Good post T.W.
So what if the dog can't or we'll say hasn't found a hog, but will honor and bay up, and get down right gritty when the CD gets there? Do you all think that it is waisting time to keep bringing them if they don't strike the trail? and/or how long do you wait for em to "turn on"?
If I am raising a litter of pups I will keep the 4 or 5 I like best and slowly cull down to about 2 pups at 10 months old or so. Pups have to show me something at all stages...Its a line of progression and at 1 year the pup must be hunting and running a track and he might be a keeper but not one that qualifies as a breeder. at 1.5 years he should be a pretty good hog dog and some should be able to hang with a seasoned hog dog...when first starting a breeding program it is possible to cull the whole bunch...
another thing to remember is that not all breeds or strains of dogs within a breed for that matter mature at the same rate. So that has to be taken into consideration when talking breeding or culling...When I talk about breeding and culling I always use my past experience with the mtn curs I raised and hunted.
but to answer your questions I will say that you are talking about a pretty good "ME TOO DOG". Some dogs never progress past what you have described. But sometimes these dog fit in well in a pack because they may strengthen the pack by being able to stop the hog an helping the catch dog in catching a big boar...My goal would be to have every dog be a lead strike dog that can do it all except catch like a solid catch dog and a good me too dog would eventually get replaced...having said that a good me too dog is a valuable dog in most hog dog packs...
right now I don't have what I consider a good strike dog and I have the kennel space so I would own a good me too dog but like I said earlier...He will eventually get replaced as I aquire better dogs...
