What type of hound

[poser]

Joe, i cut all the males around here so there is no chance of breeding him even if he was a super star....lol I like everything else about this young male except his track speed when its tough and hot. He got left home last year because i had too many paying dogs to hunt so we will find out where he sits this year. I just like a dog that moves a track fast so if he cant or wont he will be going down the road.


So, i guess the next question is....what about the other dogs that are shading up and not working the track that this dog is working....would you feed them? Would they have a spot at your place?

Im with ya on the dogs that get their feelings hurt too....drives me crazy. I mentioned a male dog earlier that has this problem. He will catch his own game with no problem but if you shock a dog...not even him, he is with the horse the rest of the day. If the other dogs get something going he is gone...he just isnt going to be the one hunting for it if there is some dogs getting shocked. If you were to hunt this dog out of a truck or wheeler you would probably never know there was a problem there.

Thanks for the replies everyone, jason

[Redwood Coonhounds]

I'm gonna say a fast, agile/tough, smart easy handling hound with heart to stay on track and tree is what I am striving for... Nose, grit, mouth, and treeing style are all extra....

Things I will cull for are as follow:
Dog agression, I allow ZERO aggression. Growling at home, over food, in the box, over a dead animal. Facebarking, hair raising, cock-eyeing another dog are a no go. Fighting is a one time offence... I will allow some human aggression (ie, barking at a stranger, watchdog style)

Dogs that dont hold up to hunting.... If a dog can't run as hard and as fast as it can day after day and still want more, they don't stay long. No use with a dog with sorry feet or that come up lame.

Babbling... I will NOT feed a dog that can't shut its mouth. To me a lying dog that runs its mouth and you can't trust it to know what it's doing, is as good as gone! I will hunt a silent dog over a babbling dog everytime.

Idiots.... this can range for anything. If a dog doesn't learn its lesson the first time about something, ie trash, barking, digging, chewing, loading up, ect. Down the road they go. Rattle headed idiots are a culling offence.

[bob baldwin jr]

Dang that sounds like about 90% of the hounds I have hunted behind

[poser]

Thanks for the comment and i think we all want about the same type of hound for the most part.

Lets try this out...describe your hound in your opinion. Break them down and see who would like a dog like that and who would not.....i think if we are honest in our evaluation of our hounds we will find alot of differences.

How many people really need a cold nosed dog? I dont care if you are hunting the dirt or not....i have seen some dogs that are not cold nosed catch lions in the dirt....they are just owned by the right people who put them in the right situation and they happen to know where lions are at.

What are you comparing the coldest nosed dog in your pack to? Im still waiting for a response to that question if anyone wants to answer it.

Thanks for all the replies, jason

[Lost River]

Poser,
I think that cry baby dog that wants to hang around the horses after a little juice would get tickled on level one three times and then level 2 a couple times and up the scale until he got his ass out away from the horses. He might learn that standing in the horses shade is a bigger gamble than gettting out there and maybe getting a little frizzle frazzle for a deer chase.

The pooch that is a little slow on track? I guess I would look and see if he is improving. I know some dogs have better days just like people. I got rid of a dog that was slow on track, but he was honest as all get out and he didn't quit. He continued to improve but never felt he was going to get where I wanted him so he is hunting with someone who doesn't mind, a good dog who deserved a full feed dish and to hunt, but wasn't for me.

Happy hunting everyone!

[lsorenso]

Casey, the dog that is hanging by the horse isn't even getting shocked. Its a long story but the dog was sold and when he was bought back he musta had the tar shocked out of him because if you shock another dog he is right by you the rest of the day. He had picked up several bad habits that he didn't have when he was sold. It would take a while to explain every detail to you about this dog.... He is not my dog but i have hunted him since he was a pup. He was on track to be a rockstar! The guy sold him for a bit of money and things weren't the same without him so he bought him back. The dog will catch game all by himself anyday and hold it til you get there but he has developed some strange habits in his travels....he pisses me off but the owner is still happy with him so he'll be around probably til hes dead.

Thanks for the comments, jason

[poser]

I posted the last post Frosty was just logged in at work so it show him posting it.

Take care, jason

[Redwood Coonhounds]

Jason, I will take your challenge. I am the first person to admit that I really dont need a cold nose, but am not going to breed it out of my hounds. I personally just tend to train my colder nosed hounds to warm it up a bit. I don't give them a lot of opportunity to cold trail, ect. I don't have the patience to listen to dogs barking all day working on a track and not knowing if or when they will get it up and jumped. I don't get to hunt as much as I would like working 5-6 days a week. I want and expect results pretty much everytime I turn loose = something in a tree... We hunt behind about 10 other rigs any given time, so chances are anything too old is covered, or its in the next county over behind locked gates.

My coldest nosed dog in most conditions can move (I mean move, heads up) a 10-12 hr track. Most of the time I'd say a 4-10 hr old track is average, and she can move like she's looking at it. I've hunted her with a few way colder nosed dogs. None of them could move a track anywhere near as fast her once she really smells it and gets to grinding. I will take speed and track sense over a little colder nose anyday. I don't call it cold trailing, I call it "Cold Running." One thing about her is she is a true tight mouthed hound. In her younger days she was semi-silent. She can strike from the rig well, but usually the track has crossed the road, or isn't far off the road, or the wind is blowing favorably, as she doesn't do too much winding (on the truck anyhow) But even if she doesn't strike I can let her down and you won't see her again until she's found the track. If its junk or something too old, she'll check back in. If not the next time you hear her she'll almost be out of hearing. She will not open but once or twice every 10-15 minutes while she's really grinding or concentrating. Hard to get dogs into her (thus why I turn them all loose at the start) To me she's worth her weight in gold as a start dog. She just has that sense to hit it and get it running the right way almost effortlessly. Lately I have been just freecasting her into some creeks and ravines in the mountians like I would do coon hunting, and she has done a good job of locating a track. She seems to know where to look... Once it's jumped she'll give it hell, opens like she should, is fast and has some bottom to her, she can get around most any country. She will call a bears bluff, but after a few cheap shots if he's not climbing, she'll give him some respect. She's got enough grit for me, and a ton of heart, she won't quit. She trees good. Pretty loud mouth, about 80-90 bpm. Sitting down looking right at him, unless she can climb. Then she'll be as high up as she can get. If it's a tree with a lot of branches, it wont have any when she's done. Yet somehow you never hear her stop barking. No joke I've been to many a tree where she's the only dog there, clicking them off everybreath, and theres no bark left on the tree She also will chew thru any leash that isn't chain, including if you tie another dog to close.... I can holler at her and walk her from almost any tree without a leash. I can pretty much get her to come to me at anytime if I want her bad enough. She's got a lot of respect for me, and hasn't worn a shocking collar since she was about 13 months old... She is a little soft, and she'll get a little pouty after a hard correction. But I can count on one hand how many times she's needed it, or how many trash races she's been on. Bout the only thing she "trashes" on is fox, and my boyfriend likes to run them, so I give her some slack... She is non exsistant at the house. Never barks, never chews, digs, jumps. Stays fat on a small amount of food. Only time I've ever heard her growl was at a male trying to molest her. Yet you can tell she's the alpha of the pack. True dominance with zero aggression.

[poser]

Cassandra, sounds like a really nice hound and one i would have in my yard anyday.

How does she hold up? Have you ever hunted her on ponies or free casted her? If so is she the one usually starting the tracks?

Thanks, jason

[Redwood Coonhounds]

I forgot to mention most of my hunting is dry ground, I HATE hunting in the snow.

She holds up really well. She's got a ton of leg and good feet. Little bigger than I like. About 60# in shape. She's athletic. Not real houndy looking.

I've never hunted off of horseback, but we road hunt them with the truck/quad, and freecast them and walk-hunt quite a bit. We'll road them anywhere from 10-20 miles in a night coon hunting or fox hunting. They'll go from about 9pm to 3am in the morning without breaking a sweat, and do that 2-3 nights in a row. Most of our bear hunting is by rigging. She is usually the dog that starts most of the tracks. I trust her the most. But I pretty much give all my dogs the same opportunity. All of them have a "lead dog" mentality, so the other dogs will one-up her on occasion. They just came to the track first. Good thing though is she's not jealous at all and will honor dogs, unless they are screwing off.

EDIT: Though I feel she is the most balanced hound I've ever had the pleasure of hunting with, she isn't the "Best" in every catagory. You will find faster, gritter, and colder nosed dogs I'm sure. But she seems to be able to hang with the best of them, and is CONSISTANT.... I wanted to point out a few of her flaws though, because thay all have them... The one thing MOST people that hunt with her say is "she sure don't bark much" Thats usually because she's already out of the country while they are trying to turn dogs in... Like I've said before that dont bother me at all! Someone who doesn't know whats going on usually thinks the other dogs are the ones doing all the work because they bark more.... The one thing she does that DRIVES ME UP A WALL, is she will run a covered track like no ones buisness. Never seen a dog that can run another dog like she can... Strike 'em, run 'em and catch up and usually take the track from 'em I hate getting mixed in with other packs, but with her it happens. I gotta keep an eye on her.

[Lil Joes BigGame hounds]

I have a dog that at one time I thought had a pretty cold nose on trail. But what I have found out recently by having her on the rig with a dog that the owner considers medium nose she is really more of a warmer to hot nose on the rig. Now I know for a fact that this dog has trailed a lion track that was a day and a half old and then the next day we re started that same track where we left off. So that's really about as cold of a nose that I think I need. But when you put this dog on the rig she is hittin on a lot warmer scent. Now I think it might be my fault from not working here on the rig more and she is just holding back because lack of confidence. She does a pretty nice job trailin and opens with ease when she hits the scent she likes. Trees like a house a fire! holds up good and has nice tough feet. Hunts to please you. Listens and handles with the greatest of ease just a real pleasure to be around and has a brain to learn with not just to trail with.

Now the things I dislike about this dog if she is being turned into a race she will open when she hits the ground not just when she is on the trail. Has a tendency to spend some time looking up trees that she shouldn't be looking up. A little trashy but easy to call off if you are not sure what she has started. But the thing I think Im missing from my whole pack right now is patience to sit and grind on real hard tracks. They tend to give up and just scatter. ( I think thats a reflection on their masters lazy bone )

Im no dry ground lion hunter even though I do hunt the dry. I would never say these dogs I have are dry ground dogs, I grew up hunting snow and that's still what I use when I want to put some lions up. But if you spend all your time waiting on the snow around here you are gonna have fat lazy dogs that don't handle.

Man that took along time to write with two fingers.
Here she is treeing.

Rio Grande Lion 007 [320x200].jpg (37.49 KiB) Viewed 6277 times

[Lost River]

Casey, the dog that is hanging by the horse isn't even getting shocked. Its a long story but the dog was sold and when he was bought back he musta had the tar shocked out of him because if you shock another dog he is right by you the rest of the day. He had picked up several bad habits that he didn't have when he was sold. It would take a while to explain every detail to you about this dog.... He is not my dog but i have hunted him since he was a pup. He was on track to be a rockstar! The guy sold him for a bit of money and things weren't the same without him so he bought him back. The dog will catch game all by himself anyday and hold it til you get there but he has developed some strange habits in his travels....he pisses me off but the owner is still happy with him so he'll be around probably til hes dead.

Thanks for the comments, jason

Jason,
Well that sucks... I guess the only other idea is to go to the pound and find a dog you don't like. Kennel them with this dog and just randomly juice it all day till this dog gets used to it and isn't bothered Well, maybe not...My cousin had a dog that dug out, he put up a hot wire around the bottom of the kennel and if a bit of grass or twig was close the juice would jump and arch and make a popping sounds, I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about. To this day if you snap your fingers or clap or make a popping sound this dog will hunker down, and he is 9. Some dogs are just like us, snakes make my undies get greased, I know better but they still bother the hell outa me! Happy hunting, Casey

[poser]

Appreciate all the comments on this topic from everyone. All that matters at the end of the day is if your happy with the dogs in your yard. Someone else might not wanna feed them but if they do you a good job then its all good.

Heres something to kick around... what have you seen in someone's dogs that your dogs are missing....? If you cant find anything...then my guess is you need to venture out there a bit and see some different dogs.

I think most of us, myself included, get comfortable in what we have. Especially if we are catching what we are chasing. But, if you get out there and aren't afraid to have an open mind i bet you will find atleast one thing that you wish your dogs could do a little better.

I have seen some real nice dogs in my travels and meeting new people. Some of them i wouldn't own for one reason or another but they sure put game in the tree and you cant fault them for that.

Everyone has their own opinion of cold nosed, treeing, brains, drive, etc, etc etc.....but some of the people out there have higher standards then say someone like me. If you cant find someone with dogs that do something better then your dogs do, you are blessed and must be living right.

Who are some of the people that have impressed you with their hounds? What are some of the things that you really liked about their hounds?

Thanks for the comments, jason

[bluesman]

I Like my dogs to be smart! I also want dogs that are good in the kennel, house, box and rig along with in the timber. My dogs became my life and are in some ways like my roomates. If you cant live with them at home, you cant live with them in the woods. I may not have something at a tree every time but I enjoy my dogs and working with them and seeing the pups grow and learn. to me thats what being a houndsman is all about.

[hammerinplott]

All I hunt are lazy coon dogs but I need a dog' thats good at home and in the woods must be good with kids capable of learning commands in multiple languages able to find and tree game no matter how bad conditions are or how rough the game gets