Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106

Is Brains in a dog just an overall opinion when you have a dog that puts together the different things it is suppose to do.

I think Brains or Smartness in our hounds is something that should be able to be evaluated, measured and put in a tangible form. Then used to see if dogs deemed to be smart make better coon hounds.

How many have a pup that will go through a gate then down a fence line and then bark to get to the other side and not go back to the gate. How about a pup that goes up steps and barks because it don't know how to get down them. Does any of this relate to future performance?

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Registered: Jan 2007
Location: monroeville OH
Posts: 2685

have hunted a lot pups!! but brain dept to me is different!! depends on what your looking for in brain dept!!for performance!! all depends what the dog is breed for/ to perform. some dogs has the natural ability to perform! we call it brains!!some dogs you gotta train!! drags/cage coon/hunt with others/ marshmillows some will say these are smart!! maybe so but its got to be trained to perform!!so which one has more intellence the one that has to be trained or the one that!! most things comes natural!!jmo

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Registered: Jan 2007
Location: monroeville OH
Posts: 2685

absolutely just because a pup is smart dosnt mean it will make a coon dog Bruce!!but if it has the smarts to go with all that stuff it takes to make a good coon dog!!! it sure helps!! from strike to tree!!had had some pretty dumb dogs that made the grade!!because they had the natural ability!!!dang thing things get eat up by a coon and not turn loose!! not to smart!!lol

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Registered: Feb 2015
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 1186

Sure don't know much about brains since I have been hunting since I was 8 and now am 67 but to me the smart hound is the one that gets better night after night. By that I mean they seem to be able to use what they experienced the night before to help them the next night. They have the instinct to run and tree but brains is what makes them get really good at it. Along that line I think the dog that consistently trees where there is no coon is just not very smart.

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Registered: Sep 2014
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Posts: 562

Most Hounds out there today don't have any Brains so to speak .

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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Jackson, MO
Posts: 784

I would be careful that what I used as an intelligence test fit in with the skills I needed the dog to have. For example, I wouldn't measure a kids ability to read by giving them a math test. I wouldn't want to test a hounds intelligence in categories that weren't going to help it be successful in being a good coonhound.

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Registered: Mar 2013
Location: Rover,Arkansas
Posts: 1133

I've never seen one who had both brains and desire not make a good coon treer. This includes many non-coonhound breeds.

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Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2768

I think they learn thru repetition, good and bad. I've never seen a hound a thought was " collie dog smart "

I guess the smarter they are the less repititions it takes to teach em. Jmo

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Last edited by Donnie Stevens on 10-09-2016 at 05:29 PM

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Registered: Jan 2011
Location: airville pa
Posts: 586

breeding for brains- just a over used term. How many dogs has anyone ever seen that isn't smarter than the trainer.lol

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Registered: Jan 2013
Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

I think what Bruce talking about is dogs that have it !! Not taught it ! Born with it !! And from the first time you start hunting them you realize it !! Like having one that trees so hard they have wet slobbers on both shoulders but would trail right past three dogs doing the same never throw a locate and go on and have the coon because the others were slick !! Like three dogs going one way on track the it dog going the other having the coon the others on a slick or a den !! Like three very loud dogs striking and treeing slicks and circles up and down the creeks and the it dog popping coons left and right on the fence rows all around them I have owned several of the it dogs but I have owned more of the dogs without brains.

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Registered: Jan 2016
Location: Central Pa
Posts: 1114

quote:

---

Originally posted by Preacher Tom
Sure don't know much about brains since I have been hunting since I was 8 and now am 67 but to me the smart hound is the one that gets better night after night. By that I mean they seem to be able to use what they experienced the night before to help them the next night. They have the instinct to run and tree but brains is what makes them get really good at it. Along that line I think the dog that consistently trees where there is no coon is just not very smart.

---

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Registered: Jan 2016
Location: Central Pa
Posts: 1114

quote:

---

Originally posted by Preacher Tom
Sure don't know much about brains since I have been hunting since I was 8 and now am 67 but to me the smart hound is the one that gets better night after night. By that I mean they seem to be able to use what they experienced the night before to help them the next night. They have the instinct to run and tree but brains is what makes them get really good at it. Along that line I think the dog that consistently trees where there is no coon is just not very smart.

---

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Registered: Aug 2013
Location: Seneca, Mo
Posts: 5932

You can see it in pups in their natural ability to solve problems when navigating their surrounds and the ease it takes to teach them commands. Does it mean that they will grow up to be coon dogs, NO but it sure doesn't hurt. We've all witnessed coon treers who would drive you crazy and if you've been lucky a coon treer who uses his brain both in handling, at the house and using these smarts in the woods to increase his ability. If you spend alot of time observing young pups in the woods and in yard work certain things just begun to shine, it's not just a couple of things you can put your finger on but easy to spot at the same time.

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Registered: Jan 2004
Location: Northwest Georgia
Posts: 1630

Bruce , Good post. I believe smart makes all the difference, in enjoying a line of hounds over a long time period. If they don't have it they will play out.
What is Puppy smarts? To me it is a dog that carries itself well, makes eye contact with its master, so you know it wants to please.
Is clean in its area,not walking in crap etc...
Does not panic at everything strange.
Learns from correction only after a time or two.
I also like a pup when with the litter walking or playing likes to lead(competitive)
My son has a male 16 months old that is treeing coons nightly, he never needs a leash, when he trees he is intense but he can call him to him 15 ft off and tell him to sit. He will fetch and sleeps in a recliner.lol Now thats a fun smart hound

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Registered: Jun 2015
Location: South Georgia
Posts: 76

I think with people what i call brains is common sense. Any man with common sense and want to can be taught any trade work. With that being said most people will be better at one than they are at other trades but with desire and want to can learn any trade. I am a body man now and make a good wage doing it but i am a better welder than body man.


I believe dogs to be the same. Some are great in one area of being a coon hound and slack in other areas. Few i have owned or seen are/were balanced dogs and i say them have coon sense. A dog that don't have enough sense to shut up when told, come when called, or not walk in their own crap stands little chance to be a well rounded coon treeing machine in my opinion. I coon hunt for pure pleasure and nothing is worst than a dumb hound.

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Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Todd, North Carolina
Posts: 254

Bruce, I'm on Terry Walker's deadline this weekend and can't elaborate but I would love to respond to this thread. The subject is near and dear to my heart. Intelligence is very important to me. Hounds are much more intelligent than some may think. Sometimes they are too smart.

Intelligence in one area may not relate to performance in another.

Some dogs stumble into coon tracks and tree them. Intelligent dogs rely on memory to know where to strike a coon. One example.

That said, all the good dogs I have had over the years were intelligent dogs.

I look forward to responding more. Great topic!

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Registered: May 2012
Location: Asheville, North Carolina
Posts: 629

I think what you people are calling brains in a dog, is what we old timers referred to as a dog having "coon sense". Some have it and some don't.

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Registered: Nov 2009
Location: West Virginia
Posts: 117

I believe a smart dog has more (want to please) and when it learns what you want and expect, excels.

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Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106

Crooked Ridge now we are getting somewhere. 10,000 squirrel dogs prove your point.

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Last edited by Bruce m. Conkey on 10-09-2016 at 02:52 PM

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Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2768

quote:

---

Originally posted by J I Allen
I think what you people are calling brains in a dog, is what we old timers referred to as a dog having "coon sense". Some have it and some don't.

---

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Registered: Oct 2006
Location: Pleasant Plain OHIO
Posts: 1291

a intelligent dog seems to respond to corrections , if a dog pays attention when your telling it NO and doesn't make the mistake again he has Brains ,

Drive Desire Heart and ability cant be taught ,
a dog can only be as smart as the owner lets him be , daily interaction , Hands on Talking to him , can define a dogs Intelligence ,

but I bet all dogs with a Brain will still roll in in stinky nasty dead stuff they find in the woods , are they still considered to have a Brain ?

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Registered: Mar 2008
Location: Western N.Y.
Posts: 3995

Brains are hard to define, a dog that responds well to training and is pleasant to be around may make your time in the woods more enjoyable but in my opinion those characteristics have little to do with the talent required to be a real deal coondog. The best one I ever snapped a lead on was dumb as a post, crapped is his feed dish on a regular basis, wouldn't walk three feet for a pat on the head, never gave any indication that he even knew his name BUT he knew where to find a coon,could run a track in any conditions, he knew when to shut up and drift on out there and how to put a tree with a coon in it on the end a high percentage of the time.....Stupid in the daylight but pretty sharp when the sun went down.

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Registered: Jun 2004
Location: 3515-38st-moline ill.
Posts: 558

For many years i believed brains or intelligence was the key factor in a hound.I now believe brains AND desire are equally important in making a top hound.A true natural has both.

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Registered: Jan 2016
Location: Central Pa
Posts: 1114

quote:

---

Originally posted by john Duemmer
Brains are hard to define, a dog that responds well to training and is pleasant to be around may make your time in the woods more enjoyable but in my opinion those characteristics have little to do with the talent required to be a real deal coondog. The best one I ever snapped a lead on was dumb as a post, crapped is his feed dish on a regular basis, wouldn't walk three feet for a pat on the head, never gave any indication that he even knew his name BUT he knew where to find a coon,could run a track in any conditions, he knew when to shut up and drift on out there and how to put a tree with a coon in it on the end a high percentage of the time.....Stupid in the daylight but pretty sharp when the sun went down.

---

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Registered: Jan 2004
Location: Northwest Georgia
Posts: 1630

Allot of the dogs I see are driven by desire and genetics and not by brains, there is a big difference in my opinion, but that is just my opinion

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