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merlo_105 wrote:Locating is the one thing I dont want to help the dogs out on but when they have it picked right and are 95% sure its up there I think its ok to give them 5% and help. There not gonna rely on you for your help. Each dog and pack of dog and handler are different. Why walk a pup out on a track??? Your doing the tracking not the pup it boils down to you doing all the work does that mean that that pup wont track by its self NOOO... Me too dogs come from not being singled out...

You are 100% right alone time is better than any trainer could ever dream of being in their wildest dreams, and patting themselves on the back. Along with seeing the front end as much as possible.



Take care, Willie

Willie alone time is great, not often are bobcat hounds who belong to hunters that own a pack, hunted alone by the pack hunters I have known. Over the years I have seen young hounds come on and become pack leaders, even tho they were hunted in a pack, that is why I stated , disagree with part of that. Hard to leave hounds home and hunt one dog when you have a full time job & some family obligations, while hunting each dog enough to do them justice. I have noticed in pack races often different hounds will have the front end in the same race at different times. Also observed different dogs being first to locate at different times, different dogs picking up the loses. When I saw that I knew they were not just me too dogs. Suspect breeding has lots to do with dogs being independent fact is dogs that are too independent are not always fun to hunt in a pack. Merlo if you have the time and cats nothing better then giving a hound alone time, for bringing out independence. Most I have known did not have that luxury. Respectful Al

Al, Alot of dogs have the ability to run and hold a track by them selve's even though there not the one's out front on all the races. Some people would consider that a me too dog. Alot of hunters have the old trusty start and strike dog and thats how its done. I dont let only one or two dogs start the track I mix it up. i let alot of the young one's start it and run it till it's jumped or about jumped before i toss in the more experienced dogs. I do alot of shuffling between the dogs so everyone is doing work. I want all my dogs pushing forward when they can Last night I had a 10 month old lead most the cold track then when jumped it was caught with in 10 minutes they burned it up pretty quik. The big problem I have is Nose I dont have any cold nose dogs so I want all of them being able to take what little scent they can gather and work with it and range out to find the better half. The 10 month old struck the track from the rig ran the road for 300 yards hit another road ran up it 200 yards ran threw a gravel pit got up on top came out on a road ran up the road for 50 yards hit the woods and started opening 400 yards later it was jumped. I thought it was a coyote being's it was in the road for so long but nope was a cat...

Merlo, great to let different dogs start, for years I just dumped the pack on the road. Each dog was wired & hopeful if the youngster want to trash older hounds would tip me off. That was not the case before ecollars & tracking devices. Al