Sorry it took so long boys. Yes, Jasper is from John Honeywell. Half Breed you know there ain't no hogs left out there you caught 'em all out! Anyhow, training was .....well... Just ok in my opinion. Picked the little pig up at 0 dark thirty. Pitch dark, dodging the big pigs, just couldn't wrangle the little boar, ended up catching the little sow. I knew the dogs would catch her but I was more concerned with the trailing/winding aspect of the training than anything else. I had my rubber boots on and walked the little pig about 30 yards down the dirt road and about 30 yards into the woods. Went back and met Drew and came back about 30 minutes later. First out of the box was Jasper (BMC) and Drew's Jules and Buzz (Catahoulas) all around 6 months old. We let them out of the box about 75 yards from the trail and walked them in. When they got to the trail they all had there nose to the ground and followed it to the wood line where I walked the pig into the woods. At that point they got kind of confounded and just couldn't work it out. I walked them a few steps into the woods and Jasper put his nose back down and I think Buzz was trying to wind. Anyway, the little pig made some noise (only 30 yards away) and all three dogs spotted her. They kind of booger barked at first, not quite sure what she was I think (wind wasn't right, my fault). Within about 30 seconds and after little coaxing they closed the distance and bayed for about 10 seconds before they caught her. With some effort we broke them off, Buzz catches like a Bulldog, and took them back to the truck. I moved the pig about 30 more yards into the woods and brought my girls out (1/2 Catahoula - 1/4 Red Tick - 1/4 Pitt). They were identical to the other dogs, trailed a bit, got confused, I coaxed them in, they booger barked, they bayed, they caught. At this point I took the girls back, brought Jasper and Jules back out (they aren't as rough as Buzz or the sisters) and I was going to have Drew hold them on lead while I let the little sow run free with a drag line in tow. Well, she was twisted up and while I was untangling her she slipped loose behind my back. She disappeared into the brush before I knew it and once I realized it I told Drew to let the dogs go. It was to late though and the pups couldn't/wouldn't trail her. We spotted her crossing the pasture and went after her with the pups in tow. They trailed her a bit but we lost her in some blood weed that was about 6ft tall and thick as molasses. No more pig! This abruptly ended our training session. I was disappointed in that aspect and overall I was disappointed in the training in general until I reminded myself that these were all pups around 6 months of age and they have never trailed anything up to this point. Sure, it could have went better but I think I'm still on pace. I have till January to get the pups ready for the real thing and I'll be giving them another go in a few weeks. I didn't get any pictures of Jasper, Buzz, or Jules. Forgot all about it but here's a few of the Sisters.
