dfboothe,
I suppose your question was posed because of a statement I made in a prior thread so let me first state the simple answer, then I'll explain.
should a young dog have a pretty good handle on them before they go into the woods?
With a bulldog, you better believe it. With any other dog, I say absolutely not.
Let me also say that I don't consider trash breaking and handle the same thing.
Personally, I own and feed my dogs to perform one and only function...to find and catch me hogs. When I start young pups, I look for one thing right away...independence. I want to see that the dog is not afraid to leave me and go explore around the woods. Obviously, a pup fresh to the game isn't going to know what they're looking for but I'm wanting to see the expressed genetics...the pup doesn't know why it's hunting but it just is. If the new pup gets trashy in the woods and chases off game, thats GREAT. That shows prey drive and I can fix that problem. If the pup shows the desire to work, and keeps showing me things that spark my interest, then the time will come for handle. If not, why waste the time?
I'm a firm believer that everything you do in a young dogs life is conditioning that dog whether you realize it or not. For example, you let it out of the pen and constantly call the dog to you....you're conditioning the dog that it's okay to stay by you. Then at a year old you take the dog to the woods and your chasing it around telling it to "Get Ahead"...heck, that's got to be confusing as all get-out!
People might disagree, but if someone's content with 100 yard hunting dogs that come blasting out of the woods each time a pickup or four wheeler starts, then spend all the time you like with them. As with anything, there are always exceptions.
I link "handle" with intelligence. If a dog is smart enough to figure out what you are trying to get it to do, you can teach it a lot.
I disagree with that statement. With enough time, you can teach just about any dog to do anything *EXCEPT* to hunt.
If its an idiot that runs through the woods chasing anything that moves and doesn't care if you are around or not......I call those .."someone elses dogs".........
I would personally call that a darn good young prospect that needs to be trashbroke. I've seen very few good dogs that weren't trashy as heck as pups. They're not born knowing what to hunt.
