Getting a dog to get out there.

[dallas22]

How does someone get there young dog to range out with out an older dog or is that the only way?

[Muddogkennels]

It's more bred in the dogs to range out  . But a older dog helps and mock hunts do too but just feed it tracks it either has what it takes or it dose not.  Some just take Time.

[Bowhunter1994]

That ^


Sonny

[T-Bob Parker]

ITs mostly genetics in my opinion, BUT, heres a helpful suggestion:

You need to have a honey hole of sorts, a place where you can consistently find hogs and hog sign, if they stand and fight instead of running like crazy, that's real helpful. Now, take a pup or two at a time. too many and they'll just play and set themselves back in the long run. find smoking hot hog sign, a wallow, a rub, under a feeder, and walk that pup into it, turn him loose only when you know he smells it and wants to find the hog. lettem go, lettem find the hog and lettem bay it for a durn long while. do this often, and do it for a good long time, till you take the young dog to a craphole spot with no sign and it consistently leaves out exited looking for sign.

[hoghunter71409]

I have an 11 year old Catahoula gyp that came out of Sherry Bando baypen stock.  Not bred to range out all- I dont think. 

She was raised and trained with hounds and she can range out with the best of the curs (and she dont open on track).

Im not going to say it is always bred in them, sometimes it can be learned....if you are having a problem getting a pup to range out, try hunting htem with a hound that opens now and then.

[Judge peel]

Open hound will get them out little further even better if they have bayed before

[HogHunter1989]

From experience I'm pretty sure it's bred in them

[Reuben]

take the pup to the woods and turn it loose in a good spot and stay for 20-30 minutes, ignore the pup and see if he/she rolls out...it is mostly a genetic trait to range or hang out...

[Reuben]

hunt slow so the dogs can be thorough about checking the area...moving too fast will shorten the range on most dogs and they learn to run hotter tracks...hunting at a slower pace and stopping to let the dogs work out a track and constantly reading the dogs and working with them...and the dogs will range further, take colder tracks and will be more thorough...and they will also know once they take a track and run the hog you will be following...works for one dog or a pack...just good ole dog handling goes a long ways...

[blakebh]

I know it's not possible for everyone, but I see much more hunt in pups I let run loose around the house until they are 6 8 months. Especially if you have a yard dog that likes to hunt that they can learn from. My grown yard dogs hunt anything that moves. Lol I think it just gives them a head start as opposed to just letting them sit in a pen or on a chain. JMO I also believe its bred in them, they have it or they don't in my experience but letting them run loose helps if you can. 

[ED BARNES]

Heres an article i wrote about this, originally appeared in the August 2013 issue of Tuskers magazine


Seems like a lot of folks are talking about range these days, and all too often I see range confused with bottom. So lets start by getting our terms in order. Range is how far a dog will travel looking for sign of a critter to give chase. Bottom is how long the dog will chase that deer. Lol. Not the same thing. If you want to see a dog's range, it's pretty easy, take the dog to a place where you know there are no hogs, not even a week old track. The distance that dog hunts, looking for sign, is its range. Some dogs won't leave your feet no matter, and some dogs will be in the next county, running, who knows if they're hunting, but they are running!
     Everyone wants that long range dog... 'til they get him and wear out boots and truck tires chasing him all over god's green earth! Everyone's got a different idea of what long range means. To the guy whose boot toe smells like a dog's rear end, long range might be 100 yards. For me when I say long range, I am talking about a dog that gets out hunting 1000 plus yards. I call medium range 300 - 500 yds, and close range is 100 yds or so. As for what is best, well that depends on how you hunt and the terrain, property size, how gritty your dogs are, and so on. I prefer a medium range dog, but I have yet to own one, seems the medium range dogs always end up getting talked into going long range by the older dogs. Tracy and I hunt long range dogs for the most part, and they are loose baying dogs. I have seen long range rough dogs, but with the high price of dog food, I'll pass! Besides, where you gonna put the dog box when the whole bed of the truck is full of staple guns?
     The next big question I hear all the time is, "How do I get my dog to range out?" Again, a lot of the time this is a confusion of terms, and what is really meant is "How do I get my dog to hunt?" If you want your dog to range out you first have to start with a dog that has the drive to hunt. Once you have a dog that wants to hunt it is just a matter of teaching the dog to hunt the way you want him to. But you can't put hunt in a dog, so there is no sense is banging your head against a wall.  1. Don't start the dog too young. You don't want a pup out there just running, trying to keep up, and this often leads to babbling. 2. If you have a long range dog already you can kennel this new dog with the dog that hunts the way you like. They'll be running buddies. 3. Keep your mouth shut! When you are in the woods don't pay the dog ANY attention if its hanging around making sure a hog don't ambush you. I try my best to not even make eye contact with the dog. With a new dog

I will tolerate this hanging around for 5 or 6 hunts. I call them free hunts. 4. You've give the dog some free hunts to hang around, you've ignored him and grudgingly accepted the slack your huntin' buddy gave you. Now it's time to get this dog out of your sight and get your buddy's mouth shut.  This works best in the spring when the sap is up, you get you a fresh green sappling like grandma whooped you with and you brush the fleas off the dogs backside with it. Don't try to kill the dog, just let him know you are less than pleased with his effort. This may seem obvious, but I've seen it, don't call the dogs name, or pet him and then get him with the sappling! Lol. If the dog has any sense he will get away from the big ugly man with the stick. He may just sulk in the brush, barely out of sight, that's fine, leave him be. Everything is going according to plan if you can't see him. We usually give the dogs a "GET IN THERE" when we cast, so as the dog is running away from you give him a command that he will learn means get out of my sight and find a hog. I guess it don't really matter what you say, you could tell em to "GET OFF THEIR TWINKLE TOES". After one or two "treatments" all you usually have to do is hit your leg with the sappling. 5. You need to cast your dogs! So many times I see guys just open dog box doors and let dogs pile out. One goes over here to empty out, one marks the tire of the truck, one is still asleep in the box, two are over here jump starting your breeding program, and one went hunting but the other dogs didn't notice. When you take dogs out of the box and snap them, you have control. You can take those 3 dogs that know how to hunt and point them to the creek bottom where you think there are hogs and cast them. This gets all the dogs going at once, hopefully in the same direction, and the likelihood of that new dog going with them is greatly improved. Number 6,7, and 8 are patience. Patience means giving the dog a chance to learn, but it don't mean wasting time and dog food. Dogs are like people, (just slightly more admirable). Not everyone can be good at everything with practice. I could practice dancing with the best coach for the rest of my life and still look like I was getting stung by bees.
     So I hope if anyone out there is wanting their dog to range out this has helped a bit. I'm no expert, these are just a few of the tricks that were taught to me, and a few that I learned by ruining what would have otherwise been a great dog in more capable hands.

[Reuben]

excellent post ED...

I see lots of folks talk about range and I agree with you...quite a few folks confuse range with bottom or stick...

A medium range dog with a good nose is about perfect in my eyes as well...I don't give a dog much chance to range out...either they are born with it or not...I want a dog that does it naturally...breeding for natural ability is where it's at...

you could pay me 10 million dollars to paint the best picture and I will never do it...but a brother of mine can paint one on his lunch break in about 15 or 20 minutes just killing time...he took after my father in that department and I didn't...it is natural and a dog that is born with it just excels in it...


long range dogs...I have had them to and they can find lots of hogs pretty quick and they go straight from the dog box to the chain and all are pointed in the right direction and they are turned out last...sometimes have to let them run along side wheeler on leash to cut some of the edge off...hunting for dogs instead of hogs sucks for me...

medium range dogs that hunt with me is the way I like my dogs...these dogs will keep ranging out if we don't move out or stop too long...but as long as we are idling along they are checking in on their way to the other side...

some folks don't mind investing lots of time in a dog...but I see it as a trait that will be passed along...I don't have much room for dogs so I want dogs that are all around for the traits I like as well as for breeding...and improving the bloodline...at least when breeding my own I know what I have...no rose colored glasses here...and the right range is very important to me...

Like you I give the pup a short while to pick up on range and I use every trick I know to make him/her range...

another confusion that so many have is thinking the dog is ranging/hunting when in fact the dog is a good me too dog...take that dog alone and those same folks will wonder why ole fido is having a bad day... 

[Judge peel]

Good read guys I don't like to rangy of a dog 2 to 6 is where I like mine. Bottom is more important to me but some times it can be overwhelming cuz we hunt on foot most of the time. One of my dogs will go till he bays period this can be two miles or twenty but with my rough dogs if we stay close 1/2 mile or so we usely can stop em fast after that swore feet will fallow 

[ED BARNES]

Reuben, I get what you're saying about breeding. I have had great results with dogs picked up off the road, accidental breeding  and mutts from non hunting stock, actually better luck than with so called high nerd hog dogs. In the nature vrs nurture debate I land on nurture side. I think WHAT a man does with a dog has a bigger influence on making a dog than  WHAT the dog is. Not trying to stir pot just discuss

[Reuben]

I respect that...but I can't nurture a  basset hound to win the big race against a well bred greyhound that is nurtured to race...a dog that is born to range, born to wind and track, born to know where to find range that has the right equipment with the right nurturing/training will make a better dog in my opinion...but that long post you posted is really a very good one and I about agree with all you wrote...

[ED BARNES]

Lol! Good point... I stay away from bassetts and greyhounds

[thegroundskeeper]

This may have already been suggested but, I always put my young puppies (less than 9 months old) in kennels with my bush burners. Obviously I separate them at feeding times.  I also make sure my younger dogs get in the dog box with a rangy dog.  I just try to make them buddies and 9-10 times it seems to work.  The younger dogs just want to go with the older dogs, then one day you look up and the younger dogs are further than the older ones. 

[Judge peel]

Ed barns I feel the same on the mutts and high bred dogs I think a lot of people get to wraped up in breeding and genetics. A dog is a living creature does what it wants to do we can only guid it like a flowing river.                Groundskeeper those are some good methods to go by I have seen it help more times than not just whish I could learn a way to teach bottom lol

[Bowhunter1994]

Very good thread!


Sonny

[thegroundskeeper]

Judge, I agree about bottom and I have no answer for that.   It's all about heart and desire at the point!