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What do you guys think the right age is for a lead dog and what game are you after because that can make a difference.
Sean

my lead yote hound is 5...him along with 2 other litter mates. then my 7 yr old is rite up there as well

Most hounds for bear, lion, and bobcats are in there prime in that 5-7 year range. not saying a younger dog isnt good, but by 5-7 they usually have lots of exsperience and can still get threw the woods good, after about 8 they start to slow down a little on the bears, but still make good solid lion dogs.

I am just curious here how many times have you seen a great young dog coming on I am talking 9 mo. to a year old can a guy put too much pressure on a young dog to perform or is it they either have it or they don't attitude

Lead dog is an ability and what it WON'T do.

We have had a lot of lead dogs, because the way we do it we usually get a pack, sell it, start over. Cabo was showing greatness on his first bear at 9 months old, it walked all day with the dogs in Doe Canyon and would not tree. He went from the start and was ones of the last 3 dogs to come back with the guy that walked with the bear and dogs all day.

Cabo was a reincarnated Sky. But he lived to be a lot younger then Sky, 4 vs 17.

Socki was one of the worst pups on the planet, the other dogs would have a bear already in a tree, and Socki would be cold trailing a completely different one. He was always too independent and would never free cast into the dogs, because he didn't know 100% if it was right or not. It saved him from gettin in trouble on some trash races, but still a downer when your pup can't make a bear tree because he is trying to catch a different one that is prolly out of the country by now.

You can't say that your lead dog has to be the oldest, youngest, or the one of a certain breed if you run a mixture. The lead dog is the one that when your whole box blows up, you judge what YOU do next by that dog. When you need to start a bad track, that dog is the one. When the dogs are scattered and you know you put them on a bear, you look to see where that dog is. This is also the dog you drive like a bat outta hell for when you think dogs are being pick up!

They can show signs from a couple months that they are going to be a lead dog. Most 14 year old dogs should be culled. Age doesn't make the dog, ability does.

"Hook" has been my lead dog since she was 1.5 she is now 7 and some of my 4 and five year olds are taking the spot. one thing though if we have an almost impossable track to run hookie is still goin down first.

I think age has nothing to do with it. When a dog shows he/she can catch target game consistantly by itself, it can be a lead dog. If I had to put an age down, I would say anywhere between 3 and death. I think some peoples lead dogs are closer to death than 3 because they won't inspire a dog to be a leader when they're young. It becomes more about catching game than making dogs.

There seems to be a tendency among hound hunters to use one dog to do most of the work hence the term "lead dog".That practice usually means you have one kick ass dog and a box full of mediocres.If something happens to old Ace,your in trouble.A friend of mine taught me a few years ago that the best method is to go to the woods with the intention of making dogs not catching game.The result will be a box full of lead dogs.

Trueblue wrote:There seems to be a tendency among hound hunters to use one dog to do most of the work hence the term "lead dog".That practice usually means you have one kick ass dog and a box full of mediocres.If something happens to old Ace,your in trouble.A friend of mine taught me a few years ago that the best method is to go to the woods with the intention of making dogs not catching game.The result will be a box full of lead dogs.

That is true, but it is hard to put a "pop gun" on the ground and leave a "cannon" in the back of the truck.

[/quote]
it is hard to put a "pop gun" on the ground and leave a "cannon" in the back of the truck.[/quote]

This is true, but do you want an arsenal or just one cannon ?

Trueblue wrote:

it is hard to put a "pop gun" on the ground and leave a "cannon" in the back of the truck.[/quote]

This is true, but do you want an arsenal or just one cannon ?[/quote]

The answer to that question is obvious. If every dog on the planet was of equal speed, nose, intelligence, heart, grit, etc, it would probably be easier to have a truck load of lead dogs. It just seems to me that the cream is going to rise to the top over a period of time and whether you planned it or not, one of the dogs is going to stand out.

If Joe Montana and I had been raised together and started playing quarterback at the same age......you see where this is going. I agree I would rather have a load of allstars, but it has never happened for me.

I am not disagreeing with you at all. I've just seen that dogs' natural ability sets them apart from each other.

You are absolutely right Coady.Dogs do have different natural abilities that set them apart.Some are outstanding tree dogs.Some are great strike dogs.Some are dogs that really have a knack for picking up a lose.Some are gritty.ALL dogs have their strong and weak points.Some dogs are worth fooling with and some aren't.My job as a trainer is to quickly figure out which ones got what it takes and send the other ones packing.

Trueblue wrote:You are absolutely right Coady.Dogs do have different natural abilities that set them apart.Some are outstanding tree dogs.Some are great strike dogs.Some are dogs that really have a knack for picking up a lose.Some are gritty.ALL dogs have their strong and weak points.Some dogs are worth fooling with and some aren't.My job as a trainer is to quickly figure out which ones got what it takes and send the other ones packing.

Amen. When you find dogs that do all or most of the above mentioned things, then you have a good one. I want a dog that does all these things and will do it consistently. I guess that is why I'm never satisfied with what I am feeding. LOL

I agree. You really don't know what your others dogs can do till you either split your pack or lose your best dogs.

Why not have 2 or 3 top rig dogs with equal ability, all your dogs be able to trail, and they all tree.

"Me too" dogs are just sheep. Sheep don't mix well with wolves.

Let me rephrase what I was asking even though I am horning in on the original topic I know if I have a young and upcoming star I only feed him a little at a time as far as the hunting it goes I don't hunt it everynight for 5to 6 hrs a night or day simple because a young dog is like a kid compared to a grown up not physically able or mentally to go with an older dog ........ Do you guys nurture a young great dog or do you pile him in on every race and if this is what you do how many young dogs that you started out with all the fire fizzle out by the end of the season I know there are the few that you pour it on and they seem to take it. So percentage wise do you ruin 5 pups by hunting them hard because they sour or get 4 good pups by nurtureing good prospects just want to know if anyone thinks along the same line as me or am I the odd guy out.... Thanks