The Range Thang .

[TexasHogDogs]

Yeah man I love mine to.  Like I said use to get a little pissy with them but threw the years of hunting them I have learned their ways and I guess they have learned mine.  I dont mind my dogs cking back in and hangin around for a little bit to catch their breath and for me to only look up and they are gone again.  As far as my Lacy's go they are just different types of dogs they got a mind of their on and you aint gonna change it for them they will change it for theirselves .  They will hang around  sometimes long nuff to get me pissed and other times they are dead eye gone gone.  I can tell ya one thing if either of my lacy dogs leaves and are gone for over 15 mins you can almost bet your house there is a hog on the other end .  I have seen them leave and work out tracks that might take a hour are more and I have seen them wind one and go stragiht to it .  The Lacys once they get a snoot full of hog in their noses they are hell on wheels .  Other times its a love hate relationship I have learned to respect !

[BA-IV]

IF I WANT TO SEE THE RANGE OF A DOG I TAKE THEM SOMEPLACE I KNOW THERE ARE NO HOGS. IF THERE IS NO SIGN ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE TO WALK THE WHOLE PROPERTY WITH THEM 50 YDS INFRONT OF YOU OR WILL THEY MAKE 500YD LOOPS, 1000YD LOOPS ETC.

NO SIGN is the real determining factor in what a dogs range is.  Any other time he's just trailing sign he thinks he can smell, and most times if he bogs down on it 1000 yards out and comes back in, people claim they got a 1000 yard dog, without realizing what happened.

[Monteria]

IF I WANT TO SEE THE RANGE OF A DOG I TAKE THEM SOMEPLACE I KNOW THERE ARE NO HOGS. IF THERE IS NO SIGN ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE TO WALK THE WHOLE PROPERTY WITH THEM 50 YDS INFRONT OF YOU OR WILL THEY MAKE 500YD LOOPS, 1000YD LOOPS ETC.

Damn right. Range is how far they go looking for sign. After that you are talking drive, trail and bottom.

Regarding preference, range has its place, and so do the short dogs. I currently have dogs that won't break 100 yards without a reason, and 2 that cast over a mile with ZERO sign to follow. We generally road short dogs until we hit a spot that's deep with no roads, then load up the short dogs and cast the long ones. Either they strike, or they come back 45 minutes or an hour later or how ever long later, and we repeat. The long dogs are also beneficial when its dry, big country, or there just ain't many hogs around.

The really long dogs are pretty new for me. I have only had them for about a year. But its working out well for us. I just had to figure out how to use them correctly.

At the end of the day though, no matter range or method, whats important is putting swine in the catch dogs mouth!

Steve