ruining a dog?

[Matt D]

i can only say what we do at my house . dogs that want to be somebody are kept on a chain ... else they will get shot for harassing the neighbors stock 1/2 mile away .

X2

[Reuben]

Easy answer!  Anytime you leave a dog loose, especially if they are young and not trained yet, they get to let all their energy out in the back yard. If they are kenneled or on a chain, they build up energy and frustration to get out and work. I believe the pups should stay kenneled until it is time to train. This lets me know that they will give all their energy to the task at hand.

x2...I use hunger and boredoom in my favor for training and getting the best out of a pup...but a hunting dog gets 1/3 ration before a long hunt...

[bullet72]

ive got young and old dogs we cant have a hog within sight or sound range or they will slip collars climb kennels.healthy dogs "in shape will show some features" quality dog food is a important ,i feed at 5 pm orso if im hunting their not eating till we get back. my opinion everyones is different.

[TexasLacy]

I feed twice a day during the week.  Each dog gets 2 cups and 2 eggs around 6am, and 2 cups and 2 eggs around 7pm.  On hunting days, they get a cup of food before we load up and a larger meal when we get home.  If its a successful trip to the woods, I'll break them out some donuts when we get home.

We will see this Saturday if the ybmc hunts better for me.  And on a side note, the Lacy has started to open up when she is beside the cur dog at bay.  Hopefully she will follow the other dogs instead of staying up my butt at the buggy. 

[tnhillbilly]

What are you feeding? If I fed mine that much, they wouldn't be so fat they couldn't walk.

[TexasLacy]

The blue bag from heb, forget the name of it.

[tnhillbilly]

I hate this phon ???e, mine "would" be very overweight if i fed that much, is what I meant. I feed sportmix black bag, and feed probly half of that once a day, and dogs are getting fatter since its not been so cold.

[TexasLacy]

I just switched to that sportmix 24/20 and they dont care for it much.

[halfbreed]

i ran out of feed once and bought some of that blue heb crap while i was grocery shopping cause it was cheap . if you DON'T feed them twice as much twice a day . they'll drop weight like their dieing off on you . finally had time to go to the feed store and get some sportmix and fed what was left of the heb to the hogs .

[TexasLacy]

i ran out of feed once and bought some of that blue heb crap while i was grocery shopping cause it was cheap . if you DON'T feed them twice as much twice a day . they'll drop weight like their dieing off on you . finally had time to go to the feed store and get some sportmix and fed what was left of the heb to the hogs .

I agree, that heb stuff is crap.  I was in a bind one night late, and bought 100 lbs.  I can't wait for it all to be gone so I can try out the victor feed.  I bought 50lbs of the sportmix couple of days ago and the dogs don't hardly touch it.  It gets eaten eventually, but I don't think they like it much.  I know a guy that has an excess of eggs and I get as many as I want for free, so I try and make the food more appetizing with them, but they eat the eggs out first and avoid that sportmix food like the plague.

[halfbreed]

yeah that was the scanario when i bought the heb working all the time and ran out and bought some just for something to feed till i could get to the feed store . but what the heck the hogs liked it . the sport mix 24/20 is good feed i fed it and sold it for several years . i'm on loanstar 24/20 now bout the same only a little cheaper than sportmix and more conveniant to get from where i am . sometimes switching feed takes em some time to get adjusted to it .

[R.ScHmIdT]

I feed the blue bag sportsmix and feed each dog a large scoop once in the after noon and most of them still look a little drawn up but they get hunted hard Thursday thru Sunday.  Any tips to make them hold a little more weight?  Also a cap or two of red cell on the feed.

[TColt]

I think all dogs are different so different things will work/not work for each particular dog. My advice would be to put them on chains a little ways away from a pig at least until they are older and get things in the woods figured out.

And if your lacy is baying, don't put her in the pen very much. She needs to work to FIND pigs that she can bay. If you got pigs you can put in a bay pen. Drag them off a ways and make the dogs trail them. Your not supposed to find the dogs pigs, they are supposed to find you pigs. Once they get that down, you can work on them knowing what a penned hog is ect.

 Lacys mature very slowly and need to see a lot of hogs. She may not really start coming around till three years old or later. Usually not the best dog for someone just getting started (weather you are or not, I don't know) because they take a lot of patients. But once she comes into her own, it will be worth the wait! For the first couple years, she may be nothin more than a decent help dog.

Don't feed the dogs crappy food, it ends up being more expensive anyways. If they "don't like" the good food, they will end up liking it when they get hungry.

I wouldn't feed at all right before a hunt. Dogs digestive system works different the people's. They are not getting any of the nutrition you feed them right before the hunt, especially from crappy food. I would try and give them extra food 24 hours before the hunt. In your case, extra eggs for the fat content which is good energy.

I'll give you an example of what I do. Say I'm gonna hunt a full weekend. I will feed Friday mornin heavy. Hunt all day sat, feed 1/3 ration (1 cup for my lacy) sat night after done hunting, hunt all day Sunday, feed heavy Sunday night. When I say feed heavy, that may be 1/3-2/3 of extra rations. For my lacy who gets 3 cups on a regular off day, she would get 4 or 5 cups after long hunts. Does she get sucked down a bit on this program? Yes, but she puts it right back on with a couple days off and has no problem goin 40+ miles a day for two days in a row.

This is what I have found out that works best for me. Play around with trying different things till you find what works best for you and your pack. Just get them in the woods in piggy areas as much as possible!