The thing that I have found is that breeding dogs is not like mixing paint. White and balck don't allways make grey. When you mix hounds and curs their is usually not an even mix. You will get some crosses that are real houndy and then some that are real curry. If you could just get the long range, nose, and bottom of a hound and them be silent.......everybody would have them.
The problem is that there are very few people that really know dogs. All they are interested in is putting their hands on a hog. That is great because it is what we are all after. I can have a good hunt and never touch a hog. If I have a young dog progressing good and showing it is making a hand...I have had a good day. I like listening and watching the dogs, learning about how they work and what they are doing. If you can understand a dog and let it teach you and you teach it you will both progress alot in the same direction
Heat....Let me say I agree 100% with the last paragraph. Its about seing the dogs work and them doing it the way you want. And I agree that crossing dogs is not like mixing paint. Which is why I beleive that if a man wants to increase the range or bottom of his curs he should find a rangy cur to cross with, not a hound. That may not be as easy as finding any old hound that will hunt but it works out better. Also, in my opinion silent mouth is low on the list of things a cur dog would conribute to a cross with a hound. Things like handle, working ability, and finesse are more important to me because if they dont work a hog right I am not happy with them anyway and silent or open is not an issue because they are a cull for me anyway. Ive never seen a hound that had the hog working traits and finesse at a level that I am looking for in a hog dog. #1. Most people expect to bay single hogs and dont think twice if they strike a group but only bay one hog. If there is a group I expect to bay the whole group and anything less, even baying the single biggest boar out of that group, is a failure in my opinion because the did not get the group bayed. #2. Things like finesse where a single dog can be hard on running hogs but have the instinct and finnesse to bay soft on gentle hogs that will stand is what very important to me. As well as on a single hog a dog needs to start eating hide when he runs but have finesse to back up and bay when the hog decided to turn and stand. That is rather than eating hide and having the hog make the dog back up and bay which is ok and will get some hogs bayed but the first example is much better in my opinion. In my opinion there is more to baying a hog that just barking or even biting at a hog like some may think. The barking is a result of the hog being bayed where as the hog being bayed is not a result of the barking. A dog can bay a hog an never bark. The only problem there is, you wouldnt be able to find them without a GPS collar on them. But more importantly baying is not about forcing the hog to bay it is about convincing the hog to stand if it does not want to... or if the hog allready has a notion to stand at bay its about encouraging that notion and controling them as they do it. In MY opinion hounds just don't have those instincts to bay groups and use finnesse. Sure they might bay some groups by accident but they don't have those istincts or the drive to actively do it because they are not a stock dog.
Waylon
