Lost a good one today...RIP Monkey

I want to think everyone for their kind words and condolences. I have had two GOOD hog dogs in my life, Dixie and Monkey. And a whole lot of SH*T Eaters!! When you get a good one, that just stands out from the others, and you push that dog, and they just keep stepping up the level of their game, you know you have a special dog. The others fall by the wayside or just never get it all together.

Unfortunately I have never been a big puppy raiser. I never bred my Dixie female as I hunted her 3-4 nights a week, year around. Even when she was in heat as I was on a private ranch with no dogs around but mine and I hunted her alone. I have had coyotes mess with her when she was out hunting , in heat, and she would just came back to me. Sometimes those coyotes didn't make it back home as I kept a rifle in the truck!

Monkey was only bred to two females in his life. My old Spur dog (now 15 years old) is the only offspring of Monkey I have. I wish I had bred him more, just never had the females I wanted to breed and most guys that wanted to breed to him, just didn't have the females that I felt were on his level. I have always been a believer you breed a dog to get more like them. And breeding them to a dog with less ability is not the way to do that. Not to say there aren't other good dogs out there, as there are. I have hunted with a couple dogs that I really liked.

Dixie and Monkey were not alive at the same time and I often wondered how those pups may have turned out if I had bred them together. Dixie had more nose and winding ability, Monkey had more run to catch and desire to stay on a rough hog. Rarely would either dog quit once they started a hog. Not many people ever hunted with Monkey but he was ideal for the way I hunted. He might not have suited everyone, but he put hogs on the dog box for me , consistently, for over a decade.

Again, I appreciate everyone posting a reply. I now have a little black dog about a year and a half old that I have started hunting, that is bred like Monkey top and bottom. He gets out and hunts and hustles, but does not seem to be near as rough as Monkey was. I don't hunt much in the summer anymore, but I will put him in the woods this coming fall and winter and see what he is made of.

If anyone can remind me how to post a pic, I will post a pic of him. I don't even remember how to do that! I must be getting old!!