Advise on my Strike dog!!

[make-em-squeel]

I have a solid 4 yr old cur, he is a sure enough strike dog hunts hard making 4-900 yd circles and stays with the track from there. 4 to 5 times in the past 6 weeks he has kept hogs bayed for 2 hrs until we could get to him. 2 of those times as the lead in catch dog got to him the boar broke and he of coarse was a mile away again within 5 min. despite me calling him in to me and I would have much rather had him on a lead and been headed home as it was at the end of the hunt (had wk in a few hrs.) already killed a few and was worn out. SOOO... For x-mas i got a shock collar system and despite my 1st concern being to not hurt my dogs bottom end and hunting style I would love for him to come to me when I call him off a track or when bay breaks etc.  Part of me says leave it alone, part of me says the best cow dogs can be called off cows and still have good work ethic etc. I was going to start around the house in non hunting times for training then use it for loading up then for the rare time i am ready to go home before he is. ?? Please Educate me!

[Pecos21]

Well this subject will have many different opinions be expressed. I am a fan of a shock collar if it is used correctly.....often times though it is not. And every dog will react to it differently, so it matters not how anybody on here has done it before....that dog will handle it different......

My advice would be this....obviously start on the lowest setting and, if needed, gradually step up. But just putting a shock collar on a dog is not putting a handle on a dog. That takes time outside the hunting environment in everyday situations. Once that handle is established it will carry over to the woods.

Having said that......if a hog breaks while a bay is on....a good dog's natural instinct is to go with it.....that is what we want them to do....right? So reprimanding him for going with a hog, in my opinion, is not a good thing. If you are worn out and have caught hogs already, I would go ahead and catch my dogs up and go. You know everytime you go out, there is the chance you are going to be out late. There have been times I have gone hunting and I had enough time to go home shower and head to work with no sleep.....but I made the decision to turn them back loose after we had already caught hogs. So use caution when using the collar. It sounds like you have a good and solid strike dog, not sure if I would risk it with him. I might try it on the younger dogs for the future.....

[make-em-squeel]

Yea that post is about what I feel like, he is a stange dog but bad to the bone. He is so hard to catch because as soon as the hog is handled he immediately roles off...comes back if nothing is around but if there is..... He may just become my wkend dog.

[the real McCoy]

I warned u about ben I guess after a year he finally trust u good luck grant!

[Silverton Boar Dogs]

I practice calling my dogs off hogs at the bay pen. I have a small hog pen and the dogs bay from the outside they can't get in side with the hogs. I will send some young dogs back there (its a couple hundred yards from my house) to get bayed up and leave them until they are tired, about an hour. I will walk back there and talk to them a little bit and get there attention and call them off and back to me. I might crack my whip a time or two and if need be I will get between them and the hog an forcefully call them out by name. When they come out I will send them to water and hold them with me for a while until they relax and settle. If one breaks back to the hog I will make a big deal of getting him back, lots of noise and whip until he is under my feet and on his back and then lots of positive attention. You might be able to use the Shock collar in a similar way but I have never used one so I don't know. Positive attention is a big deal here, and repitition do it over and over and over. Its the noise of the whip not the touch of it.

I never try and call my dogs off a running hog or cow. I wait for a settled bay and then call them out. A crack of my whip or gun shot will usually call them out right a way if they are in ear shot.

It is easier to get them broke like this on cattle and that's what I do with all my dogs. Send them to hold up some cattle get settled and call them out, I may need to ride in to them and crack the whip and take possession of the cattle myself and send them away. but I can then follow them and take them to water and rest and then send them back to the cattle and repeat and repeat and repeat. A dog must respect you and therefore the whip or gun shot. The dogs must call out by name, accept nothing less, In the dogs mind you have taken possession of the hog/cow and they must return to you at once and yield.  Will this work with the shock collar? I don't know, I want the dog to yeild to me personaly not just take a hit from a collar.

[chainrated]

I would never shock a dog while he's running a hog, period. A shock collar is a great tool and makes a lot of things in training a dog a lot easier, mainly trash breaking. Think about it like this , how do you trash break a dog with a shock collar? You wait till he runs something you don't want him to and you zap him a little.. I wouldn't even think about taking that chance.. But that is only my opinion..

[southsidehunter]

 Well said chainrated

[TexasHogDogs]

If you try to shock him off hogs to come back to you,  your chances of ruining the dog are very very high.  A shock collar is a breaking tool and it will do just that as fast on hogs as it will on trash.   I would never use a shock collar on one of my dogs to get him to break off the hog.   Two choices either leave him alone which he is already a good dog and deal with it are find yourself another dog to suit your needs  but if you go to shocking him just because you are ready to go home he will never understand that and why you are doing it and IMO you will ruin him in a hurry .   I have seen good dogs go south with this method and in a  hurry.  Chainrated is right on the money.

[jdt]

you can ruin a dog real easy with a collar . the trick is in this situation is to not shock him for running a hog but for not listening to your command . i  dont use an e collar to train with , only to reinforce what has already been taught , the same as the whip or gun .

            timing is everything .

[Txhoghunter]

The way I see it, thats part of running dogs. If you want to have sure enough good dogs that will stay with one all night, you better be ready to stay all night chasing him. Otherwise get you some junk dogs off the net and you'll be home early. 

[craig]

dont do anything  , i will trade you some quiters for him 

seriously i wouldnt try and shock him off , like others have said chances of getting him all jacked up are very high.

now if you want to train him to call out on a bay( not on a track of a hog that has just broke) you might start working around the house like some of the other guys adviced.

good luck     

[jbhuntin]

This may sound funny but when we hunt with some long range long winded dogs that don't want to come back to us we just make Justin do a pig squeal and that makes them come back.  Don't know if that helps but he does one good immitation of a pig squeal and it's loud enough to call the dogs back.  I wouldn't want to shock my dogs on the trail I agree with Silverton try working him either in a pen or in the woods getting him to come back to you but shocking him has a very high chance of ruining him  

[mudhog24]

sound like you got a good dog and i think if you want him to strike just be ready for a long run or walk we all have been there ready to go and bam... got another one bayed up but it part of hunting try leashing him up and letting other dogs strike then turn him loose ....


IT IS HARD TO TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS LOL.....


he is set in his ways and i would rather have a dog running and on that hog than to give up and come back

just be carefull shocking that dog might ruin him

[george]

Some shock collars have a tone feature. My dogs respond to the tone most of the time and dont need to be shocked. Just my 2 cents worth.

[TexasHogDogs]

I was going to say the same thing George I have trained some dogs to come back at the sound of the beep on the shock collar.

[Bryant]

It's a heck of a lot easier to condition one (whether intentional or not) to stay close and come back than it is to get one to leave and go hunt.

Sounds to me like you just need to leave him alone and let him do what he was bred to do.  Worst case, just pick when and where you turn him out.

[raider54]

Grant dont shock that dog for running a hog just give him to me, Ive got another one just like him, I will stay with him till we catch the hog. I told you last week you have a problem most people wish they had. Dont ruin a good dog with that stupid shock collar.

[scdogman]

I know what you mean.  Dogs like that are a pain in the butt.  I cull everyone i get like that.  But you are in luck,  I just talked to an old boy that is looking for a dog like you have. Now I don't know what he is going to do with him, but I called him and he said he would give maybe 300 dollars and a tracking collar from him.  Let me know quick cause he is looking as we speak for a dog.  I hope he doesn't find one before we can sell yours.  Also, he has some dogs that will always be ready to leave when you r, that he might just trade straight up.    Of course you might need to add some cash, but I maybe be able to work on him for you.


 

[Mike]

You can try working on calling him out in controlled situations... but never, ever shock him off of a hog.

If that doesn't work, you may just have to hunt him when you have plenty of time on your hands.

[make-em-squeel]

Thank yall for the input, I dont believe I will be shocking him, just hunting him at the right time. If I had a baypen in my backyard I would probably do some controlled training but I dont, I live in the city, so I will just make the best of this good problem...Thanks again