My ideal dog is about 65 - 75 pounds of athleticism, I lean towards Pits because I personally like their personalities but honestly I could care less about breed if I could find one that was built right. The dog we have right now is some sort of Mastiff Heinz 57 but he has NO hesitation about his job and his personality makes him a pleasure (except that he whines in the box with no stop / solution) but he is too wide making a little less agile and having a gait more than a smooth stride when he runs.
I like a long legged, deep chested / girthed dog with a longer nose built for running, here are a few examples of the athleticism that I prefer over the short and wide dogs:
Nickel was a AB x Leopard but he was started (IMO) wrong with hesitation on larger hogs and once he was off if you didn’t grab him he was coming back for WHATEVER he could put his teeth on, which is unacceptable to us so we gave him back to the man who raised him. I sure wish we had gotten him when he was smaller because I always thought he had a great potential that was missed out on.
Ruger was probably 65 pounds when a gator got him but he was laid back and never said a word. Once he caught a hog he was at the truck or sitting beside you waiting to go back to load up. He was a protector of our little boy and didn’t allow strangers near him, he also played ball and could be trusted around all livestock etc.
I want a dog with no hesitation, our currs will catch pretty much anything but there are times where they do back up and bay, I do not want that in our catch dog but I also want the trainability portion / brains that our currs have because I do not need some nutso catch anything no mannered bull dog running around because he is more of a liability than an asset to me.
I am also one of the few that prefer a 5 or 6 month old puppy than an 8 to 10 week old one.
