Hello from NW Montana

[bdibb5]

Hi, been reading on/off for awhile. Don’t have any dogs yet but looking into picking up a pup soon. Father had coon hounds when I was growing up and I’m looking forward to getting into cat. Any tips, info or hands on is always welcome.

[david]

Welcome. It sure helps when hounds are part of your family heritage.

These days, hounds should be fun, so have fun and enjoy the process.

For starting out, an unimportant tip and possible strategy might be: do your research and find a popular registered line of tree hounds; or popular registered cur dogs.

Get the best bred female puppy you can possibly find and afford. Pour yourself into her and make her the best hound she can be.

If she is good, do your research again and find the best registered stud that would cross well on her pedigree. Spend whatever it takes and get her bred to him. You will have some awesome pups to choose from and you will have no trouble selling the extras for a good price.

I am not being color blind here, from what I have seen through my life is that the treeing walker breed is the breed to beat. Aside from the fox hounds, People seem to either have treeing walkers or they are trying to beat them/become like them/ with some other color. If you had the best bred walker female, put on a high quality stud you can ask a real good price for the pups. That is the only reason I am mentioning color at all. There are other colors that can get a good price too.

Another reason for good treeing walkers is that they are automatic: many are almost impossible to ruin completely. They will make a dog in spite of all your mistakes if they are bred right. There are plenty of things I don’t like about treeing walkers, but it is kind of a foolproof way to get started. You will end up with something of value to someone.

The above is a “slow/and easy does it” strategy. You might be in more of a hurry than that and need to buy a trained dog.

But whatever you do, we hope it goes well for you.

[bdibb5]

Thank you for the advice. We had walkers growing up and I’ve always liked them.
My father has a few winters under his belt, but I’m sure he won’t be able to keep from helping with the training. That “should” shave off a few mistakes.

The slow/and easy does it strategy appeals to me. While breeding might be beyond me at this point, it’s working with the dog I’m most interested in.

As far as buying pups. In your opinion is the classifieds on here a good source? I don’t know of any other.

Thanks again for your knowledge.

[Rossco]

The hound world is a tricky ordeal. There are people that have a lot of people run them down that deserve it. There are people that have a lot of people that run them down because they are jellious. Most of the best houndsman in North America don't give a hoot about the internet and never put anything on it, but you will hear their name from time to time. And of course there's everything in between. My best advice is to look around and get a pup or two and just start hunting them. The longer you do things the more people you will meet. And go off of your own opinions you make on people. With patients and time, if you have the desire to make good dogs, things will fall into place

[david]

[Rossco]

I'm not knocking David or anything thing he says, I've never met the man. But personally, when it comes to hunting hounds, the term breeder is a huge red flag. When you are looking for a quality pup that has a great chance to turn into a fine hunting dog. I figure your best chances are to go with someone that is having puppies because they need puppies themselves. The best litters out there are crossed when the person that makes the cross wishes they can keep the whole litter but they just don't have the room. My opinion, take papers out of it. I've had decent dogs that could be registered, and I've had decent dogs that are basically a complete mutt. Instinct and exposure are your 2 main factors. When it comes to getting pups, personally, I would find a few people that cosistantly catch game in your area and start from there. When starting out, any pup from the internet is a shot in the dark. At least until you learn more about people. Pictures and internet gossip can lie like non other

[david]

[macedonia mule man]

Dbibb5, the best bet is find the man in your area that had rather hunt than have a family ,job or anything of value except his dogs. Make friends and study. Stay away from big names, usually there is not much there. Or you can go find a few young dogs that you like the looks and keep them in the woods and become that guy in the area. Breeding,feeding and care can’t make good dogs, they gotta have a lot of hunting time. You may not know anything but a week of hard hunting is more learning than 6 months of internet.

[bdibb5]

Lots of great information here gentleman. I’ll check out the link above and keep a weary eye on the classifieds. I’ll be checking around locally the best I can to see who I can meet.

I guess my first hunt is going to start for the pup Itself.
Thanks to all for the input.