intelligent hounds

[JTG]

Well Willie, your right, I could have come across in a better way. Things come up in life and I understand and very much respect that and the main goal is to have fun. All I am trying to do is help cut through the fog and have a second look or I guess a different look on how we been told on the way to breed hounds. Please forgive me if I have offended anyone.
JTG

[slowandeasy]

JTG,

I guess I just don't put pen to paper as good as talking to somebody in person. But you did take me wrong as I was just adding the human aspect to the equation. For sure I wasn't trying to insult you or make you feel that what you posted should have been written any differently, as I agree with most everything that you post. Sorry if it was interpreted differently than I meant.

Take care, Willie

[pegleg]

Here's my stance on frozen semen I agree with the lost hound scenario I never got pups from the best cat hound I ever hunted my fault I accept it. But I will maintain that every breeder using these methods and they can vary on paper except for the fact they focus on keeping a tight lid on certain genetics and that thy try to improve and intensify them through selection. Here's a problem if you can test and know with certaintyat all these various ages which pups going to excellent you should never have to worry about not having the best rep of the litter atyour disposal for trading, hunting, breeding . The fact is it does happen from time to time and that's the one that causes chaos in your program.if you have a back up of genetics you can go back and retrace your path and find out which selection led to the problem one or two generations back with out using some other more time, labor intensive method to bring it back OK then as I stated before every breeder I know well enough to get the unmitigated truth from using this method HAS hit a spot that. The quality of pups dropped and usually it was only one or two noticeable faults but they had snuck in on the recessive side of the gene pool and were represented in everyone of the current generations in a equal measure so to eliminate it meant either scrape the program as a failure, use a out cross with its inherent risk, or go back four or so generations and pull out the DNA for a new chance at avoiding doubling up on recessive genes. Its a shame that game cocks are no longer bred to the extent they once werea they offer a simple and quick method to see genetics in work first hand and don't take the money that feeding hounds does anyway let's hear the opinions and debate .

[JTG]

Pegleg, It's funny you metion gamecocks as I still have some grays and green leg hatch. There's other things you can do other than scrap the program with hounds and that's why it's important to keep whole litters so you can breed b and s of what's left in the litter. JTG

[slowandeasy]

Quote Peg Leg: The fact is it does happen from time to time and that's the one that causes chaos in your program.

If this particular individual is a male, long before he gets a chance to cause havoc in a breeding program he should've took the long walk. Same with a female. I know there are several lurking on here, one in particular that has totally changed my mind about certain things pertaining to breeding. I believe one needs to be open-minded about what I am going to say. And this statement I am only repeating, but I have come to agree with. A cull is a cull no argument here. But even for fair to Midland dogs there should be a rule for. If by 6 to 8 months you are still wondering whether or not a dog is good for you or breeding program you should probably be whacking their balls off or spaying them. Cut and dry, because the ones that are worthy will stand out well enough that a blind man would recognize them.

Take care,Willie

[tomtom]

Let's have some more posts like that last one.

[dwalton]

Willie: I agree with you most of the time but not on the 6to8 month old pups being able to see if they are good enough to breed in the future. In bobcat hunting for me the way I hunt I have seen 6 to 8 month old that look really good that I cull later and ones that did little until a year old turn out to be some of the best. In fact now I feel that the pups that open, go and tree at that early age are the ones that will not make the top bobcat dogs at 2 years old. The ones that start slow usually turn out better in the long run. We all like a early starting pup but what really matters to me is by 2 years that they can catch bobcats without a dog in front of them. Dewey

[tomtom]

Dewey, is that a better way of saying the faster they start the faster they finish?

[twist]

I think season needs to start! lol Andy

[Warner5]

I appreciate the post and I must admit the idea of having better bred dogs is something most dog men put much thought into. But how many houndsmen out there can honestly say that the lack of quality breeding in their hounds is whats holding their program back? Most houndsmen(myself included) have a hard enough time getting most of the potential out of the dogs we keep. Most problems with my dogs can be blamed on my training program or poor decisions by myself on any particular hunt that didnt go our way.

I am in no way trying to discourage better breeding programs, we all want better bred dogs. But we cannot overlook our training. Whether we are overtraining our dogs or just a lack of consestant proper training. I do know without it, it dosent really matter how well our dogs are bred. Just my thoughts. John.

[coastrangecathunting]

warner and i made a cross a yr and a half ago . the whole litter turned out to be very special. they tree naturally , have great track speed , dont bark out of place, and very intelligent. the dad to these dogs is to old to produce another litter. how do we go about keeping this going . we have finnally produced what we had 10 yrs ago and would like to continue on improving . can u breed son to mom. and expect good results.

jc

[pegleg]

the same theory you will just have your dogs more heavy on the females traits

[slowandeasy]

JC,

This is just my opinion and my opinion only. If you like the mom and everything behind her breed her to a son. I know you said you can't use the male, but if you liked the male and everything behind him, i would breed him to a daughter. If you like everything behind both then breed full brother to full sister. This is just what I would do but near as I can figure I haven't done anything right in quite a while.

Take care, Willie

[Unreal_tk]

Side note: How are those cow dog crosses doing JC/Warner ? (Sorry off subject)

Great information here, I hope it keeps on coming. I think John hit it on the head about the trainer being the greatest hurdle to control.

Another question thats off topic, of all your old cat dogs the best of the best. Did this dog have a trait that was unique. Not as in how it ran, or treed but rather like did he like to stand in one spot in the yard and bark all the time, or did she always lay in that one spot next to the fire, or did the dog always do a backflip at the tree ? And then a descendant of that dog do the same and was similiar caliber of the dog before it ? Just curious how other traits may of carried that weren't hunting specific.

[pegleg]

I had one line for a few years that if you punished or scolded them they would chop mouth you til you wanted to shoot them. My you it wasn't aggressive just a complaint and the more you got after them the more vocal they got damn. Annoying