Cedar Deck for Round Pen

Yep, Bryant - you sound like me except that I pretty much coddle the catch dog. Well, I don't coddle Tyson because he is still learning boundaries (you have four feet to walk on and don't need to walk on mine too, etc.). Meat Head came to work with me today, and gets cuddled on all the dern time when he isn't broken out with his mange. Even then, he is patted to show that he's the favored one. The other catch dog we have is Hunter, a 5 year old Mountain Cur who has zero hunt in him, but is our idea of the perfect running catch. He hangs out close to horse or four wheeler and rolls out to catch as soon as he hears a bay. He gets loved on as well, because in our minds, he is also the equivalent to a bull dog.

Cur dogs are another story. I'm a little harder on them and have recently been shown that you get a better relationship with them by making them "wait" to eat. I feel like a lion tamer when I'm going in to feed them! Each has to sit quietly on their chain before I allow them to eat the food that is sitting in their bowls. I can tell you that this practice has made things much better in our pack. We don't experience the arguing among curs, and I can only credit that to the new feeding situation. After a good hunt and on the way back to the truck, the cur dogs are fair game for petting. They seem to appreciate it but not require it. I guess that's the nature of the beast and the independence that you speak of.

I am always so amazed at the difference between my fur dogs and the hog dogs. My aussies are independent to a degree in that they will get ahead to embark on a job without being made to do so. However, they usually look to humans for direction. I do have one that is driven like you wouldn't believe. You cannot waive her focus on a ball. It wouldn't matter if a nuclear bomb went off in the barn yard, Lacey would be focused on that ball. We watch her and wonder what it would be like if a dog were so focused on finding hogs. That same Aussie and her daughter Lena (my blood trailer) will hunt barn mice with strategy. It's pretty neat and I wish our curs would learn from them and apply it to hunting hogs. All I have to say is "Where's a Mouse" and the two dogs will hunt silently for hours without losing interest.

Crazy
M