Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Indiana
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I want some opinions.

Do you think most silent track dogs are born that way,or they became that way later in life.

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Registered: Jun 2005
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ive got one pretty quiet on track...i think it was bred into em...

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The truly silent ones are born that way. Its a proven genetic trait.
Actually in its simplest form, it is a recessive one. Which is why it shows up in the weirdest places.

Alot of hounds however get quieter as they get older.

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definitely born that way, just like they are born to open a lot on track.

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I agree it is a product of genetics but I am also very sure that shooting a lot of coons out to them will tighten their mouths on track. I'm talking about 4 or more coons per night for a couple weeks straight......as in kill season.

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quote:

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Originally posted by JiM
I agree it is a product of genetics but I am also very sure that shooting a lot of coons out to them will tighten their mouths on track. I'm talking about 4 or more coons per night for a couple weeks straight......as in kill season.

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I have experienced the very same thing with my dogs. I just figured it was because of the number of coons shot out to them during kill season. Whatever the reason, they are definately tighter inthe winter than during the summer.

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Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:

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Originally posted by brogy
I agree w/ you, but I don't think it even takes knocking out many coon. My dad has had 2 Nt Ch females over the years out of different bloodlines that were 1st & 2nd strike dogs during the spring & summer but are almost completely silent in the kill season. My dad's current female probably hasn't had 30 coon knocked to her in the last 2 years. My oldtimer buddy accused my dad of having silent dogs, my dad says "they're not silent, they're smart!". The are tight lipped when it counts and wide open when it counts.

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I know the really mouthy ones,especially a chop mouth track dog,don't go silent when they get older.
But it seems to me that all the dogs I have owned that went silent opened half way decent on track when they were younger,and then tightened up worse and worse as they got older.
I know a lot of people think a dog like that gets quieter with age because they learn through trial and error that they can sneak up on coons if they keep their mouth shut.
Of course a really mouthy dog would never get the chance to figure this out.

What I got to wondering is if the silent mouth track dog is more a product of genetic traits,or a product of learned behavior.


Lets say you got two dogs that open about the same on track,one opens like that its whole life,while the other goes totally silent by the age of 4.Did the one go silent because it was just geneticly destined to happen,or is this dog showing a higher level of inteligence.

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THRU MY EXSPERIENCE A TIGHT MOUTH DOG WILL HAVE THE MEAT THEY ARE DEADLY ACCURATE ANYBODY ELSE NOTICED THIS

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be the dogs are getting hunted alot harder during season and wearing the edge off of them. they get wore down a little!!! this will tighten them up a bit. but the stone cold silent ones are born that way!!

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quote:

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Originally posted by jackbob42
Have you ever kept track of the distance covered on those tracks? Like , maybe the summertime tracks seem to last a little longer/cover more ground ?
If so , could be trailing conditions. In the fall , they may have to be closer to the coon before they will open on it.

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Is it possible that a silent dog doesn't open until it's right on the a$$ of a coon? For some reason people always assume a dog's mouth tells what kind of nose it has (i.e. bawl mouth = cold nose; chop mouth = hot nose).
I sure don't have the answers but it makes for interesting discussion.

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My 2 year old sounded like a one dog beagle pack when he first started running a track at about 7 months old. The more I have hunted him the quieter he has gotten. Last week he opened once and I told the guys with me we'd get treed on that. It took about 20 minutes, no other dog opened, and the next sound he was treed solid under the coon.
Hopm

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Most of your dyed in the wool,old time,traditional hound breeders are always harpin' about how the night hunts are gonna be the ruination of the hound breeds because todays houndsmen are breeding for a hound what operates like a squirrel dog.
Now you are probably thinkin' that I have just been readin' too much of G.O.'s material,and I will admit that he kind of rekindled my thinkin' on it.
I got to mullin' on it from a breeders point of view.
Them little squirrel dogs is silent for a fact,but they are also some of the smartest little varmints that has ever walked on 4 legs.

Now I,like most hound enthusiests,favor an open trailing hound,but I also favor a hound what catches the most coons in the shortest amount of time.
I aint never met too many people that was all that crazy about a dumb dog either,so naturally I think breeders are trying to breed for brains as well as ability.
I will agree that silent track dogs do appear to be more common now than they was a few years ago.

What I got to wonderin' if it was more an intentionally bred in trait,or more of a side effect from breedin' for brains.

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i got a strange one i have a female thatis kind of quiet on the ytack she has a big mouth and just sounds enough to let you know wgere she is the closer she getsto the coon the quieter she gets,this hound is deadly accurate and a quick kill dog and loves to catch them on the ground, she just got out of heat so i took her and her 6 month old pup out last night and thought i had the wrong dog as she struck hrt pup followed suit and he has quite a mouth for a pup well anyhow on two drops this female opened all the way while tracking as if she was teaching her pup the pup is by fallen timber dusty he going tobe a good one his btother is still to playfull so i got him goingbyhimself then he gets down to business

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In answer to Truck Johnson's comments....I have never noticed any correlation between how open a dog is and how accurate it is. I can think of as many tightmouth liars as mouthy liars. But I do think a tightmouth dog will have more on the outside.

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Registered: Dec 2003
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quote:

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Originally posted by engman99

What I got to wonderin' if it was more an intentionally bred in trait,or more of a side effect from breedin' for brains.

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Registered: Mar 2006
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John Wick says that most dogs who are silent or tight are also usually real smart. They have figured out that a coon is easier to tree when the coon has been snuck upon so to speak. The more a dog barks the more warning a coon has

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quote:

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Originally posted by gfults
John Wick says that most dogs who are silent or tight are also usually real smart. They have figured out that a coon is easier to tree when the coon has been snuck upon so to speak. The more a dog barks the more warning a coon has

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my old female opend a little till she was about 13months old after that over five years of time after time truely silent one bark and start walkin to the tree hot or cold track silent. and out of 17 pups all are good and open oldest pups are almost 4

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I believe, unquestionably, that a closed mouth trailer is an inherited trait. I really don't think it has anything to do with intelligence. Hunting is all about pleasure to me. If you enjoy a dog that trees coon, and you don't care how they do it, you may enjoy a silent dog as much or more than an open trailer. To me working the track is at least half, if not more, of my coon hunting pleasure.

It's about 2:00 am in the morning, and I just returned from hunting. Did not turn loose until late. Nippet struck a bad track on a big river.......drifted on out ( without saying a word) several hundred yards, opened again......drifted on out several hundred yards.....opend again. She did that about 4 times, and the last time she was just about out of hearing. We drove around and heard her treeing every breath. Got to her, and she had the meat. A big boar coon. I enjoyed hearing her drift that bad track. There were two other dogs that could not open on the track. I heard them open as Nippet was going out of hearing. That brings me pleasure. That displays a dog's intelligence in my way of thinking.

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There has been alot of work done with fox hounds in the past that proves truly silent dogs are in fact inherited. Like I said before, alot of dogs get quieter as they get older. I have always believed it was because they were smart.

That being said alot of the time, the coon is already sitting in a tree before the dogs leave the truck. At least in the type of terrain I hunt.

Being a recessive trait, I believe closer breedings are the reason for more silent dogs more than the night hunts. Think about it, why would any animal give its prey warning that it was being hunted? What other prediter does this? In fact most other hunting dogs dont bark. Only hounds.

Opening while tracking prey is a genetic mutation. A rare one because it is a dominate trait, but still a mutation. What would happen to a fox or coyote that barked while it was tracking down a rabbit, fawn, or turkey? It might still catch one once in a while, but not regular enough to feed itself. It would starve.

Close breeding brings out the silent hunter they were in the begining. Ever watch a bloodhound? There all silent.

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Registered: Mar 2006
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I believe it is partly inherited. But i also believe it is because of intelligence. I know of 3 particular dogs who are silent on track. One is the mother of the other 2. All 3 dogs are almost identical in the way they hunt the way they tree and even their mouth. So part of it is inheritence, but all 3 dogs are also very smart, so yes, it is also part intelligence too. Ive never seen a dog that gave a whole bunch of mouth on track that i thought was very smart, and believe me ive hunted tons of em.

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Registered: Jan 2005
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Lot of opinions on this thread. And we are all correct. This is alot of info. for any of you new coonhunters.

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