Mason,Rockcreek wrote: Next thing you know he'll be getting his "gritty" cur dogs from a guy named Dee in TX...
And David will be getting his "Top" cat dogs from Dan McDonough...
I didn't know you were boosom buddies with Dan McDonough too! Got a thing for "Dan"s ?
Guess you feel Dan McD needs some publicity? "No such thing as 'bad publicity' " they say.
I didn't know Dan had Top cat dogs, but I do know one dog Dan McDonough has, because I raised and trained the dog. Since you are wanting to help out Dan's cause, let me tell you about the dog a little:
Her name is Rachel. Her dad is Wick's Camo Jug. Her Mom is Schultzs Sparkling Susie. She is a pretty black and tan colored Leopard cur.
Her mouth is louder than most leopard curs and carries well. She has a pretty decent bawl when she wants that particular language.
She has a few different ways of using her voice, and there were moments when she would feel it was important to comunicate the events of a hunt if I could not get there as it happened. She would put her feet on my chest, look in my eyes and start talking to me with every possible expressive use of her voice that she could come up with, giving me a detailed play by play of the events of the hunt. I usually could not last out the whole story befor I would have to interupt and say, OK let's go home.
I got her from Mr Schultz when she was a weanling. She was treeing barn kitties by eight or ten weeks, and never really let up after that. I lived in the woods at the time, and she had all day every day to harass the rabbits around that place. I dont know how much of it was from practice, and how much from raw genetics, But Rachel is one of the fastest dogs I have hunted when it comes to closing the gap on a jumped bobcat. She will not hesitate to leave the track and cut across if she feels that will help her cause. In fact, to follow her tracks on a jumped race you might wonder what in heavens name is she doing? ...Until you get close enough to here her bayed on the bobcat.
When there was a lose, Rachel would be the one to find the lose about 90% of the time. And she would not be near the other dogs when she found it, but she would open up and the race would be on again. I had her in Idaho one time. It was her first time in rocks. She learned the game quickly, in fact, it almost seemed like she already knew the game on her first rock cat.
I remember standing on the Northern edge of a rock bluff listening down in on a jumped bobcat race. They brought the track up to the bottom of the ledges and were working it along the base. Suddenly, here comes Rachel completely silent like a black jet flying around the northern edge of those ledges, topping out and heading back to the South. Again, I found myself wondering "what in heavens name is she doing..." , until seconds later, she opened up again where the cat had topped out on those bluffs. I guess I would expect that from an experienced rock dog, but it sure shocked me seeing out of a "first time in the rocks" dog. Later, I saw similar things, only Rachel would have dogs in tow. They learned to trust her instincts on this.
One of the things of great value that I have seen in the Three daughters of Jug that I have owned: I would call it an unusual ability to locate. I use the term very broadly. The ability to locate the animal being hunted. The animal may be still moving, it may be hiding on the ground or in an elevated position. Locate the animal, and get to it. I have seen locating jobs out of Rachel and her two sisters that still leave me dumbfounded. There is just a whole lot I have not seen, but this was unlike anything I have seen in any other dogs I have owned.
Does Rachael have faults? yes. Does Rachel have some amazing gifts? Yes. Has Rachel thrown some good pups? yes.
Does Dan McDonough have more dogs than he can possibly hunt down and intimately know in every possible way? Like most folks I have known in hounds: yes. Does Dan McDonough have some of the fastest trailing Leopard curs available in the world? In my uneducated and inexperienced opinion: Yes, at least one of them.
Thanks for drawing positive attention to another persons dogs
Mr. Workman.
