Babysitting

[cold nosed hounds]

Took the boys with me on a little bobkitty hunt. First time with the new GPS dog treed quarry

[U.R.E.]

Thanks for sharing.....My little ones are all grown up now. It's good to know that there are a few kids being raised in dog boxes still.

[AZDOGMAN]

Very cool. My daughter was on 2 lion trees and a bear tree before she was 1. My son is turning 1 now and i cant wait for his first tree.

[Buddyw]

Very Nice!

[The Ole' Guy]

Fabulous picture. Keep those kids in the woods,congrats!!

[hounds7]

Thats a clasic pic!! Can't wait... Talk at ya soon

[dsodstiks]

very nice!

[david]

Awesome photogragh. You are to be commended. It does remind me of a topic I have thought of bringing up and is not directed to you specifically, but to anyone raising kids around hounding.
A word of caution. Some puppies can survive hard hunting very young and seem to have no negative effect. But most can not. They need to be exposed to it in small doses and you always try to quit while they are wanting more. So that way when they lay in their beds and dream about hunting, all they can think about is how much fun it was and how badly they want to go again. I have noticed that the same can be true with human puppies. My daughter had a negative experience hunting when she was about five years old. She has never wanted to go again since then. My son was eight at the time on the same hunt and he thought it was great.

I have noticed that often the great houndmen do not have children that are great houndmen (houndwomen). Sometimes seems to skip a generation. I think this could change if houndmen paid as much attention to "starting" their human pups as they do to starting their canine pups. Take those kids hunting, but my recomendation is to do it at times when you can afford to call the hunt off befor the kids get too worn out, terribly frightened (abandoned), or stressed by it. Give some thought to making it extra fun for the kids: maybe lay a drag for them with a special treat hidden at the end (in a tree? ha ha). In snow it's easy to do. In dirt use a small log with nails driven in it so they can find the scratch marks. Sounds dumb, i know. I also know my kids would have apreciated if I had been dumb like that with them more often.

Great picture. Great memory. I wish I had more of both.

[MIcurhunter]

You couldn't have put it any better David. It's good to see kids getting involved. Nice pic.

[Farmhand]

David, I sure do like your way of thinking. I have preached that for years to guys with kids. It goes the same for sports, too. Some guys just take a kid that is a natural athlete and pound them into the ground before they ever have a chance to reach their full potential and lay the blame on anything but themselves. For instance, in coaching wrestling, and individual sport first, team second, I see the kid wrestling, his dad stands along the mat with a video camera taping the bout. I hear people say how nice it is that he takes an active interest in the kid wrestling. Look out!! That guy is a monster!! The reason he is videotaping the match is so that kid can go home and relive every mistake, real or perceived, time after time. Do these naturally talented youngsters usually grow into a mature, confident veteran? No, they don't. They are burned out in a short time and Mr. Camcorder can't figure out where he went wrong. After all, he went out and supported him, didn't he? The fact is that Mr. Camcorder was a mediocre grappler at best and is now trying to be better vicariously through his son who is a different INDIVIDUAL!! Trouble is Camcorder Jr. was never really interested to begin with and now has a serious inferiority complex because his parent just didn't stop and THINK. Same stuff applies to those other pups, too. If and when they are ready, they'll show you that they are--if you pay attention. Thanks for reading, guys, I get kinda excited about that kind of thing, and can go off sometimes.