Dogs and vests

[Piglywigly]

I keep hearing about dogs dying and real bad cuts and pokes. My cd got it bad here lately too. I'm just wondering why some of you don't run a vest on your dogs. I understand it can hender the dogs performance, but wouldn't that be better than a dead or cut up dog? Sooner or later even a loose bay dog will be gutted and extremely expensive surgery will be the only option. Wouldn't a good vest be the most logical thing to fix a lot of the problems? Sure a dog can still get cut or killed and maybe a pig or two get away, but I always have more piece of mind going to a long bay. My dogs are like part of the family! You wouldn't throw your daughter out there to fight pigs without a vest would you? I hate dealing with cut dogs. It's time consuming and costly, so why not prevent it as much as possible. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks like this. Just a thought. Good luck.

[Circle C]

Piglywigly,

    I would say different strokes for different folks...

My bay dogs wear tracking collars and name plate collars.  No cut collars and certainly no bay vests. I may be doing it all wrong, but I have only had one baydog require stapling on hundreds of hogs. Now the next hog might get every one of my dogs, but that is a gamble I am willing to take.

    I would like to add that I don't wear a helmet while riding a bike, or playing on four wheelers.  I don't wear my seat belt when operating my tractor, and I don't wear a life preserver when I am floating down the river.  

You wouldn't throw your daughter out there to fight pigs without a vest would you?

in edit,   My bay dogs don't fight pigs, they bay them. My catch dogs that do get up close and personal wear vests.

[bghogdogtx]

I agree that every catch dog should have a vest, but as far as the baydogs mine only have a cut collar. I havent found one that is made right for a bay dog in my opinon. Its to hot during the summer, Not flexiable enough, etc. 

[coyote hunter]

my pits wear vests and i usually always run 2 pits on a hog 2 help prevent 1 from gettin hurt  but none of my bay dogs wear anything other than a regular collar   ive had 1 bay dog get cut  but didnt stop him from huntin  so i guess its different 4 every1   i dont see why ppl run 1 catch dog  i used 2 until my bro in laws dog almost got killed  now  never less than 2

[boarwild]

This conversation came up the other day.  Dez with horsegate and i got to talking.  For us in South Texas we run very rough curs.  Our bay dogs get cut up just as much or more then our catch dogs.  For now we are running all the protection we can on the good strike dogs and help dogs, and of course all catch dogs.  yes during the summer it makes it much harder but we do basicly only hunt at night in the cooler hours.  We need our stike dogs to be able to put teeth on a pig quickly, and be able to hold it by thereselves for a bit, so with that said we in a perfect world would have some sort of vest on all of our dogs.  Last weekend however is a perfect example that you can have everything you want on a dog and it not matter.  We had a vest and a cut collar on one of the good cur dogs, and he didn't make it out.  As Dez said they don't run as rough dogs as we do, so they don't put vest on there strike dogs.  if you have a need to have rough cur dogs then i guess there is a need to protect more, and if you don't have a need for rough curs then i guess protection is not the most important thing you worry about.   i say our dogs, but for now they are my buddies being mine are just pups, but he still does everything he can to protect them.   

[Piglywigly]

I agree with you boarwild. In summer months it's complicated. I guess some folks have different ways of hunting.

Circle C, you should really look into wearing your seatbelt while driving your car!

Well, it's a big gamble for sure! I have a few strike dogs I can't replace. They're pretty loose too. They will 90% of the time be in a vest.

Good luck to you guys who take the gamble. Vet bills are tough.

[Piglywigly]

There's nothing more that I hate, than to get to the bay and 2 or 3 dogs are cut bad. Screws up the entire hunt for us. Sooner or later a dog is gonna get cut bad. When it happens, I think most will agree, they wish they could go back and put a vest on that dog or dogs. I know a guy recently who just spent 8 grand on vet bills. He could have bought 2 6 dog tracking systems and shock collars to go with them. Ask him now if he would of vested those dogs before the hunt started.

[Circle C]

Circle C, you should really look into wearing your seatbelt while driving your car! angel

Pigly,
   I never said anything about a car...I did mention my tractor

[Piglywigly]

Yeah, I was trying to cheat! You caught me.

Good luck with your dogs.

[Mike]

I understand it can hender the dogs performance, but wouldn't that be better than a dead or cut up dog? Sooner or later even a loose bay dog will be gutted and extremely expensive surgery will be the only option.

A dog that can't move and perform will get cut up. A bay vest won't stop a dog from getting gutted. A bay dog in a full catch vest is a disaster waiting to happen... can't move, heat stroke, getting hung up, drowning, etc...


My bay dogs only hit the ground with tracking collars on... i'll continue to "gamble".

[Piglywigly]

I understand it can hender the dogs performance, but wouldn't that be better than a dead or cut up dog? Sooner or later even a loose bay dog will be gutted and extremely expensive surgery will be the only option.

A dog that can't move and perform will get cut up. A bay vest won't stop a dog from getting gutted. A bay dog in a full catch vest is a disaster waiting to happen... can't move, heat stroke, getting hung up, drowning, etc...


My bay dogs only hit the ground with tracking collars on... i'll continue to "gamble".

I run a 3 layer vest with 4 layers up front. It's Kevlar sandwiched between cordur, which is briar and water resistant. Also, it has a polyfelt chest plate. The dogs move and swim well with them. They rarely get caught up. These vest have never been cut through. I surely don't see a dog getting gutted anytime soon. Nothing seems to be pig proof though. I only hunt at night in the summer and those are usually the cooler nights after a good rain. Heat is never really an issue. Not saying it couldn't happen though.

[t.wilbanks]

I understand it can hender the dogs performance, but wouldn't that be better than a dead or cut up dog? Sooner or later even a loose bay dog will be gutted and extremely expensive surgery will be the only option.

A dog that can't move and perform will get cut up. A bay vest won't stop a dog from getting gutted. A bay dog in a full catch vest is a disaster waiting to happen... can't move, heat stroke, getting hung up, drowning, etc...


My bay dogs only hit the ground with tracking collars on... i'll continue to "gamble".

I run a 3 layer vest with 4 layers up front. It's Kevlar sandwiched between cordur, which is briar and water resistant. Also, it has a polyfelt chest plate. The dogs move and swim well with them. They rarely get caught up. These vest have never been cut through. I surely don't see a dog getting gutted anytime soon. Nothing seems to be pig proof though. I only hunt at night in the summer and those are usually the cooler nights after a good rain. Heat is never really an issue. Not saying it couldn't happen though.

how far back on the dogs does your vest go? I dont see a bay vest protecting them from getting gutted. Most vest only go about halfway down the back of the dog, with alot of area left open.  The way i see it, when a hog charges a dog, most dogs are going to turn and run alittle ways back, or jump to the side to avoid the hog, and thats when they are most vulnerable to get gutted. Therefore, the vest doesnt serve much of a purpose of protection, and may just be a hazard for the dog to move away, especially in the thick stuff the hogs love to go to. JMO

[joe lebleu]

I think it's part of the game jmo. If u catching hogs ur dogs will get cut no matter what u do.

All i run on my bay dogs is a tracking collar my cd is fully protected. I lost one of my cd's last
year that had a vest and cut collar. The hog stuck him behind the vest and gutted him the vet
worked on him for 8 hours and i still lost him so now i look at it as its (part of the game).

[Piglywigly]

I run a longer bay vest. Doesn't mean the pig can't hit an artery in the front or back leg. However, when the catch dog catches or misses, and the bay dogs rush in, they are waaay more protected. I've seen hogs run in some thick brush and turn around and wait on dogs to come in. Reguardless, they can't move and I would much rather have a vest deflecting blows to the front and sides of my dogs than to have no protection. Jmo...

[boarwild]

hopefully i don't make anyone mad with this response, but this conversation is like trying to beat a dead hog with a stick.  Personal preference, way of hunting, weather and your dog in my opinion are what decide rather you run a vest or not.  We run vest on most of our dogs and don't lose very many dogs.  Two dogs in the past two years with some high pig numbers, and one of those dogs was accidently ran over on a main road.  its going to happen and i don't care what you do to protect a dog.  This is JMO though.  

[Piglywigly]

Well put!

[t.wilbanks]

 its going to happen and i don't care what you do to protect a dog.   

x2 like joe said, its all part of the game.

[Lockedon]

We used to run vest on the bay dogs until one got hung up in a creek and drown.  All bay vest are hanging in storage now.

[sdillard]

Lockedon u should sell me them bay vest if u aint goin to use them, lol

[makenbeans]

I think it boils down to what style of dog your running.
I own a gritty cur. I run a bay vest with a cut collar and he still gets his fair share of tusk.