BigGameHoundsmen.com

Well you seem to be talking mostly about Jug bred dogs and I have only been around one that a friend of mine has and he is making a nice dog. He is built right and is a real goer and will probably finish out to be a real nice dog. I personally have McDuffie strain dogs, and they are hunted on bear and bobcat and some lion so they have to be pretty versatile. They are quirky to some degree as David said, some more than others, but they are not so differant than a lot of non leopards(hounds) Leopards are a differant type of dog than any hound I have ever owned or been around.David you said that you have never seen a leopard that was built right, or as you said close to perfect, well I dont know what perfect is but most of the Leopards I have seen are built for running and endurance with good feet. That to me is built right. As mentioned above Leopards are not for everyone, they have a little differant way of looking at things, intelligence, in my opinion, and they get real tuned in to whoever owns them, wanting to please, and they do seem to mature mentally slower than a lot of dogs. These dogs are not perfect and will never be, just like any other dog. Now this is just my opinion, but anyone looking for a perfect dog is a whole bunch quirky themselves, as there is no such thing, repeat, no such thing. After owning hounds and now Leopards I will never go back to hounds, no need to, as I have the dogs I was looking for now. As you can tell I am having a hard time this morning putting my thoughts down, I am kind of rambling on. Remember folks, these are just dogs, same as any other dog, that we use to chase critters with, aint rocket science, so hunt what pleases you and good luck. Remember this, there is only One who is perfect.

David,i savy quirky yes,not like most hounds i've been behind,i have a prety good idea who you are speaking of, a smart fella.i spoke too J Richard once and he told me too watch out there was a lot of lep men crooked as a bag of snakes,i don't know i totaly agree with that i feel it is more of a difrence in opinion on what is inportant,i have found there isn't a lot of lep folks culling for the same reasons,i mean i've given pot likers away i couldn't stand only to have the guy who got the dog make a real barn burner out of it in a few hunts,so what one guy thinks is a cull could posibly be someones dream dog,now my two bigest faults with Jug dogs is one unless you get one as a pup it seems like they take forever to make up with you,and some of them have too tight a coat,almost bird dog tight,and that sucks in the cold,and i guess when they are young and start trailing they track so fast that they over run a track and have to come back to pick it up a lot,thats kind of a pain til they get more expeiriance,but yes they are not the end all dog by no means,but they suit me and i tend to not have the freak-out-o-meter pegged when i'm working them so that allways makes for a more pleasant day,lol

MIcurhunter wrote:David, what other strains of leopards did you try? I know I don't base any judgements on a breed of dog after only 6 dogs. If that was the case I wouldn't be in to running dogs at all. Every breed has their good and bad. The bad fault in leopards that some find is they are a one man or family dog, people often confuse this with they don't want to hunt or they won't go with my buddy's dogs or when you are hunting with some people for the first time. When it comes down to it, not all people are meant to be leopard owners, just like leopards are not going to please everyone. As far as the cull rate, Leopards are not competition bred, they take longer to mature. I guess if the leopard numbers were as high as the treeing walker numbers the percentage would look alot better. I wouldn't say that leopards are the best of bobcat's, I would take their determination to please their owner and the ease of handling over anyother breed any day of the week. The best bobcat dogs are born that way and we have no control over what color or breed they are. That's why the people that hunt the bobs call themselves cat hunters. Otherwise we would all just be dog hunters, wait I do that alot when I am hunting with my buddy and his hounds.LOL

I want to adress the posts responding to me, but wont. Here's why:

The Leopard breed is too small, and too tight. To mention certain lines of dogs you might as well be mentioning people. Unfortunately, people often get their own identity wrapped up in their dogs. You are not your dogs. Your dogs are not you. I wish all people knew that. Some do not.
If I say something about a dogs abilities as a bobcat dog, it is should not make the man who bred that dog feel threatened, but unfortunately, it usually does.

I used to post on the leopard board, and frankly, there's a few Leopard people who cant handle what I have to say. If you guys corner me, you will hear things you dont want to hear either. I have tried to make a few general statements just to help a guy out who is searching this realm of dogs as possible bobcat dogs, just as I was years ago. You guys are wanting me to get more and more specific, and I wont do it. Not here.

Leopards were never bred specifically for bobcat. My comments really should mean nothing to leopard breeders, unlesss they are wanting to breed up a strain specifically for bobcat. If that is you, I have a few suggestions. They might hurt your feelings, so if you dont have thick skin, dont ask me. If you do have thick skin and want better bobcat dogs, contact me privately.

I will make one general comment that is very negative, and I hesitate to make it for that reason, yet, I make it because I feel at some point the breed will fall if people do not pay attention. I am putting it out here to hopefully help the breed. I make the comment only from my own personal experience and ogbservations. I hope they are wrong. I hope they are totally wrong, and my experience is just a fluke and needs to be ignored. If you know I am wrong, just ignore it, or even come forth and say I am dead wrong. I hope I am.

But here it is: I think the breed has been put together by some extrememly gifted breeders: People that can study pups and young dogs and make some important judgments very early. this is all good.

BUT

I have never been close to a breed of dogs that had as many KEY
breeders who, for all intents and purposes, DONT HUNT. And when I say hunt, I mean H_U_N_T hunt. I mean hunt hard. I mean hunt a dog down till you know exactly what it's physical and mental limitations are. I mean hunt a dog so much that you have seen the dog in every possible scenario and you know exactly how that dog will function (fail or succeed) in that scenario.

As I look into what I can peice together of the breeds history, and as I witness what is happening right now in the current events of the breed, There are an awful lot of pivitol breeding decisions made by people who can not possibly know the dogs outer limits, and in a sadly large number, really cant possibly know the dog at all.

If you want a breed of coon dogs. I think you can get away with this. If you want a breed of bobcat or big game dogs, I am afraid that down the line, you will be in for some surprises. There will be weaknesses fully established at the very core of the breed and very few will even know they are there, because very few are fully testing their breeding stock.

I realize there are some outstanding exceptions to what I am saying. I am thankful for those men who are in a position to fully test their dogs befor making breeding decisions.

ata boy Dave!let er buck!!. first off i have had a litter or 2 that thank god worked out,but i'm a trainer,i don't pick out pups or watch a litter,my bud picks one out and i hunt it so i get to totaly by pass the whole pupy thing but this is what i have to say about this same thinga dog that trees a cat once a year doea not a cat dog make,Daves right,the only way to tell is to be there every day now on the other hand i have never seen more cat minded dogs in one breed before,but just because they are cat minded doesn't make them good,but just because the pot has been stired i'll take a little heat as well,now the good ol boys that dont care about anything but putting cats in trees that are breeding best too best paperor no are where you are going to find yer crazy eyed real cat dog,a ton of folks are puting there hounds on jug males,and comeing up witha totaly difrent packadge thatis a bit more efficiant than ol mom and dad, again that rided up on a fella like saggie drawers,but again it comes down too the whole packadge, but like i say to the fine young son,if you want something done right do it yer self,because we are all human with difrent opinions and non of us think the same,i say who care the coler or shape, if it puts it up consitantly,i don't care if its half border collie and shnozer,if it suits you hunt it