Best Dogs...

[1bludawg]

I've mentioned on here before that Rock and Ranger were the 2 best dogs I've ever owned .Rock was bluetick ,black&tan and trigg while Ranger was bluetick,walker and shepherd.Both were cold nosed,extra fast and sure nuff tree dogs .They treed bobcat alone!
I've been fortunate to observe several cat dogs over the years from puppies to finish cat dog.The very best ones seemed to be a little slower starting...........that is compared to their littermates.
The littermates would start out like gangbusters and ole Catcher would look poor compared to them but he would show a little improvement each time out,his siblings would eventually reach a plateau,level out and were done. Ole Catcher would just keep on coming,getting better and better until he surpassed his littermates and made the best dog in the litter,usually around 2 1/2 years old.
That's been my experience anyway.

[david]

[mark]

I hear dogs labled as lead dogs on here alot. What does that mean? Is it a dog that is always ahead of the others if hunted with others,is it a dog that is hunted alone,is it a dog that trees first or starts the tracks first,is it the dog that slipped out and caught a cat by itself one time and is forever imbedded in our heads? The list could go on but what determines a dog being labled the lead dog? You see dogs for sale from 2 1/2 to 5 years old that they say will make a lead dog for someone if hunted some more. Is it possible to have multible lead dogs or can only one dog get that lable? Its been raining nonstop for 3 days and im bored i guess.

[Twopipe]

"If you put the same equation in human terms, our prisons have many folks whose cognitive thought processes could not overcome their instincts."
That statement has cleared up the reason that some "slow" starters come on strong at a few years old. Thanks david for that perspective!!

[dhostetler]

Mark,
Most hunters I have hunted with have 1 dog they use to start all there tracks or start all there strikes. I always assumed that was there lead dog. I mix it up a lot more with my dogs. Having multiple lead dogs may be how I have heard of one guy having a price for pick of the litter then hearing that multiple pups in the litter are pick of the litter.

[mark]

So then the first dog on the ground is the lead dog, i guess i was reading to much into the term lol Them boys that road 6-10 dogs at once to start their tracks sure have a lot of lead dogs. Thanks for helping me figure out what was meant by the term. Maybe somone from other parts of the country have different definitions ?????????

[merlo_105]

Dang that makes me feel better about my bunch of Culls. All mine road all mine ride the box free and all mine get dumped out of the box on a snow track. Price just went up on these bone heads there all lead dogs. Never understood letting one dog rig or one dog start tracks

[dhostetler]

Well I always thought lead meant best or #1. Pick of the litter meant the #1 pup. I am always striving to have no #1 dogs I want them all to be awesome game catchers. I will let you all know when I get there. LOL

[Bon Plott]

I think Dhostetler covered it . Alot of guys have a dog they drop to check baits and start before feeding less experienced or multiple specie dogs. I like to dump the box when hunting alone (bears) depending on the age of your pack I expect them all to be able to start and finish. I will be starting 4 1year olds this year so a "lead" or "start" dog will be used to get things rolling. Once the youngsters figure out a few trees and the target game I will put them down to determine their ability.
Our dogs in new York don't get as much exposure as many areas in the country. Coyotes are the longest season and most plentiful so many young dogs will get thier track time on them. Without rambling too much, in my experience early starters make up the dogs I feed. The slow starters usually finish out average, decent hounds but I don't prefer average


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