Age to start

[BriarBay]

I have a new pack...all the same age, 5 months.  I have put them in a pen a few times and a couple of em have done real good.  Got 1 that catches every time and he is only 30 lbs and the hog is over 100....not sure what to think about that.  he's bird bull mix 
What age do yall usually start taking a new pack to go with finished dogs?  do you let them out with the strike dog, walk them into a bay, walk them on a fresh track...?  What are some of yalls starting out tactics.

[kerreydw]

I've got 10 pups that are rite at 6 months old they will be in the woods here pretty fast hunting them is the best thing for them

[Slim9797]

Ok. Now I have a question to add to this. Is there anyway to get my pups hunting(once it's time) without started dogs. I don't know really any one except my uncle who hog dogs. he lives 1.5 hours away. Now I could get them out there every once in a while. And drop the dogs in the 10 acre pen on the ranch he runs that is stocked with pigs and see how they do. But I won't be able to do that Or get them around finished dogs near as much as I probably need to. I have a lot of property around me with hogs so could I just drop em and let them figure it out? Do I set up a lot of mock hunts for them and then see what they'll do? Or am I just going to have to figure out how to get them around finished dogs?

[justincorbell]

Slim set em on mock hunts as often as u can. Let em get good at trailin and bayin hogs then take em to the big woods, they will figure it out!

[Slim9797]

Appreciate the advice Justin. I'm gonna try and figure something out with my uncle when the get s little older. But I know I can set up mock hunts for them when it comes time so I'll make sure I keep them training hard

[Swinestoperstyle]

Ok. Now I have a question to add to this. Is there anyway to get my pups hunting(once it's time) without started dogs. I don't know really any one except my uncle who hog dogs. he lives 1.5 hours away. Now I could get them out there every once in a while. And drop the dogs in the 10 acre pen on the ranch he runs that is stocked with pigs and see how they do. But I won't be able to do that Or get them around finished dogs near as much as I probably need to. I have a lot of property around me with hogs so could I just drop em and let them figure it out? Do I set up a lot of mock hunts for them and then see what they'll do? Or am I just going to have to figure out how to get them around finished dogs?

. 

I trained my dogs as pups with no finished dogs I did couple mock hunts a ton of woods time and put them in the bay pin 3 times a week got them so turned on that they hated pigs more than any thing I wood put one dog in the pen and let the others go to the bay to learn them to honer the bay cuz once you have one strike one if your other pups don't go to the bay your dead in the water I walk hunted to get my start

[Slim9797]

Good to know I'm not the only one whose had to start with very little. I can definitely do the mock hunts. And the bay pen is a project on the to do list here with a month. Right now I have 5 pups. 4 cur crosses and a APBT they're all 3 months old. I just started letting them see about a 15 lb shoat. I don't let them loose on it or anything just leg it and let them see it. They'll bark up a storm already. I let them see it once a day for about 2 minutes. Don't want them to get bored on it.

[sandbank slayer]

I like to get em barking at a pig asap, we put em in a pen with a hog they can work as soon as they'll bay one. We keep increasing the size of that hog as they mature. Whenever one if em can keep up with the grown dogs and will leave with em is when we put em in the woods. I've got a 7 month old littermates, the gyp has found 2 hogs, she small and fast a little gritty but not overly rough. When we cut em loose outta the box, she'll leave. The male hasn't been to the woods yet, long legged, kinda slow and clumsy. Super rough and tries catching everything he's seen so far, he hasn't been to the woods yet. I think he'll leave with grown dogs but prolly couldn't keep up and hasn't learned that we bring cds. I say when they go to the woods depends on them, if they can keep up, ain't overly stupid with a good hog, and will stay gone, we take em.

[BriarBay]

I'm going to keep putting them in the pen at least once a week and hopefully start taking them to the woods after turkey season in April.  I just got a bad a$$ little 120 lbs boar hog that should beat them off a little bit.   

[Goose87]

Man I'm no expert on this but here's what's been working for me, I'm fortunate enough to live where I can let my pups run loose and are exposed to livestock from the time they open their eyes, once they start baying the cattle hard enough that they are keeping them bunched for an hr or two I'll lock them up this is usually around 6-8 months, I have a 5 acre baypen that the pups are in and out of from the time they are big enough to follow me down there when I feed my dogs I have down by it, they usually start themselves by following older dogs I'll work in there sometimes, once they will bay in there day or night I just let them grow up and grow then start hunting them usually around a yr, get them to a point where they are familiar with a hog and can take a track on a mock hunt and bait you an area up good and find out when their coming in and keep taking your pups to them, folks ruin pups way more often than not by trying to force stuff on pups to early in life, let them grow and be pups and if by a yr old their not even making an attempt to want to do anything I would consider cutting your loses and move on....

[BriarBay]

Man I'm no expert on this but here's what's been working for me, I'm fortunate enough to live where I can let my pups run loose and are exposed to livestock from the time they open their eyes, once they start baying the cattle hard enough that they are keeping them bunched for an hr or two I'll lock them up this is usually around 6-8 months, I have a 5 acre baypen that the pups are in and out of from the time they are big enough to follow me down there when I feed my dogs I have down by it, they usually start themselves by following older dogs I'll work in there sometimes, once they will bay in there day or night I just let them grow up and grow then start hunting them usually around a yr, get them to a point where they are familiar with a hog and can take a track on a mock hunt and bait you an area up good and find out when their coming in and keep taking your pups to them, folks ruin pups way more often than not by trying to force stuff on pups to early in life, let them grow and be pups and if by a yr old their not even making an attempt to want to do anything I would consider cutting your loses and move on....

Goose, sounds to me like you have the ideal set up for raising and training dogs!  Me on the other hand...I live on 1.5 acres but have a bay pen 3 miles down the road.  If I let mine run free, they would be road kill and buzzard turds within a few hours.  Thx for your info though.  Our club is slam full of hogs, so putting them down on a fresh track shouldn't be a problem.  I also thought about turning one loose and giving him a min or 2 head start and then cutting the dogs loose.  Sounds to me like training techniques are all about repetition, so that's what I'm gonna try to do.       

[Reuben]

if you are lucky and get some really well breed hog dog pups then you won't have to train as hard or often...but like most have already mention mock hunts and staging different scenarios will help quite a bit...have trailing and then winding mock hunts...bay pen is also good in between mock hunts...

dog handling is key to bringing out the best from your pups...like you already said don't train too often and don't wear the pups out by too long of sessions or they can possibly lose interest due to burn out...
also taking them out and try to turn them out on fresh hog sign so the chance of them finding and baying a hog goes up...also the chance of striking trash is a lot lower...walk slow and stop and let them work out a track and wait on them to get back if they lose it...sometimes you will have to lead the pups in the direction where you think the hogs could be laid up...let your imagination be your guide...it is all about the dogs...your job is to bring out the best in them by leading and guiding encouraging them on or scolding when they trash...if you have good quality pups you will see improvement by leaps and bounds...

[justincorbell]

I personally work mine very early and often but it is all about having them in the right situation, like goose said it is very easy to ruin a young dog by attempting to force it to do something it is not comfortable with. I use my ace in the hole, a track/ bay crazy jack russell gyp named yeti. from the time pups are weaned off their mom she becomes their new mother/mentor and quickly bonds with them, she lives with/eats/sleeps with them 24/7 in a 50x70 puppy yard. I tote both her and them to the woods at 10-12wks of age on mock hunts and let them run and play and just be puppies following her around until she picks up the track and brings em right to the shoat......she goes crazy and well then its simply puppy see, puppy do! I have have excellent results using this method the last 4 rounds of pups that i have raised, working them like this has been a game changer for me.

[Goose87]

I don't think it can be explained any better than what Reuben said, a shoe is a shoe but a ballerina shoe ain't going to be able to do what a football cleat does, we've all started somewhere some were fortunate enough to inherit dogs and lessons and some of us started from scratch , it's all about feeding them tracks, feeding them tracks, feeding them tracks,if you see them trying to start a track stop and let them try to work it out maybe walk it out yourself if you can find it to encourage them to push a track, biggest thing all around is you can't be scared to cull and move on, your not going to make mud into chocolate pie no matter how much sugar you put in it....

[justincorbell]

I don't think it can be explained any better than what Reuben said, a shoe is a shoe but a ballerina shoe ain't going to be able to do what a football cleat does, we've all started somewhere some were fortunate enough to inherit dogs and lessons and some of us started from scratch , it's all about feeding them tracks, feeding them tracks, feeding them tracks,if you see them trying to start a track stop and let them try to work it out maybe walk it out yourself if you can find it to encourage them to push a track, biggest thing all around is you can't be scared to cull and move on, your not going to make mud into chocolate pie no matter how much sugar you put in it....

I wish more folks had your outlook, i agree completely about not being scared to cull and move on, give em a good honest shot at it, if by a year old they are not showing some serious interest and improvements its time to make a change. Will they be "solid" at a year old ?.....probly not, but they better be givin it hell.......