Ridgeback needs Training

[Cull Buck]

Not to derail this thread, but I've talked with a guy that has a very over grown 10 acre high fenced pen that he keeps a couple hogs in and a bay pen attached to it.  He likes to let a cur dog go in the 10 acre pen to find a hog and he uses a catch dog to catch it.  He then ties the hog, takes it to the bay pen and lets his pups get some work in.  On occassion he will let a pup run with an older cur to strike the hog in the pen to simulate a real hunt in a semi-controlled enviroment.  Seems like a heck of a good set up to train all stages of his dogs when he can't get to the woods. 

Any thoughts on a set up like this?

[Mike]

Not to derail this thread, but I've talked with a guy that has a very over grown 10 acre high fenced pen that he keeps a couple hogs in and a bay pen attached to it.  He likes to let a cur dog go in the 10 acre pen to find a hog and he uses a catch dog to catch it.  He then ties the hog, takes it to the bay pen and lets his pups get some work in.  On occassion he will let a pup run with an older cur to strike the hog in the pen to simulate a real hunt in a semi-controlled enviroment.  Seems like a heck of a good set up to train all stages of his dogs when he can't get to the woods. 

Any thoughts on a set up like this?

To me that would be a 100% better than working one in a bay pen... that's an actual hunting situation.

[duece24]

Not to derail this thread, but I've talked with a guy that has a very over grown 10 acre high fenced pen that he keeps a couple hogs in and a bay pen attached to it.  He likes to let a cur dog go in the 10 acre pen to find a hog and he uses a catch dog to catch it.  He then ties the hog, takes it to the bay pen and lets his pups get some work in.  On occassion he will let a pup run with an older cur to strike the hog in the pen to simulate a real hunt in a semi-controlled enviroment.  Seems like a heck of a good set up to train all stages of his dogs when he can't get to the woods. 

Any thoughts on a set up like this?

mr.mason has this type of set up, but it is a 6acre pen. he keeps many hogs in it though. that's how he trains them. when i took my dog to him, first thing he did was take him straight to the pen to see what he would do. he put another dog in there with him and my boy found him a pig. we let work it a little then we took him out. wasn't a good 10min. after that mr.mason didn't take him back to the pen again. it was straight to the woods. this man has started many dogs and fine tuned many dogs, so figure that is a dang good way of working your dogs.

realdogs i like your idea too. from jump it's all about FINDING the hog, never SHOWING them a hog.

[Wmwendler]

Realdogs......Thats the same top secret method i've been using.  I wonder who sqealed on my secret method, and told you.  LMAO.

But seriously......that is a great way to start a dog.  First time, let them see the loosely tied hog first, so they know, or actually so you know they will bark at it.  Then let them find it, and make it harder and harder for them to find it each time.  And give the hog a little more fredom to fight back each time.  Well bred dogs will bark at hogs without any example from older dogs.  But it does not hurt to provide a good example and may help build thier confidence faster if an older dog is present.  Just dont tie the hog too loose.  I did that once......A freind of mine drug the hog off to make a scent trail and but when he turned the hog loose it got up and ran off, and he started waving and hollering at me to turn the dogs loose.  So I un snaped the pups and sicked them on the trail. They hit the trail but the hog had too big a head start and smoked them eventually.

On hog size when using this method. Just get a hog that is big enough to keep the pup or dog from catching it, but small enough so that it is not a chore to catch, tie, and untie every time.  I certainly would not want to wrastle with a 180 sow when a 60-80 lb shoat would work just fine.  Although, a big hog would be good to teach a dog to respect the hog which will likely prevent some bad wrecks later on, but that might only be important if the dog comes from a line that is notorious for being hard headed and gritty.

A 2 year old dog is not to old to start.

Waylon

[BRUTE]

Brute not to be rude or anything but just opinion, do you think that because you put your dogs in a bay pen so much cause them to be so short range?

Not all my dogs go in a bay pin that much... just some. We have dogs that hunt close, a couple that will disappear, some that will go with a hogs and never stop, some that you can call off, some that wind off the hood and run with their noses up, some run with noses to the ground. They all get raised the exact same way. The ones that want to go far go far, the ones that want to stay close stay close. Different dogs hunt different.

To say that working all dogs in a bay pin will make them short distance is pretty bold because all dogs are different. My opinion is if the dog REALLY wants to hunt... there is nothing you can do short of injuring them to slow them down. I will also say that the dogs that are easily effected by little stuff like that were weak from the start.

That is just my limited, and humble opinion. I totally understand what yall are saying about them not wanting to hunt because you are always putting hogs right there in front of them.. and it makes sense.. and I could see where is may effect some dogs.

BUT, has any one actually ruined a dogs by doing it? Any first hand experience here? Was it actually woking the dog in the pin too much that caused it or did some thing else stupid happen that the dog stopped hunting?

Lots of factors and I have never been one to listen to people tell me you can't do some thing because it didn't work for so-and-so.

Just a thought. Again, I think we are making it harder than it seems. We all catch hogs so why does it matter, RIGHT? Yall have made me curious now. We really need a hog hutning mythbusters crew.