I would sell both of my best strike dogs before I would sell my MAIN Catchdog! I have been around bulldogs all my life and didnt start catching with them until a decade or so ago. I hear folks say how there catchdogs hit hogs like a FRIEGHT TRAIN and how hard they are to break off, etc., etc. I have seen many hogs missed by dogs like that. Chances are the dog will just bounce off and the hog will break and run.
My Catchdog runs hard to the bay, but when he gets close he slows too a trot gets right up there with the baydogs, picks his target, and then explodes on to the hogs usually swallowing an ear or grabbing the jaw. If the hog is trying to fight him he will just lay into the hog, but if the hog is trying to pull away he will anchor and pull back. I dont know how many he has caught for sure but it is well over 300+. He is obedient and follows right behind me until I send him. No lead necessary unless I am trying to ease closer to the bay. I will follow that dog into any thicket without a second thought and he has saved my butt on more than one occasion. He also just locks down, none of that shaking and jerking, which not only messes the hog up more, but makes it more likely that the hog will get loose.
I really have to depend on good catchdogs, because I only run 2 curs, that dont really catch and one or two bulldogs. Folks who run a bunch of curs, especially rough ones dont know if there bulldog is a great one or not.
This boar was 250+, caught in July a few years back with him and jagd terrier. I had gotten my fourwheeler stuck and was walking back to the camp when my jagd bayed this hog. I saw nothing but small tracks in the road so I turned him loose into the thicket. He and I fought this thing forever and finally I got one back leg tied to a tree and had to run about a mile back to the camp to get a gun. The whole deal lasted about 50 min or so and he held that hog until I shot him dead. Then Catch turned loose and walked over to me and collapsed. I put him on pedialite and an IV and he has been my #1 ever since!
Joey
