training a dog to wind.

Most all curdogs will wind on top of a box......some just are better at it than others......naturally, some have better noses than others.....but the big difference is whether you will have to keep the dog snapped up on top of the box, or if it will ride unsnapped and stay up until it strikes......I call this the dog's "manners"......The big difference I see between a good wind dog and a great wind dog, is whether you need to keep the dog snapped up while you are riding or if he'll stay put, unsnapped, and then load and unload without you getting out of your truck......

For instance, my two main strikedogs can rig a hog with the best of them.....but the minute you unsnap them they are gonna take off on foot, whether they smell one or not, and if they come back and load up, if i don't snap them to the top, as soon as the truck starts moving, they will unload and starting roading again......so i leave them snapped and ride till they start barking. That is why i don't consider them great wind dogs, there "style" is not right.....

Some of my old dogs that are long gone, would ride unsnapped all night, jump when they smelled one, and come back and load up if they couldn't work it out, and then you where off down the trail, without having to get out of the truck.....That is a much better style of wind dog, I always seemed to catch more hogs with that style of dog, all other nose qualities being equal.....

All you can do as a hunter, is throw them up top, night after night, until you learn what kind of manners your dogs have....then work it the best angle you can.....knowing how to hunt your dogs, is just as important as how good of a nose your dog has......

as far as training them to hunt in loops....you can't.....they are just gonna hunt how it's bred into them when they are unsnapped.....

9 weeks is way too early.....I wouldn't even start bringing them to the woods until they are 9 or 10 months old.....