Message #75648

[Wmwendler]

My prefered method of starting a pup is this..........I don't like to start a young dog early or in a pen at all really.  I want pups to run loose and learn about life untill they start getting in too much trouble, baying cattle, harrassing barn cats, roaming too far from the house, ect.  That usually starts around 5 months with the dogs I mess with.  I don't really want to mess with them much untill this point then its time to catch them and put them up in a pen and put a little handle on them; lead right, load, hual, get out, don't mess with cattle unless sent, but other than that I don't want them to have much to do with me yet...they should still be hard to catch.  I will also show them what a hog is around thist time, as big a hog as I feel like messing with tied to a tree.  Do that a hand full of times but other than that I want them to know that hogs are in the woods and not tied to a tree or in a pen.  Keep them up and work on the handle untill the time gets right about 9-10 months old usually, but depends on the time of the year if deer season gets in the way I will wait untill its over.  If its bred in the dog they wont forget about it in a few extra months.  Your pup is almost 5 months and will be 9 months at the end of deer season, which will be just right.  Then start hunting them gradually and keep them in hogs twice a week if possible the weather will be right for it.  Lead them to bays for a few hunts to keep them out of trash, then let them hunt.  I've seen too many dogs spoiled by starting too young for what ever reason.  My  opinion is that they start hunting with puppy tendancies they very well may keep hunting with those puppy tendancies for the rest of thier life.  I say let them get the puppy out of them before you hunt them.  Its hard to do but patience is a virtue they say.  Good luck with your pup, but don't count your chickens before they hatch and I personally would wait on the breeding untill the dog has proven himself as a hog dog in the woods and then some, even if people are allready asking you.  If they are still asking you to breed to the dog in a year or two then you will know you have something.  Good looking pup anyway and he has breeding behind him, but thats just a start.

Waylon