%'s

[Reuben]

THD, the way I see out crossing is that the outcross line needs to compliment your line. The dog that you are considering needs to be strong in the area that you want to improve your dogs in or if it is to freshen the line then the dog you are looking at must look/act like your dogs. Also, you look at the dog but should be more interested in the parents, grandparents of said dog. Further back if you can believe all of what you see on paper.

Breed this dog once to your line and then grade all the pups and see how good they turn out. Then you select a pup from there to breed back into your line of dogs and hope for the best.

In my mind I can visualize breeders picking a plott to breed to their line of plotts but the problem is that they do not have much in common and when they breed these two dogs together it is kinda like breeding a black mouth cur with a plott and expect to get what you want consistantly. Just won't happen. It is almost like breeding a poodle to a plott in my opinion. Well that was kind of way out there but I am trying to make a point.

[TexasHogDogs]

Reuben ,  We always went by the dog and the bloodline of his that is known for throwing the trait you are looking to improve up on you see we knew the weakness if there was any of our dogs so we went with the dog himself plus his bloodline to back that up too.  In other words we bred for what we were wanting to improve first and foremost.  When we were looking for out cross blood to complement our line of dogs we went with a proven bloodline that threw the kinds of traits consistently that we were wanting to improve upon.  It makes a big difference if you can get a great dog that has what you want to improve on but what will really make a big impact is if this great dog comes from a long line of dogs that is known for the trait that you are trying to improve up on you kinda get two for one there.  The dog himself that has what you are looking for and his line to back him up known for throwing that certain trait consistently. If you breed to a dog that is great and has the trait you want  but his bloodline does not back him up and  this family has not been known for this trait and has consistly threw this trait threw out history then what usually ends up happening is yeah you may have some dogs in this liter that sure nuff grabbed your trait you wanted but the catch is most likely they will never be able to throw it to their offspring because they are not backed up by the bloodline. So it fizzles in the first two three offspring breeding of this dog !

We would then breed to this cross blood and then go right back with that offspring right back into our line and keep on breeding getting good and great dogs till the line told us hey you are getting to tight again it is time to refresh and then we would either go back to that bloodline again and start all over are we would go with another proven dog and proven line to try to improve upon something else we needed.  Soon as you cross you want to go right back to breeding that back into your line.

Some of the very best dogs came from Half bro x Half Sister breeding's!  You see if you have a great male from great bloodlines proven then you can double up on him as the sire to both parents that gives you 50% him then on the dams you can make one dam of the bloodline that  you needed some traits to improve your line on and on the other dam you can have the other bloodline proven and traits you needed from that bloodline.  What that does is gives your 50% dog your main male and main bloodlines gene pool a chance to breath and pair up with the two cross dogs and there good gene pool they have in them.  you end up with dogs like this 50% your main dog 25% cross and 25% cross are if you don't want to go that far out you can go 50% your main male, 25% some more of your family blood mixed and 25% straight out of the dog you chose!

Its a lot of fun and a lot of experimenting till you hit a click and brother when you hit that click its on like Donkey Kong you just keep hitting it and hitting it and hit it some more cause you will get great dogs from it  till it plays out then you go right back to  your family blood.   

I love this crap man ahahahahahh!

[TexasHogDogs]

People really get screwed up with this kind of stuff.  They will go and breed to a great dog they see that has the trait himself "KEY WORD HIMSELF" they are looking for caring less about his bloodline but the thing is are may be his bloodline  behind him may not be known at all for throwing that trait it just happened by chance and luck he picked it up but cannot pass it on.  That is why in a breeding program you want to make damn sure the male will have it we know that but the big question is does his family have it and known for throwing this kind of trait that is what makes all the differnce in the world.

[Reuben]

People really get screwed up with this kind of stuff.  They will go and breed to a great dog they see that has the trait himself "KEY WORD HIMSELF" they are looking for caring less about his bloodline but the thing is are may be his bloodline  behind him may not be known at all for throwing that trait it just happened by chance and luck he picked it up but cannot pass it on.  That is why in a breeding program you want to make damn sure the male will have it we know that but the big question is does his family have it and known for throwing this kind of trait that is what makes all the differnce in the world.

I agree. Another extreme example would be to breed a white lab with a white dogo and expect to get all white pups when the white lab came from a yellow and black sire and dam. The off colors will be showing up for several generations.

[Diamond G]

What I really want to know is, where can I get one of these really great dogs.  I had what I thought was a great dog.  I have yet to find a comparable replacement.  I dont have the time or the money to put into a breeding program, but all of this is intresting to read.  Thanks for all the posts.  Very informative. 

[TexasHogDogs]

Diamond G

They are hard to come by thats for damn sure.  I been working on my hog dogs nearly ten years now just to get to were am at in kinda my own type of line and the kind of dogs I want and its a bitch !  To get them like you want them .  Now if I had my other different breed of dogs I use to have before I stopped all of that I could send ya what you wanted but that was 27 plus years of breeding in them dogs.  I cannot run miles behind a dog like I use to so man I had to take some distance out of some of these dogs .  The land has gotton shorter also over the years.

[Diamond G]

I just ask if you ever do have any that look like they may have that great in em or just really good let me know.  I would sure like to try em out.

[Reuben]

Diamond G,

I bred some pretty good cur dogs and I had them about the way I wanted them but then I sold out in 2007 what I had left. At one time I had 8 curs in my yard that any one could do it alone and the pups were waiting on the side lines that were well on there way. I will do it again but it will take about 3 years to get there but my cull rate will be higher for a few years and this time I will breed them with more grit even though what I had was real gritty curs. I will breed for the same traits I had before but with a stronger jaw and dogs that will need a cut collar and running vest.

I am looking into the future and I see smaller tracts of hunting land and  stricter laws for hunters who hunt with dogs. To me it just means I need to evolve with the times. 

[TexasHogDogs]

Over the last ten years I picked and chose and I kept the dogs I wanted to breed and I sold some of the others that were not just what I wanted in my dogs but they were some really really great dogs the new owners will all tell you that.  I pulled the yard down to just what I wanted and what I have bred and had my stamp on,   now I have dogs between 14 months to 24 months old that are of all my breeding and they are all well, well on there way to be some great kinda dogs themselves .  I have four other pups in the pen that are 5 months old out of my dogs that are fixing to get started on hogs here real soon that I have no doubt will be some really good dogs .  Once I get a look at them and know what they will make I can't keep them all plus I got one of my best old gyps due with pups in a month are so bred to my old stud dog and her sister my old Blu gyp that will be bred to one hell of a dog here soon .
Anyway it takes a long time when  you do it yourself .

[Diamond G]

I realize it all takes time, and thats one thing I don't have just a whole lot of.  At least to put into breeding dogs.  I just ask that you keep me in mind when you have a litter that has some good ones in it.  Thanks, Patrick.