Catch style preference

[t-dog]

Everyone has their own flavor or preference, I'm no exception. What do you like style wise in a catch dog? For me I like the layed back even keeled type. I like them to ease in and not blow into a bay knocking over full grown trees. I like their last few steps to be explosive. After a catch, I want them to chill out, sit down, and shut up. None of this matters to some people and some people like just the opposite. What is your style preference?

[gary fuller]

style of catch i want to be go in like a rocket and grab an ear  then pull down towards the ground, and i hope they lay up alongside the hog and not caught head on . temperment of that catch dog  is pretty much like you said...easy to handle before and after the catch.

[gary fuller]

guess i should have added that i used biggger dogs/american bulldogs. i liked my bulldogs to hit with such force that they sometimes knocked a hog off its feet on impact.

[Judge peel]

I like mine bout like you Gary. I know a lot of people say that a dog going in fast breaks hog I just don’t buy that 95 % of the time. The fastest jab usually lands first so I will go with that.


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[Mike]

I like mine just as you describe t-dog. Especially on a group of hogs, mine will ease in there and grab one. But unfortunately, we’ll send two at a time a lot of times and it’s a balls to the wall race to the hog haha.

[Judge peel]

One thing I can’t stand is one that cry’s in the box or pulls on the lead.


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[t-dog]

From my experience, there are so many things that accompany the style I described. I'm older now, to heck with all that high strung stuff. The dragging you, the tree and lead chewing after a catch, the grabbing other dogs that might come past them after they've been tied back, or the standing at the end of the lead barking, pawing, scratching, etc...
Sit down and regroup to be ready for next bay. You can catch numerous hogs with a fresh dog verses a few with a dog that spent his energy acting stupid. They are no different than people in the sense that they start making more and more mistakes the more fatigued they get and the initial accuracy gets worse too. I don't want him tangled up fighting briars and brush when he could've went 2 foot right or left and had a clear shot on a trail. His last few steps he should accelerate and make his shot happen, knowing exactly where he's going to catch as soon as he sees the position of the hog. These type are the type that I can hunt off lead and send when I'm ready. I don't have to snap them on the machine because they aren't going anywhere. If they do get off it's to get beside me. When I say caught hog they are done with it. They get back and get ready for the next hog. When they are sent to a bay, or a hog crossing open ground, or whatever may be the case, they are thinking. They don't get that "adrenaline block" as I call it. I have seen too many times when they caught a hog in the ham when they ran him down and as soon as the hog turned to face up they eared it. I personally love that. It's intelligence to me. Myself and the guys that hunt with me have witnessed some pretty amazing happenings with thinking type catch dogs.

[warrent423]

I catch with cur dogs. I want a dog to catch smart, not suicidal. Attempt to anchor when told and then get out when told.

[t-dog]

The dog I started my family of dogs with was what I would call middle ground of these two styles. You would have liked him Gary. He was a 90 pound freak of nature. As fast and agile as any 35 or 40 pounder and probably faster. To this day, I've never seen or hunted with a dog that fast. It was incredible to see. That's how hard he was going when he hit a hog too. I can't count the hogs, and not little hogs, that I saw up ended on impact. Hogs that would be flat of their side and struggling to get up with him eared up when I layed hands on them. So many times though, he wouldn't actually catch the hog when he initially hit. It would knock both him and the hog down, especially on the bigger ones. He was so athletic though that he would be up and caught before the hog could recover. As hard as he went though, he was still a thinker and a super good natured dog. He had good years left in him when I quit hunting him because he knock all his teeth out with his style. He still caught and held but I was too attached to chance wasting him. I'm glad I chose to do that or I wouldn't be where I am now with my family of dogs. Not all, but a majority of the dogs I've seen get teeth knocked out or pulled, did so by catching on top of the head or across the snout. Sometimes that is a prefered spot for a dog and sometimes it's just what the dog got to first or even all it could get ahold of. That tooth to bone thing doesn't usually work too well. I've seen them yanked out when jaw catching and on the initial engagement too. The ear is the best leverage and least likely to pull teeth, especially if they get that ear back in their jaw deep.

[t-dog]

Do you send the cur catch dog or do your dogs catch on command when baying?

[warrent423]

My dogs will catch on command. Handle on a dog is extremely important to me. Could be the best dog around, but if it don't handle it ain't worth a piss to me.

[Judge peel]

I like a cur cd I have a few I use as cd. And I got some cur that will catch if you encourage them but they usually figure that out on there own lol. You can get a good bulldog to do most of that with just a little bit of work. I like em with that fire but you have to go about it the right way to let the dog understand what your asking


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[DavidTBH]

I like a cd to shut up!! Sit down! And mind! Ive had one that would ease in and i like that more i think but i have a hard head in training that likes to fire in. Cant say either way bothers me if you catch good but i definilty like to be able to slow down and ease in. And if you say one word after its tied or dispatched im all over that dog like stink on number 2. Were still working on that part

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[t-dog]

Lol, that screaming, whining, crying, chewing, snatching, clawing, barking and growling stuff is a major turn off for me.

[gary fuller]

tdog, it sounds like i would have loved that dog,lol. and even more to have 2 exactly like that all the time. as for many years my huntin partners pack at times didnt have ruff dogs so lot of time on a good boar the only dog holdin was the bulldog.

The dog I started my family of dogs with was what I would call middle ground of these two styles. You would have liked him Gary. He was a 90 pound freak of nature. As fast and agile as any 35 or 40 pounder and probably faster. To this day, I've never seen or hunted with a dog that fast. It was incredible to see. That's how hard he was going when he hit a hog too. I can't count the hogs, and not little hogs, that I saw up ended on impact. Hogs that would be flat of their side and struggling to get up with him eared up when I layed hands on them. So many times though, he wouldn't actually catch the hog when he initially hit. It would knock both him and the hog down, especially on the bigger ones. He was so athletic though that he would be up and caught before the hog could recover. As hard as he went though, he was still a thinker and a super good natured dog. He had good years left in him when I quit hunting him because he knock all his teeth out with his style. He still caught and held but I was too attached to chance wasting him. I'm glad I chose to do that or I wouldn't be where I am now with my family of dogs. Not all, but a majority of the dogs I've seen get teeth knocked out or pulled, did so by catching on top of the head or across the snout. Sometimes that is a prefered spot for a dog and sometimes it's just what the dog got to first or even all it could get ahold of. That tooth to bone thing doesn't usually work too well. I've seen them yanked out when jaw catching and on the initial engagement too. The ear is the best leverage and least likely to pull teeth, especially if they get that ear back in their jaw deep.

[t-dog]

Gary everyone that ever hunted or socialized with him loved him. He was special in a 100 different ways. The rednose has one that is real similar  by the way he has been reporting his progress to me (he's a great great grandson 2 or 3 times over). I thought at one time he was my once in a lifetime catch dog, but I think his grandson may actually have been even better. Style being the biggest difference. Simba had one speed where Vegas had several. It was a caught hog when you pointed and aimed either of them. They just didn't miss much.

[TheRednose]

The one I have now is exactly how Judge described it, with that "fire". Just a ball of fast twitch muscles waiting to explode on something. He is pretty high strung but the good thing is he is very intelligent and really wants to please so he listens really well. He has a long way to go but so far so good. He is a super good looking dog as well, big buckskin. Back when I was into gamedogs I raised a lot of dogs off Mayday or closely  related and this dog reminds me so much of them though he is not related in anyway but just with a better attitude toward other dogs.