Thanks yall, Joe, we talk about that comparison often... Ellie was more of a "thinking dog" than what I have now, I do miss that... Shiner/Whaler are equally as loyal, much more natural hog instinct and MUCH more bite... the bite factor being what Ellie was most lacking.
The fact remains that all three, Ell, Shine, and Whaler, produce good hogs consistently by themself. Because of that, I invest my energy to develop them further. Seems to me that once you spend a adequately excessive amount of time with a dog that has "it" they tend to finally develop the traits that stories are made of
...but I am still studying this subject intently and cant say for sure about it
