The Ultimate Bobcat Dog, PART ONE...

[Dan McDonough]

They had a bit of a break there with the cold. I didn't feel like I should be taking them out on any long adventures at their age. I've been spending the last two weeks taking them in the house one at a time and working on obedience training. Kind of boring but essential.

The temps. have come back up to normal and I've been taking them out in abandoned farm yards kicking up rabbits, and farm cats to chase. It's pretty tough to beat for pup fun. We sure don't have many domestic cats around here. There were many more around when I lived on the other side of the state but we have a bumper crop of rabbits this year so the action has been good so far.

They are 4 1/2 months old, happy and healthy and all three are coming along very well. I'll get some new pictures up if I can remember to take my phone out of my pocket. I have my son's Christmas concert to go to today and there is a park near the school. It's filled with the fattest squirrels you'll ever see, I mean piles of them. I'm going to run them as long as I can before getting hollered at for having dogs off leash.

[easttntrapper]

Never thought of collies as hunting dogs. But was telling a good friend of mine about this cross you made and he told me that there used to be people in swva that would tree squirrels and groundhogs with there collies. That lead me to a second question groundhogs tree??? lol
Been following this thread and doing alittle reading about these breeds. Very interesting stuff. Cant wait for another update.

[Dan McDonough]

Bad update...Whitey died today. There was no indication, he was just dead this morning. I'm not happy at all but I'm not going to dwell on it.

The other two are doing well for now.

[yoopergat]

any other up date on the pups.

[Dan McDonough]

I have been studying estate law in the evenings and have not been on much. It makes me happy to see some interest in poking me for a little information.

My two remaining pups are doing really well. They both are growing up to be very different from each other. The male seems to be hardest hunter and always has been. He's on the lookout for something nearly all of the time. He ranges out farther and is a natural track dog for as much as I can tell at this age. We'll see how high he can go when I start hunting them like adults. The female is TOUGH and at least for now runs the show during down time. She gets the best chunck of meat and gets some of the males food too. I think that will change when the male's nuts start firing but you never know.

I have been chasing rabbits with them inbetween hunting the older dogs, which is in full tilt right now. Rabbits seems to really excite the pups and they have been good training but I'm running out of rabbits close to the house and the pups are right around 6 months old. It may be time to think about letting them out with the leopards when I'm after cats. The cats seemed to have migrated a bit this year. We've had quite a bit of snow and cold weather so I have kept the lurcher pups in quite a bit lately. It's not that they can not handle the cold because they both have fantastic coats. It's more a matter of my own comfort. When it's down below zero I don't want to be out for 16 days like when it's warmer and light a bit longer. Things will start to change some very soon because they've shown me it's time to test the waters. They will be six months old next week and I've got some new obedience training sessions to start. I want them to cast and take direction kind of like a bird dog. There are often situations when I can see the game and they can not. I'm going to start working them with that in mind so I've got to get all of my traps out and give them as many set ups as I can where they will have the opportunity to play off of my signals. It's a blend of traditional bird training and herding dog training. We'll see how quickly they catch on. The hard part is in the advanced stages of training which are also the first stages of practical use. I can't make any mistakes and that is not always easy. Pait that together with the risk of putting to much control on the dogs and stifling their natural learning process. I may abort this training midstream but for now it's my plan to at least do this with one of the two pups. The female is much more sensitive to what I say or do than the male, I will at least do this with her.

That's about it for now. I feel like I should have more to report but they are just on the cusp of acting like adults despite their age. I have let them run loose as often as possible and that has helped them advance faster than if I just kept them in the pen when I'm not working with them. There is obviously risk in doing that. It may have played a factor in the death of the white male, I don't know but I'll keep up the practice whenever possible because I can get more out of a dog that has had a chance to run loose.

I should have some bidder news to report by the start of this summer. I plan on running the pants off of them this spring.

[david]

Dan, you only have 4,561 views so far. I think you should just face it. no one is interested in what you are doing. How 'bout an updated photo?

[david]

Hey maybe a photo with one or two of the human pups you are raising?

[david]

I should have some bidder news to report by the start of this summer.

cant wait! Like for the highest bidder and stuff like that?

[Dan McDonough]

Ha! If you see one of these for sale, it will mean that we've lost our house and that I've gone down to one dog and am in survival mode. These things should be called Prepper Curs or Prep-Dogs! I can't think of a better game dog for filling the pot. Of course that is one of the original reasons for making these when they first came about in the UK so it would make sense.

[Dan McDonough]

I've been taking advantage of every huntable day that I can get out on so I have not been on much but I grabbed a couple of shots of the lurchers after I unloaded them from this morning's hunt. We got put out of the section we were in when I noticed that the pine plantation we were in was holding 4-5 wolves moments before we entered it. That's not a good place for young dogs at all.

Tommy:


Foxy:

[Dan McDonough]

This ain't going to make the old hound hunters happy but you would have to be here to see it. If you ever were delusional enough to sit and wonder what it would sound like if a pack of coyotes were running a bobcat open all you would have to do is come and listen to these lurchers! Man alive, what a racket!!! I'm not kidding, they sound just like a pack of coyotes chirping in the distance. It may not sound like beautiful hound music but it sure is exciting to say the least.

[merlo_105]

I have never seen a sight hound open on track let alone run a track. Every video and thing I have ever seen or read about Lurchers there not a track dog, there used when calling Fox, call fox to field let dog go to chase it. HAHA Dont know a dog on earth that cant handle that. Not dissing your dogs or your plans I really hope a good out come for you. Would like to see more Pics and maybe some videos.

[ands]

Some footage of a running dog, mostly greyhound.
http://youtu.be/c-sqnI4duPA

[merlo_105]

I could put a camera on a poodles neck and take it for a walk and say it was cold trailing a Bobber haha...

[Dan McDonough]

Just don't tell these dogs that. Thanks god they haven't learned to read yet. Next year that might not be the case so be careful what you write.