. It would take a book to cover the subject thoroughly. Here are a few of my opinions and not every vet will agree .First - if you cant afford to properly care for your animals you shouldn't have them. Have fecal exams done to see if you even have a problem and if you do what specific parasite do you need to treat. None of the mentioned products treat coccidiosis - one of the most common puppy parasites. Giving medications not needed is as bad as not giving needed medications. Worm life cycles are important.  Most wormers need to be used at specific intervals (every 10 days, 3 days in a row etc. ) to be effective. Routinely giving once a month or whatever without proper intervals just increases resistance. If you don't do anything about the environment your dogs are in ( like on a chain) you'll never get rid of the worms. You will never get rid of tapewoms if you have a flea problem.
       Yes wormers, like most other medications, are poison if not used properly, and all have side effects. Proper dosing is critical .
        I should have included Zimectrin gold on my dont like list for 2 reasons. First it is concentrated for horses and is hard (impossible) to dose dogs correctly - especially if they are smaller. A "pea size dab"  Come on!!  Second even if you could, the proportions are not correct for dogs. To dose for tapes you would have to way overdose the ivermectin and vice versa.
        Valbazen has been shown to cause serious bone marrow problems and abortions. I dont want my dogs to be anemic or have low white blood cell counts.
        Ivermectin is very effective on not only internal parasites (except tapes) but also external like mange and earmites.  Sure you can overdose and cause problems - you need to do the math . I would only use cattle ivermectin (not the plus) and carefully , with a SMALL syringe dose at 1/10th cc (ml) per 10 lbs and give it orally only. Herding type dogs should never get it and even mixed breeds especially with white feet can have the gene that causes reactions. You can blood test for this gene if your not sure. And make darn sure they dont have heartworms.
         Ivermectin, fenbendazole, pyrantal, and Drontal plus are my wormers of choice depending on the situation. I use Corid for coccidiosis . There are NO magic bullets that are right for every situation.

From Dr Chip...

Damn, I knew I shouldn't have commented on this post. This subject has been beat to death on every dog forum on the net. It would take a book to cover the subject thoroughly. Here are a few of my opinions and not every vet will agree .First - if you cant afford to properly care for your animals you shouldn't have them. Have fecal exams done to see if you even have a problem and if you do what specific parasite do you need to treat. None of the mentioned products treat coccidiosis - one of the most common puppy parasites. Giving medications not needed is as bad as not giving needed medications. Worm life cycles are important.  Most wormers need to be used at specific intervals (every 10 days, 3 days in a row etc. ) to be effective. Routinely giving once a month or whatever without proper intervals just increases resistance. If you don't do anything about the environment your dogs are in ( like on a chain) you'll never get rid of the worms. You will never get rid of tapewoms if you have a flea problem.
       Yes wormers, like most other medications, are poison if not used properly, and all have side effects. Proper dosing is critical .
        I should have included Zimectrin gold on my dont like list for 2 reasons. First it is concentrated for horses and is hard (impossible) to dose dogs correctly - especially if they are smaller. A "pea size dab"  Come on!!  Second even if you could, the proportions are not correct for dogs. To dose for tapes you would have to way overdose the ivermectin and vice versa.
        Valbazen has been shown to cause serious bone marrow problems and abortions. I dont want my dogs to be anemic or have low white blood cell counts.
        Ivermectin is very effective on not only internal parasites (except tapes) but also external like mange and earmites.  Sure you can overdose and cause problems - you need to do the math . I would only use cattle ivermectin (not the plus) and carefully , with a SMALL syringe dose at 1/10th cc (ml) per 10 lbs and give it orally only. Herding type dogs should never get it and even mixed breeds especially with white feet can have the gene that causes reactions. You can blood test for this gene if your not sure. And make darn sure they dont have heartworms.
         Ivermectin, fenbendazole, pyrantal, and Drontal plus are my wormers of choice depending on the situation. I use Corid for coccidiosis . There are NO magic bullets that are right for every situation.

In my area it keeps the poachers slowed down for a night or two.

What line are your Dogos from?

I'm sure you do. I just wouldn't do it my self. Been at this game long enough to know that once you think you have a dog figured out they will prove you don't.  A good friend of mine is a retired military dog trainer and has some very intresting stories about protection dogs.

Too risky for my blood. Even if my kennels were built like a supermax prison I wouldn't own a protection dog. Good luck and glad you enjoy it just wouldn't do it my self.

My idea of the poor boys way is a pound puppy and a 22 long rifle.

Don't go cheap on a collar. But tri tronics or DT. If you go cheap a lot of the cheap collars have a slight delay from when you hit the button and when it hits the dog.

I was at the hunt test on Sunday and was surprised at how the Dogo had improved. I saw a few dogs that had never seen a pig before that caught clean and walked away without a scratch on a boar that had cut more experienced dogs that had seen plent of pigs before. The first hunt test I went to 9 or 10 years ago had a bunch of white Bullmastiff looking dogs that caught with zero skill or intelligence. So I think the bred is slowly improving.

Any place you find farms your likely to have pockets of feral pigs.

Great pigs as always Ned.

If a finder/holder gets injured a lot it is usually because they hesitant before trying to catch the ear. That split second will give the boar a chance to sucker punch the dog on his way to the ear. If the dog hits on the run without hesitation they rarely get hurt. I can only speak for my dogs in heavy south texas brush and thick crops but this is what I see year softer year big boar after big boar. Good luck with you search I love my finder/holders and would never hunt anything else in this thick brush down south. 

Wolfhound/mastiff is my favorite. Easy to breed and get good dogs on the first cross. I stay away from Stag and Greyhound crosses because you get gritty bay dogs out of most of the litter. You want lose more dogs by going to finder/holders unless they are really gritty bay dogs and not true finder/holders with zero back or hesitation on big boars. Any dog that puts it's mouth on a hog has the same chances of getting hurt since most injuries come from the first split second or two that a dog makes contact with a big boar. I know plenty of strait bay dog hunters that loose a lot of dogs. It's no walk in the park out there and the risk to our dogs is high no matter what kind of dog it is.

I've always thought dogging of any kind had a five year itch. Give them about five years and they sell out or only only keep one or two dogs.

Switched from Sportmix to Caliber and my dogs are doing much better on the Caliber.