Not an expert but not very many dogs are even close to being mature enough to cull at 1 yr old.  I have a son of off Rathke's Reno, grandson of Ben and my yard all comes from him and I only hunt on Saturdays, which may take longer to finish the dog.  It takes 2-3 yrs before the dogs usually get the confidence to get out on their own and hunt.  Some start early and most don't.  I learned the hard way and gave up on dogs at 1.5 yrs old and made somebody else a good dog.  I raised them and they got the benefit..  I had a friend get one of my pups off Cowboy and he gave up at 1 yr old and now she is finding hogs in Flordia and the guy loves her.  Give her some time...

What I am saying Chads, is I have seen many dogs get culled too early.  Any dog man would say that there are few dogs finished at 1-2 years old.  They simply don't have all the puppy out yet.  The 2-3 mark is when the dog gets seasoned so to speak.  I will agree that if hunted often (3-4) times per week seasoning would probably come sooner...

WOW!  Two to three years. Have fun with that...

Not an expert but not very many dogs are even close to being mature enough to cull at 1 yr old.  I have a son of off Rathke's Reno, grandson of Ben and my yard all comes from him and I only hunt on Saturdays, which may take longer to finish the dog.  It takes 2-3 yrs before the dogs usually get the confidence to get out on their own and hunt.  Some start early and most don't.  I learned the hard way and gave up on dogs at 1.5 yrs old and made somebody else a good dog.  I raised them and they got the benefit..  I had a friend get one of my pups off Cowboy and he gave up at 1 yr old and now she is finding hogs in Flordia and the guy loves her.  Give her some time...

Black Mouth Cur- Only one pup left due to guy not having time to pick up his pup. His loss, your gain! Female pup 3 months old. Has all shots and been wormed. Mom is out of Riverbend's Purebreed Polly and Okefenokee Cowboy. Dad is out of Okefenokee Cowboy and Young's Southern Sky. Both parents are half brother and sister line breed on purpose with intent on crossing a female pup from litter back to Cowboy. Cowboy is out of Rathke's Reno and TLS Delight. Cowboy's granddad was Weatherford's Ben. This is good blood and should produce good dogs. One of the females that was picked up at 8 weeks old snuck down to the owner's bay pen and bayed two big hogs through the fence already! Dad is foundation registered and Mom is UKC. I have already sent in paperwork in to register the Dad UKC also. $350 229-848-1260 In GA. 

The Cowboy dog I own is grandson to Ben, but he very well could have gotten some of his great genetics from TLS Delight his mom or his Dad Rathke's Reno which was owned by Ed Rathke.  It's just that the Ben dog has been advertised to death and it's very easy to refer to the dogs as the Ben line, but there have been a many of dog created by crossing out to various different strains.  I was told Delight was breed 14 times and she herself is credited with starting a fine line of dogs, it always aint the male...

I agree Waylon about a bay.  My Cowboy dog was trained on cattle as well.  I only use him on hogs and he does just like you say, just enough pressure to hold the hog still and calm until help arrives.  I live in GA where hog hunters are plentiful and hogs run and run but about 2 yrs ago Cowboy had 3 boars bayed alone until we got there and dumped the dogs to him and ofcourse they busted the bay and we only ended up catching one.  I don't like a catchy dog either but do want him to catch with other dogs when they arrive.

Hogahollicswife-  Had to be around 20-25yrs ago.  I got that info from Sam Piper who got Delight from Levon Sevilles.  I've got a buddy in floridia that is checking with the Adams to see if any body remembers Dellight and where she came from, did they breed her or she come from another state...  Wmwendler-  Most of the black mouths I have seen are not catch dogs, only catch when another dog catches.  My Cowboy dog is Grandson to Ben and he has bayed a many of a hog...

Is the dog young?  I have a BMC male and he is real catchy too, but recently now that he is 2.5yrs old going on 3yrs he has started baying more, so I think he has learned that if they are big to wait til help arrives.  As the dog matures he gets smarter...

Hogaholicswife-  TLS Delight is my dog Okefenokee Cowboy's mom, she cam of the Adams Ranch in Florida and Levone Sevilles in Texas got her and wanted Randy to register her FBMCO so he said breed her to 3 different BMC males and if she doesn't throw any odd colors then he would register her.  Then Sam Piper in Virginia got her and made some fine dogs over his breeding program.  Rathke's Reno was my dogs dad.  And to answer the fellow about why have we not seen another Ben, we have; their just not talked up so much but there are plenty out there and I have one.  Ole Cowboy is 12 and still a machine and has produced some fine dogs.

What part of GA?  I live in GA and know a breeder or two and have some my self every once and a while.

My blackmouth still breeding at 12.

Nice!  Concrete slanted to rear helps with cleaning.  Orange plastic will get chewed up...  Very nice and nice yellows!!!

Go to this website.  Dog on here might be the one.  Montana Bounty Hunter...  http://bigskycurs.com/

I let some dogs go at 1 1/2 too and called to check on them several months later and they were jam up.  I think a dog needs more time to mature and show you something.  Had a birdog cross not even bark at a hog or even act interested all the way to 1 year and now she is on injured reserve for catching a boar that near made her bleed out.  Give em time..

Got a BMC named Okefenokee Cowboy of Rathke's Reno and TLS Delight that will be 12 in April.  Still goin!  His mind wants to go harder but his body is showing that age.  Went 1 mile behind one Sat. after being cooped up during deer season and he wore his self out!

I have the same problem and have thought about wrapping the wood with sheet metal.  Bending it to fit...

Buddylee, if anyone knows, you should.  You been around dogs long enough.  I bet she starts bleeding just shortly...  Then it's on!

Piece of good info!  Take super glue and put on small gashes to the outer nylon layer and it will melt it together!

I like the hard core hog dogs boar bib.  Not too big and don't get hot.  Already saved several pokes and cuts!

I own Okefenokee Cowboy out of Rathke's Reno and TLS Delight.  Grandad was Weatherford's Ben and he is about 65 pounds, I would call that bout normal.  About 9 months ago a fellow from Floridia had two heavy bred Reno females that are super gritty, in fact he used both of them to hog hunt by themselve that he brought me to breed Cowboy to.  They were very large dogs! Both probably outweighed my Cowboy by 10 pounds and were 3-4 inches taller.  I have a male pup that is 7 months from this breeding and he is already bigger than all my other dogs and has helped with catching and biting the hogs and just recently found a little one and bayed it!

I got a BMC that will be 12 in April and he still gets it done.  Go to entirelypets.com and order Joint Max Triple Strength Soft Chews and a bottle of Vita-tabs for senior dogs.  My dog used to not want to get out the box after a hunt and this stuff made a great difference!