i don't mess with mine much .......i'll pet em just a little when feeding ...... the handle will come while hunting ...... ya'll have no idea how many folks have came here and there pups wouldn't get away from there feet wanting to play .....guess where mine was .....
Larry, I know you train yours differently, but it is my opinion that the main reason your pups will roll out is due to the breeding that is in them and the many generations of hard culling you have done.
The dog will hunt if it is in him to do it or it won't hunt even with all the socializing or lack of.
I do believe that the wrong socializing/training can interfere with the dogs style of hunting and even set it back some but I am not sure that it will keep the dog from eventually hunting if the dog is bred right.
Part of the right socializing is to not call the pup to you every little while but to let the pup explore around the yard and also ignore the pup in the woods so that it can explore and range out, this includes letting it roll out with the big dogs. The main reason I like to take the young pups by themselves some of the time is really for me to identify which pups range out on their own and which ones are "me too" dogs at that age. What I have seen is that the pups who roll out on their own usually make the best strike dogs but at this age it doesn't mean that the pups who are the "me too" dogs will be this way at a later date. But when you are trying to breed the early starting dog this is something to look at. Having said that, I generally agree with most of what you believe and say.
We should socialize/train the pup to trust and respect us but at the same time not so much that the pup would rather be with us than to go out and explore and hunt.
