I know what a dog can do in a field or open woods means nothing here the longer legged catch dogs with a vest stay tangled up in thickets the shorter catch dogs is the way to go here
This is something that doesn't hold true to most thickets. There are exceptions to every rule though and you may very well be an exception. Every small cd with a vest on turned loose to a bay in the thickets with a big athletic cd always got its butt kicked in getting to the bay by the big cd. Pit would be hung up by the vest and couldn't push through or couldn't jump over etc. The big excited cd would use its power and athleticism to get itself to the bay. Both want the pig just as bad, the big dogs just had the ability to get through the stuff.
I've seen big dogs that sucked in the brush. They just didn't like it, didn't like to be in it, wouldn't hardly go through it etc. It wasn't because they were big they was causing this, it was their mentality. Same with any dog little or big. A dog that's never had much experience with briars is always gonna have a learning curve. To look at things in a holistic manner, many things must be taken into account. Dog size is one of them but usually this works to the advantage of the dog if it's an athlete.
I've seen many pics of people catch dogs on here. Fat chubby pet pits that look like they sleep on the bed at the owners feet at night. Soooo many things wrong with this that lead to potential problems such as heat stroke, break down of muscle tissue, lack of stamina, lack of athleticism, inability for the dog to recover quickly for next catch, etc. This dog isn't gonna near as good getting through thickets as if it would with a different owner that treated the dog differently. I have seen several times in real life this same thing with the big cd's people are so high on. They proud of their big huge cd and say come look at my dog. You look just to see a big unfit looking couch potato laying down in the back. Nothing about the dog gives the slightest indication it's physically fit. I'd lay $ on this dog getting it's butt smoked in the thickets by a little cd. Most big lead ins I've ever seen were treated like this, not conditioned warriors that could and would live up to the expectations of the owners blind eye. This is where they overall myth out the big cd in the brush stems from. People not taking things in to account and looking at thing holistically. Plus how many doggers besides us of course are decent dog men out there hog dogging? I've run into some doosies, and I've seen some good pig catchers that I felt bad for their dogs do to the neglect of one sort or another you could see in their dogs. I don't mean skinny either
