Good post Blackstreak, I think you make a lot of very good points as well. I agree with you and that is why I want Whitley for exactly those reasons. She hopefully will have the ability to end those races before they really even get started. Also another thing I noticed in my very short limited hunting experience is a tall dog of any type has a big advantage for how he can hold a pig and shoulder up with one. And since I don't want my little strike dog to catch at all and get wrecked and I don't have the ability to run 4+ dogs at once I need that speed and size on my RCD.
Now if I was hunting in areas like some of the videos I seen in Hawaii or New Zealand that is beyond high and thick, I would prob run 3+ short range straight catch dogs like a lot of them do, like the bulldog whippets cat or heeler mixes with a real big dose of bulldog in them, they run a lot of those type mixes from what the couple of shows I have seen said. I have seen them have to go to ground too for a hog in a few times in the New Zealand vids, pretty crazy.
Now if I did have a smaller RCD that I wanted to use like you Slim I would definitely strategically group it with either another RCD too, and only short range dogs that way like Blackstreak mentions it wouldn't have to anchor one as long. Still preferably though with another RCD, and it wouldn't hurt if those short range bay dogs were gritty too. Just my two cents take it for what its worth.
Will be interesting to see what Whitely does for you for sure. She is an onry thing to her two bigger brothers. She wears them out. Always wanting to play fight with them and always the head and their ears lol. Anytime I have a different pup out than her and I put them back in the pen with her she emmediatly greets them with an ear hold or a head lock lol. She loves to run and her stride is already very graceful looking and effortless but of course this will only continue to get better as her body matures. She will deffenitly be an interesting dog by the time she is 18 months old with the grit she has now. I socialize her as much as I can but when she gets comfy and starts playing, she is a pest to most dogs the way she just swamps there head and ears. New dogs to her don't care for that but her brothers are so much like her also that it's no big deal. They are one another's best friends. Look out side the kitchen window and you will often see 3 pups caught on one others ear or head and all 3 walking round and round like the spokes of a faris wheel lol. Don't know how that's gonna play out on your yard lmao. You might be in for a disaster
I'll tell you something funny about me and my older dogs, both the stag and finder holders. I'll let them out of their big pens to stretch out 1 at a time. After about the 5th or 6th lap around all the pens at about 30 mph it won't be much longer and they will slow down and go exploring so I'll just take a knee and call the dog to me. Shortly there after I have about 80 lbs of mass screaming at me at 30 mph and it don't look like it's gonna pull up before it gets to me. That's a lot of momentum baring down on you. About the time I'm absolutely sure it's to late and I'm flinching and bracing for impact, the dog stops in my lap and is expressing it's happiness, love and affection. Now and then one will not get it shut down in time and will hit me hard enough to knock me over lol. I love it and they know I do. They aren't allowed to jump on me with their feet though. After playing with that dog outside the pen for a minute, in it goes and I'll let another out.
When I walk in the pens no matter if it's the pen of older dogs or pups, I've learned to keep my jaw gently clinched or they will undoubtedly pop my teeth together with their heads as they are running and jumping around and over one another and up against me. So long as they don't put their feet on me I'm happy.
When gone, my wife feeds them through holes I cut out in the panels above their feed dishes that hang on the fence. I love being home and hunting or playing with them.
