Has anyone tried Karelian Bear Dogs on hogs in the U.S.

[Boondock Saints Kennels]

I have known about the breed for a while now, It just never accured to me that they could be used on hogs, intell I was thinking about what Plotts were bred for, so I looked them up on the internet, and lo and behold, they have been used on hogs in Finland and Russia!. They are a black and white spitz breed from Finland, that is suposed to be a real tough dog, that they hunt Bear, Moose, and Wild Boar with there. I met one once in Missoula Montana a few years ago, they are impressive dogs.

[TexasLacy]

I don't know how that breed could tolerate the heat where I live...

[KevinN]

X2. They have a thick coat from what I remember. Saw a show on tv, a lady park ranger used one or two in her work.

[Purebreedcolt]

I got to reading about them in fur fish and game magazine. Which I suggest to anyone that likes reading trapping and hunting storys.  There is a good breeder in Tennessee if memory serves me and a few others around.   

[T-Bob Parker]

Honest to god, not being rude, just asking. Why do you have so much interest in off brand hog dogs?

I have always thought, someone could go around Houston and pick up every stray they got their hands on and with plenty of work you could make a pack. That ain't for me, but it could be done.

[hoghunter71409]

Boondock,  I dont know the answer to your question about using them here in the US for hogs but here is what I do know.  There are a couple of guys from Sweeden that used the Karelian dogs on bears for many years...they are not using them in Sweeded anymore on bears.  They are not buying Plotts from the US (from a friend of mine) and taking them back to Sweeden to hunt bears. 

I guess you could bring them here..they may or may not work; but like somebody else mentioned, there are a lot of dogs around that would work....for free.

[Boondock Saints Kennels]

I am was just curious about it, from what I have read about them they are silent on trail and bring the game back toward you, instead of away from you, and my question was about hog hunting, not bear hunting, its pretty well known that Plotts are the one to have for bear hunting. As far as your coment on free dog is concerned, to each his own! some are breeders at heart, and take pride in the dogs that they produce, and others could care less, its just the hunt that matters to them, its obvious your the latter, more power to Ya! but dont knock others because they dont feel the same as you. I am one of those guys thats always trying to figure out a way to build a better mouse trap, you might think that Im a fool,
so be it, but without guys like me, there would be no pure bred dogs today.

[djhogdogger]

 I guess they could work a hog but I think that they would have their drawbacks.
 They seem to have a thick coat. In my part of the country the thin coated curs  even have a hard time in the heat here. Then there is the problem of briars and burs getting stuck in a fuzzy coat.

[CentralTex 254]

I like to prove that other dogs can be used as well. Like wiemi and rotts to ridgbacks. If you can ever get them to turn on its game time. Wiemis I have noticed usually won't turn on but they got a heck of a nose and a great guard dog , believe it or not, lol. I've seen some decent rotts out there and I hunt with a ridgeback Bmc best dog I've ever had. So I say go for it. If it doesn't work then take the loss and move on

[Boondock Saints Kennels]

Amen to that, you never know unless you try it.

[Boondock Saints Kennels]

Im curious about a Karelian/Mtn Cur cross, it could turn out real good.

[TexasLacy]

I like to prove that other dogs can be used as well. Like wiemi and rotts to ridgbacks. If you can ever get them to turn on its game time. Wiemis I have noticed usually won't turn on but they got a heck of a nose and a great guard dog , believe it or not, lol. I've seen some decent rotts out there and I hunt with a ridgeback Bmc best dog I've ever had. So I say go for it. If it doesn't work then take the loss and move on

Maybe its just me, but I have seen ridgebacks, and crosses of them used as often as curs growing up.  I think a lot about that breed, pretty good all around dogs if you ask me.

[Boondock Saints Kennels]

I believe your right, another cross that I am thinking about is half Ridgeback and half Bird/Bull! what do you think?.

[TexasLacy]

I believe your right, another cross that I am thinking about is half Ridgeback and half Bird/Bull! what do you think?.

I think it'd be a touch too much catch.  I'd like to see 5/8 bird, 1/4 ridgeback 1/8 pit.  That sounds like a good nose, good bottom, and just the right amount of grit to me.

[SCHitemHard]

i could see northern states using them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp-eaTbVfLY&feature=related

but if it was me id just get a kurdish kangal and call it a day

[OWL Black Mouth Curs]

if you an get your hands on any old full cry magzines, they have a laika column.

i'm not to familiar with them other than what little i skimmed over about them in those old full crys. they are similiar, i beleive to the karelian bear dogs. if they were as good or better than the breeds we already use, i'd bet there would be more people using them on a regular basis. heat torelance over the southern tier of the U.S. would likley be a problem with these type of dogs.

i haven't read a current issue of full cry in years, but they were in the old ones of ten to twenty years ago...

[hoghunter71409]

Boondock, I didn't mean to push your button, if I made you mad I appologize.  Well if you know much at all about plotts, a lot of them are used on both bears and hogs.  The reason the guys from Sweeden started using the plotts was becuase they has more stick and bottom than the Karelian dogs.  That would be enough for me to not want one myself.  If you can get one of the Karelian dogs to bring a hog back to you let me know.  Maybe you can get them to bring the hogs right to the trailer.  Based on your comment, it looks like you are thinking about several different crosses.  Every cross may have dogs that work and dogs that dont work  To really find out if you have something, you have to stick with the cross and cull.  Then it is a breeding thing from there and you have to be comitted...if you are thinking of trying a lot of things than it sounds to me like you may not be in it for the long haul commitment.

[TexasLacy]

Boondock, I didn't mean to push your button, if I made you mad I appologize.  Well if you know much at all about plotts, a lot of them are used on both bears and hogs.  The reason the guys from Sweeden started using the plotts was becuase they has more stick and bottom than the Karelian dogs.  That would be enough for me to not want one myself.  If you can get one of the Karelian dogs to bring a hog back to you let me know.  Maybe you can get them to bring the hogs right to the trailer.  Based on your comment, it looks like you are thinking about several different crosses.  Every cross may have dogs that work and dogs that dont work  To really find out if you have something, you have to stick with the cross and cull.  Then it is a breeding thing from there and you have to be comitted...if you are thinking of trying a lot of things than it sounds to me like you may not be in it for the long haul commitment.

Not trying to start chit or anything, just wanted to say my point of view on this particular topic.

From what I have read of BDS's posts, I understand him to be a reputable breeder of game bred pits.  It takes a lot of patience to deal with pits as they are very stubborn.  That being said, I would consider him to have the wherewithal and endurance to follow through with a breeding program.  I see it as him asking advice on which crosses would be a good start, like doing research before he takes off and goes headfirst into it.  Because the majority of his posts that I have read seem to do with trying to break into this sport. 

Just saying.

[treeingratterrier]

Honest to god, not being rude, just asking. Why do you have so much interest in off brand hog dogs?

I have always thought, someone could go around Houston and pick up every stray they got their hands on and with plenty of work you could make a pack. That ain't for me, but it could be done.

 


Many many a time when hogs first started showing up down here in the 70's we went by the pound and took 5 dogs out of it and went straight to a hog pen, any dog that barked at the penned hog and tryed to get in at it stayed at the ranch, the rest we took back to the pound, peeps still do it every day i am thinking, think about how many black mouth curs, hounds, leps, cats lacys are in Texas dog pounds, if somebody had it together they would get every dog pound online and link them up so hunters could surf the pound dogs for hog dogs, you have a way better chance of getting a good dog as from some of these $1000 a puppy mills where the owner does not own one hog dog or has ever shot one with a gunLOL   My folks got mad as hell when they found out we were using cowdogs for hogs, they were worth too much money to run on hogs in there minds and they did not want us hunting day and night as welllol

[Boondock Saints Kennels]

Thank's Texas Lacy, and Hoghunter 71409, you did push my buttons a little, and I appologize for coming off the way I did. I am getting tired of people saying, you can go to the pound and get all the free dogs you want, the last I heard it was $70.00 to adopt a dog from the pound, and they are fixed before you can adopt them!. And more than likely, theye are someone else's culls!. I am going to be in it for the duration!!! I have learned alot about breeding dogs from having game bred Pits for the last thirty years, and I have made a few mistakes in the process, and that is what I am trying to avoid!. I love all dogs, but Pits will always have a special place in my heart, whenever I look at another breed, I say to myself if it was crossed with a Pit it would be a better dog. I plan on breeding my Pits to Scottish Deerhounds, my minds made up on that!. I like Plotts better than any of the other hounds, or curs, I would love to breed 50/50 Plott/Pits for my other dogs, and cull! cull! cull!, I still might, its just that I keep reading on this forum that they would be to rough. Its kind of depressing, that is why I keep throwing out these other crosses and asking about them.