I agree that dogs at one time dogs "had" to work and earn their keep, whether it was finding hogs, catching rabbits, finding wounded deer, or finding cattle. Familes depended on dogs to live. Now we drive to HEB or the local grocery store to buy food....dogs are not a necessity, as they were at one time. Why feed 4 dogs when only one was a great dog that helped the family eat. It was feed the other 3 or feed the family. Natural selection, cull the worthless three dogs. I dont think there are "many" folks who now depend on dogs to live. Maybe modernization/technology has changed the way we breed dogs. Seems folks have adapted to one or more areas or specialties and now breed the dogs to adapt to us......
Jerryg
x2...the old time mtn cur was developed and used as the all around dog but I have seen so many that do not look like curs any more. so many look like fiest dogs and at one time they looked more like plot curs.
Back in 1989 I started breeding mtn curs that treed coon and squirrel and ran bear but I used them for hog only. I am sure that over the years some would tree but did not test for it. I do know I had to break them off of cows...
I know a man that has raised yellow cow dogs for 40 years or so and he calls his dogs in and out by name when baying cows but I wouldn't feed one as a hog dog. I have seen enough cow dogs that I wouldn't feed for hog dogs.
A cur dog should wind long range and have a good nose and hunt 2-6 hundred yard circles around me and find hogs that other dogs miss and then run the hog for hours if needed and I am talking about get in the thick stuff to bay a hog. If you breed cow dogs that can do that then I want on the list...
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I see hogs get in some thick and large briar patches and the average hog dog will quit and look elsewhere.