Starting Pups

[skoalbandett]

 We started a couple saturdays ago working some 6 and 7 month old pups out of our dogs.  This is these pen raised pups first trip to the woods and the first hog any of them have seen.  We like doing it this way as opposed to starting them in a bay pen. Only problem is, those pen raised pups really dont know much about gettin through the woods, the thick stuff and  briars but they'll learn.

First PIcture is BigO teasing some of the pups with the first pig and gettin em fired up. They pretty well showed thir breedin.  We usually start off on the first pig with a rope and drag on him to get them fired up and where we can kind of controll the situtation at first. After a little bit, we just cut the pigs loose with no drag or rope and give them a head start through the woods.



Second picture was taken after we turned the 2nd pig loose, gave him a  head start then cut the pups to em.  We'll do that each time givin the pig a bigger head start, They went in, found the hog and did a nice job of bayin him for their first time.  One of those pups wants to get a little rough when the pig tries him or tries to break, he's guilty of just catchin one... We worked em again this weekend on 3 pigs and He did the same thing this weekend so I reckon his next challange we'll put him on a 150 lb sow or so and see if that backs him up. I am bettin he'll learn to weight em at least.



This pig made the mistake of starting across a open field,, those two young gyps did a good job of stoppin him, backin up. holding and bayin him. Wont be long and we'll get some bigger pigs to work em on.

[kevin]

They look good.  That rough pup is a hoss.

[bghogdogtx]

Looks like they are well on there way to be some fine dogs.  Keep us posted on the Progress.

[Mike]

Pups look good... watch age do you usually start hunting them with the older dogs?

[a-khunter]

those are some fine lookin pups you got there.  real nice yella dogs.

[Cutter Bay Kennels]

Nice job

[skoalbandett]

Thanks fellows.. We've been startin pups for many years like this and so far We're pretty happy with these 4 at this point. They just have a long way and many miles to go before they get a crown.. lol  

Mike,
 For find, track, stop and bay dogs It’s hard for me to pick a age that’s right for all pups to start . Really I don’t like to make those kinds of decisions purely on age. Pups are just like humans; some mature either mentally and / or physically faster or slower than others for any number of reasons.. I want them both physically and mentally mature enough or close to run with the finished dogs before we hunt them with the big dogs. These pups at 6 and 7 months old aren’t there yet.. We are just wanting to expose them to something they can handle at this point, asses them and look for potential at this point. We’ll see it when one is ready and start  them, one at a time at that point. This is one of the first real culling points for us along the way, these 4  passed so far.

The best general answer I could give you is... about a year or so to start em wtih the finished dogs..

[W-tate]

Them are some dang good lookin yellar dogs  remind me of my gyp she just a littelolder that's how I start my dogs same idea anyways them dogs line breed

[lonewolf]

I sure like them yella dogs!!

[crackerc]

I agree with SkoalBandett about the age of the pups and when to put them in the woods with old dogs. The two pups I have now will be 6 months old the 20th of this month and they are just that...pups. They are nowhere near ready to go to the big woods and possibly get on a fire breathing dragon.

I have messed with them twice with a small hog, like he showed doing, but other than that I am just letting them be pups for now.

I have seen (and owned one or two) young dogs that got ruined by getting hurt by a bad boar at a young age in the woods. I had one pup get wrecked by a 200 lb boar hog at 8 months old. When she recovered 6-8 weeks later she would bay and even catch hogs up to about 100 lbs or so, but if she found a big hog with a lot of fight, she would quit him. If she hadn't been wrecked I don't feel she would have done that.

You just have to be careful as some pups just can't take those rough hogs until they get a little age on them. I want mine to be around for a while, so I start them slow and let them learn what is going on before I hunt them in the big woods with grown dogs. Hopefully by then they have learned some respect from a big sow or young boar I have shown them.......hopefully!