Age do you call a pup?

[RubySwampblackntans]

What ages would you still call a pup? Curious what you call a pup yet?

[RubySwampblackntans]

I call them a pup all the way up to a year. after that i consider them young dog. I have a guy by me that started hunting with me then quit when found out that i started to run my pups at 6 to 8 months on bear. he doesnt start his dogs untill they are full growed at 3 to 4. What a joke? what do you guys think bout that?

[houndsman78]

3 to 4? What the heck is up with that. Down south thats an old dog.

[bristolblue's]

lol three or four, wow, sounds like my uncles, lol jk, but by then they are never going to be an awesome dog, i start mine around ten months to a year old on bear, sometimes younger, it all depends on if i think the pup can handle it, but i call my dogs pups until they can start a track and are doing good, lol or until i get another puppy, lol called my ratchet dog a pup till he was almost two, and he's my best lion dog, and by the time hes four he will be my best dog hands down.

[mavrick333]

Just on kinda the same subject, How many years does everybody think it takes to have a finished dog in wisconsin? (a Complete dog )

[RubySwampblackntans]

I would say you can have a finished dog at 3. By the time they are four their life is about half over as a bear dog. then if they are still alive at 8 to 10 use them as a cat dog. You do not need a fast dog for cats just a smart one.

[houndnem]

I start my pus at 8 to ten weeks. I call em a pup till they're 1 and if they're not finished by two and a half three they're gona die of lead poison. I'm sure I will catch hell for this statement and people will call b.s. but that's how I do it.

[blackpaws]

You do not need a fast dog for cats just a smart one.

it's better to have a dog that is smart and fast!

it all depends on what you would call a finished dog. if the dog will run and tree on bear and stay caught and actually get in and make the bear climb it has a good start. in my book a finished dog will grubb out old tracks in the fall in this country. Guys that hunt different terrain and conditions have to judge their dogs different. it's not fair to compare dogs from out west to what will work here in wisconsin or the other way around. dogs from this area might not work out there. there is a lot of water here and the scenting conditions are different.

my ideal finished dog would be one that can grubb out old tracks and and help show you the animal whether it be in a tree or held up tight on the ground.

[RubySwampblackntans]

I agree with you on everything but the dogs hear are just as good over there. maybe the first day would be different but i sold a couple of year and a half olds that i ran bear and coyotes, Went to Idaho to be lion dogs and after the first day he hunted lion just as hard as he ran bear and coyote. The dog is born with a natraul scenting ability. So i dont think it matters where your from they hunt the same. Thats what i think. We will find out tho if im right or wrong cuz me and my buddy are tring to find a place we can run our bobcat dogs on lion? we will see if they do the same out their as they do hear!!

[houndnem]

If you ever want to see how they do in utah, come on down and dump in. All good people are welcome on my tracks.

[1whitedog]

pup to a year. time to finish a dog depends on alot more variables. opertunities to hunt, and your standards for what finished means. i have seen finished dogs at a young age and old age that could tree off a bait but turn them loose on a mountain ridge and they were lost. finished to some not others.

[houndnem]

finished to me means a dog you can put by its self that will start, trail and finish any resonable track. And you are absolutley right it depends on how much time you can put into a dog when it will be finished. I hunt al least once a week all year,sometimes more so I expect a dog to be finished a lot quicker than a fellar who goes out a hand full of times a year.

[Melanie Hampton]

You do not need a fast dog for cats just a smart one.

it's better to have a dog that is smart and fast!

+1 LOL Why do it slow when you can do it fast

A pup is a dog up to a year old.. I do find myself refering to the youngest dog on my place "the pup"

I can't stand someone who puts.. "24 month old dog for sale" It's not 24 months... It's 2...

Age a dog is finished? Depends on how much you hunt I guess.. I hunt them all as soon as they can keep up and are wanting to do it without screwing around.. I don't expect them to be lead dogs their first cat season though.. And maybe not their second season.. But they better be making me happy...

I sure prefer dogs ages 4 and up.. I know that.. Makes me wonder why I keep a pup around.. then I remember that they were all pups at one point LOL

[TomJr]

Pups til 1 year old but not realy dialed in until 3 years old... then they done by 10 years old Darn dogs don't live long enough....

I had my newest pup out following me and my two good hunters at 3 months old and he saw 3 lions before he was 4 months old. Now at 5 months we are playing with bears and he has seen one big one( 300+lbs) up a tree and "helped" bay up two others. I say "helped" because he was barking from behind the other two, keeping his distance but not coming back to me so he seems to be a keeper

And before anyone tells me you can't hunt bears with dogs yet in AZ, the treed one jumped our fence and then back out, they treed it 20 feet outside the fence because the bear had smashed the fence down so dogs climbed over it easy. The bay ups were because the ground here is too rocky to take tracks and I was hunting lion... I called them off before things got western and no bears or dogs was harmed. Our game warden knows I run bear away from our orchard and has never called me on it. From what I gather he is happy that he don't have to deal with them as problem bears.

[Mt Goat]

Pups are pups until they are physically and mentally full grown. Different breeds and lines mature at different rates. A dog IMO should be judged and compared at a bloodline, and environmental standard verses against other hunters dogs. Environment plays a huge roll in a dogs development. A two year old dog that's been run/worked/hunted 2-3 days a week can't be compared to a dog ran/worked/hunted 2-3 times a month. Most dogs aren't fully mature physically until they are 2-2 1/2 years old. I consider a 2 year old dog an adult dog under 2 years old is still a pup. Mentally and abilitys wise again very depending on bloodlines, breeds, and environment