Mellman curs

[Clint Thacker99]

Anybody know the history on these dogs?is anybody hunting and breeding these dogs ?trying to learn about em

[Austesus]

I think Tshelly has talked about them on here before. Bigo probably has some knowledge on them as well


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[BA-IV]

They come from Johnny and William Mellman. They also bred some with the Herschel Perry which is Lloyds brother if I’m not mistaken.  I raised a few full bloods and a few crosses. The fulls are one man type dogs and are softer as in won’t take a scolding or beating. They are stock bred and bred for the cow country of Texas. They have a lot of stock sense, but I found they didn’t fit well in the piney woods thickets I hunt. The crosses were nice to me, and seen some exceptional cold trailing out of a few, but never was super consistent for me. Just what I’ve seen with my own two eyes. Decent speed and more bottom then most want as well. Swine stalker owned a cross I hunted for a while here I liked alot. Seen her pull hogs outta thin air it seemed like when nothing else could move anything.

[Semmes]

This is what I have know and a little bit I hypothesized  about the two pure mellmans I have hunted with and a later one here in Louisiana.

I first heard about the mellman curs probably 15 years ago. It was from some posts of a guy on a American Bulldog board I used to frequent. He went by realdawgs on there I believe. But he posted some hunts and some pictures. And two dogs he posted were of a dog named lou and her daughter Lola.

That board is defunct but I have a screen grab of those two dogs on an iPhone3 I got somewhere.Loy was a tricolor saddle back dog and Lola was a black white blaze and white trim dog.

Fast forward a few years....I guy I became friends with and hunted with had another friend that had bought these same two dogs from the guy in Texas that had em.

We hunted with them and my friend bought them.

We hunted straight nights back then. I almost dreaded turning lou out. ....so did others.

Oh yeah, she was gonna get on hogs...but it was gonna be a long night.

Now the guy that had lou and Lola had em on consignment to my friend and he was paying a note on them.
But this guy also ran Parkers curs. He did a breeding with a good parker named tracker.

This is where the dog Nola Ben speaks of came from. That’s the one came from Cody, swinestalker.
Ben my have got couple of those pups too. I know I had an ab litter on ground at same time. Maybe 11 yes ago?

Anyway lou had way more bottom then anyone would want. But she bayed real loose. Had a beautiful loud houndy bawl. But when our rougher dogs would get there bay would break. Couldn’t send Bulldogs to her alone, as it was straight night we hunted and she wouldn’t even be close to the hog sitn and resting. Always come up empty and chasing Bulldogs around a cutover in the dark.

Looking back lou was straight hog crazy! Would run em 24 hours or more. But she never get rough or close. Just run em til they got tired and were comfortable enough to rest and she sit down a ways back and rest too. No scars, I don’t think she ever put a tooth on a hog. Be she love to run em. I also think she jump tracks a lot. Ain’t no way with the circling hogs do she be on same hog 5 miles later... way off property sometimes 10 miles. We not talking bout miles circling we talking bout ten miles away or more. Hog run her thru something fresher she like she move that track or group instead. Just too much hunt.

Lola would keep with her dam long as she could but just plain lay down sometimes 8hrs in.

Lou never be at a catch if ya caught something. Couldn’t even hardly pick dang dog up to stop the madness.

I quit hunting with her...as impressive as she was.

Now the Nola dog (half parker) Ben referenced  turned out to be solid dog. I hunt with her and Cody til he got out as did I. But she took a while to figure it out. Once she did she was on. Hunted more like her mother Lola instead of grandma lou.

Lola also couldn’t resist once in a while tryn bunch some cows up lol

Never really seen that from Nola but Cody was not gonna have that anyway.

Hunted with another full mellman that was young also as well as did Cody. He was probably gonna turn out to be ok cause he as a young un had plenty of go but would just call it sometimes after a while and lay down and wouldn’t come out. You’d have to track to him to pick him up. I think they just matured a lot slower than the parker cross dogs. And if they matured to anything like Lou...you better have couple days off and you’d be hunting alone cause you wouldn’t find anyone want hunt with ya.

I to have heard the mellmans bred with the Perry’s just some old best to best non papered Texas stock dogs

[Semmes]

Nother thing...they wouldn’t go in a pen. Wouldn’t like twice at a penned hog. Was all about the hunt

[BA-IV]

The grit was something I didn’t post about, i got side tracked trying to remember the dogs I hunted with. The lack of grit didn’t bother me until I realized they were running hogs just to run em, not trying to run em and stop em. There’s a fine line on to much and to little, but that stock didn’t have any at all.

[Semmes]

Hahahaha! Yeah I remember many I night we drop at dusk and by 4-5 am me and my young son be sleeping in the mini truck or sxs  running all around just hope it would end. As would everyone else.
Got to where my rough dog wouldn’t even honor her bays. He be showing treed and we be too busy chasing lou to even check him. He proved later when given a chance that more than likely he wasn’t whistling Dixie...he earned the scars to prove it in the long term... but back then I was green and chasing them diamonds we probably passed up lot gold

[Austesus]

Semmes, I enjoyed reading that and know exactly what you mean about not wanting to hunt with that dog anymore. The original male to the line I’m trying to work with now was like that. He was going to find and bay hogs, period. The guy that mentored me and that hunted that dog would often post a picture to Facebook because he lost track and couldn’t find him. Then a day or so later a farmer would call him and say I’ve got that yella dog Bo down here baying a hog, 10 miles from where you turned him out. He was a great dog but he had absolutely no quit and no end to his range. Many a people were broken from hunting behind that dog because it would turn in to a 12 hour search just trying to get him back out of the swamp and when you wanted to leave you better grab that dog before the hog. I know some guys offered thousands and thousands of dollars for that dog, and there are guys that would give everything on their yard for a dog like that. He would pull a hog out of a Walmart parking lot if you turned him loose. But I read a statement that was posted by someone on here that went something like “it’s a lot more fun to say you own a dog like that, than to actually let him off the chain.”

Personally, that was more bottom and range than I would ever want in a dog nowadays. A lot more stress too unless you have endless amounts of land


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[Reuben]

I won’t keep a short range dog…just breed them rough enough to get the job done in a shorter range…but running in the thick briars or palmettos can make it a long day…also, the dogs catching a big boar a long ways out could have a dog cut down or a young dog over heating trying to kill a hog while no one is around to help…or get a young dog lost, or dogs shot trespassing or ran over crossing a road…that’s the downside with the type of dogs I like…anything less is a cull or on the culling list…

[Semmes]

I think crossing to the parker curs was exactly the idea folks had to breeding them rougher.

I think since I been on this board Reuben, you have been in search of the perfect dog like the old line you created by crossing the mountain curs (I think it was) to other breeds.
 
You talk about bottom and cold tracking and this and that...

You closer to the source. Find you some mellmans or perry bred dogs and try it out...

What you got to lose?

You have heard over and over again about their attributes and they seem to line up somewhat with your demands.

Worth a shot I’d suppose.

They and the topic around them come up every few years on here. It’s obvious you are still on the hunt.
 
To whom did you sell that original line of dogs you created and line bred and I bred on when you decided to get out prematurely?
 

[Semmes]

Edit- not ‘I’ bred on but ‘you’ bred on....

[Semmes]

Actually supposed to read ‘linebred’ on...

[Semmes]

Sh!t...third edit ‘inbred’ on lol

And just to cut to the chase.... it’s only a rumor I heard years ago.. you can dispel it now but I heard the guy from Texas, his name escapes me but if you post it I will remember, that had those mellmans, lou and Lola, and sold em to that guy here in Louisiana, had bout your dogs before that.

I’m not saying it’s true. Just what couple folks told me

[Semmes]

I seem to remember your original formula was mountain cur, pit and maybe redbone? I can’t remember exactly....it came out when you were arguing with Larry parker on here about him choosing to breed for a certain color after he had been at it for a while and and kinda dialed in what he liked. ....and sorta denigrating him about it.


His ‘breed’, his choice...

Now fast forward I know you been with the plotts for a bit. Seem like I remember you posting you had a mountain cur you were gonna mix...

Seem like you are still looking for the right stuff, for you?
 
Idk?

I’d like to here the new formula you got going that is not a ‘cull’ or on the ‘culling list’?

I’ll respect it if you wanna keep it close to your vest like the old game bred battle cross guys..

Just curious

[t-dog]

That was a good read guys. Semmes, you should’ve been a painter because painted a picture I could sure visualize.


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[l.h.cracker]

I've always been really interested in the Mellman/Perry dogs they sure sound like some real go getters.Nice write up Semmes.

[jsh]

Back in 2013 I lost my lead dog and needed another quickly. The red dog in the front of the mule I was told was a Perry dog. I bought him from a member on here who had actually been down to Lloyd’s place and hunted with him personally. I was told he was a cow dog turned hog dog and had been on George Strait‘s ranch at one time. Anyways I knew the guy and he is my friend to this day so I trusted him that he was a good dog. He had a good handle, cast pretty well and had no problem being independent. We got on a group of hogs up by the red river on a big place and he took off on his own. Was probably gone for about a half hour when we started toward him he was coming back to us. Looked fine, had a small cut on his shoulder. The next morning I noticed he did not eat and his head was swollen. I thought snakebite, did some investigation and did not find anything. Found a blood clot in the roof of his mouth. I had the vet come to the house and X-ray his head to make sure he didn’t have a fractured skull or broken jaw. Nothing. Kind of a weird deal at that point. Then I noticed a small piece of wood in his water dish. Took him back over to her and he had a small stick lodged in the very back of his mouth where his jaw connected to the scull. Guess the X-ray didn’t show it because it was wood. We put him out and went to work - got it dug out you could stick your pinky in that hole. It was a freak deal and he died later that night just did not come out of the anesthesia, was too weak.





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