Registered: Mar 2005
Location: Illinois
Posts: 2043

when you first started how many PUPS did you go through before you got one that you were happy with?
i know a lucky kid that just got his first pup last year and now that pup is really getting it done.
i also know a guy who has bought prob/ 10 dogs and has never got one to do much of anything.

second question.do you feel that knowing what you know now. you could have made a dog out of any the pups you culled/gave up on or do you think it was just the luck of the draw and you got some bad draws?

Jeff

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: Ohio
Posts: 3063

I just got started last year. I bought a pup, the runt of the litter, and trained her myself. She was a tough cookie, but she was smart, had the desire to hunt, and a good nose. I think with those traits, you can do ANYTHING with the dog. She is now running and treeing her own coon at 18 months of age.

I now have two male pups that are littermate brothers and are 8 months old. They are very gamey, smart and have desire that would make anyone go "wow". The one male will strike in front of my old male (we use him for a pup trainer) and will tree with him. I had just started taking him by himself before the weather started getting bad to train pups in. His brother will also open on track and split treed, with the coon, the last time we had him out. We are waiting until spring to start them back up again. But I think they are gonna turn out to be good coon dogs. My first pup taught me sooo much and gave me a lot of experience. It also really helps to have a weathered coon dog that is good with pups. I did not have my old dog when I got my first pup and I know now that it would've saved me some headaches if I would've had him then. I also have a 9 month old female that is at the same stage as the males. All three pups are running and treeing with the old dogs, so I think we are a bit a head of the game. All these pups will be hunted alone this spring and that is when the good will stay and the bad will go. That is when I will find out which ones will make it, and which ones I think deserve to be worked with.

All that being said, I think if a dog has the brains, the nose, and the hunt drive, then they need a fair shot. A lot of guys that I have talked to and hunted with will either cull a dog or sell it if it is not treeing it's own coon by 10-12 months of age. I think a dog needs to be given enough time to mature, physically and mentally, before it is given up on. My pups kind of started themselves, except for the first female that I got. I didn't start her or do anything with coon until she was about 9 months old. I did take her on walks, etc during the day, but I didn't expose her to hunting or coon until she was a little older. If some hunters had a little more patience then they might save themselves a lot of trouble, time and money. Research the line of dogs you are considering of getting a pup out of, and then let it have time to mature. If it shows good traits and qualities, then it should be given a shot to succeed. That was kind of long winded.lol. but I guess I was just trying to say that all pups are different and some are slower or faster than others and they all need a shot.

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Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Rockmart Ga.
Posts: 8685

Coondogs are born, not made. Just my opinion.

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Registered: Jan 2004
Location: Beaverton, Mi
Posts: 1054

Still looking. Always will be at least till I die or no longer participate in this sport.

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: wakarusa, indiana
Posts: 3304

my friend cannot train a dog if his life depended on it-- his name is aaron berger-- another one of our friends told him one day he could have this english pup for 10 bucks-- well aaron being a tight wad didnt pay up-- he takes her for her first time and she disapears-- he never finds he till morning-- he takes her out that night and she ran and treed coon all night like she had been doin it for years- she is now 7 and a pretty nice hound

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Registered: Sep 2006
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 37

quote:

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Originally posted by sheepster
Coondogs are born, not made. Just my opinion.

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I've never had a puppy or dog that I was happy with, some was more tolarable than others but every dog that I have owned or hunted could've used some improvement in certain areas.

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: wakarusa, indiana
Posts: 3304

we had a female once that wouldnt do a thing shw wouldnt even bark at a coon- she wouldnt even out with othr dogs-- she wouldnt do anything at all--- my brother hunted her and hunted her and hunted her and she still never did anything-- then he said she has one last chance to tree a coon tonight or she can rest in peece-- he dropped them both and she amazingly went in-- then he said he heard the most beutiful sound-- he said heard her bark for the first time-- he said after she struck he heard her locate and blow down a tree and had the coon-- she ended up being one of the best dogs we had--- she was 2 and a half years old when she first started

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Registered: Sep 2006
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by sheepster
Coondogs are born, not made. Just my opinion. [/QUOTE

Hounds are born but I think coonhounds are made.

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Registered: Mar 2005
Location: Illinois
Posts: 2043

V. Cannon
" I've never had a puppy or dog that I was happy with, some was more tolarable than others but every dog that I have owned or hunted could've used some improvement in certain areas."

ok guys i guess i should have been more specific. yes, no dog is perfect. i know that... everyone knows that. all dogs have faults we know this too!!
how many did it take before you had one that you would call a "coondog"/a dog you liked/. dont look to hard and pick this question apart.most everyone who has been in comp hunts had a dog they liked or they wouldnt have put him/her in them. they would have gotten rid of it.
i know i remember the first dog i was happy with, no he was never a lipper, jet 6, trackman dog, but he got the job done well and i would have called him a coondog.

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Registered: Sep 2006
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The first dog I messed with was one of the best dogs that I've ever been around but between that dog and the next decent dog was about 100 culls.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Los Angeles, MN
Posts: 4236

I think often times the 'first' coondog a guy has is the best of his life simply because he had the enthusiasm to hunt the hair off it.

Somtimes I see somthing or think of somthing I would like to have tried on a dog I culled some time back, you go through a few culls and you start thinking, maybe Im doing somthing wrong?


Then along comes a pup that in spite of my poor training, is bound a determined to be a coondog.....Makes you glad you didnt waste any more time than you already did on the culls.

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: wakarusa, indiana
Posts: 3304

exactly right-- well said-- the first dog i had to hunt the hie off of was an 8 year old grnitech and pkc ch-- everybody new him and still knows him from around here--

now i have a young female that will make ya mad every one in a while-- but-- that old dog didnt make Grnitech without gettin mad at him every once in a while--- he didnt get that way from not hunting him

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Last edited by Dwils on 01-23-2007 at 01:45 AM

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Registered: Dec 2003
Location: kellogg mn
Posts: 845

First dog I had was the best I've ever followed. I got him as a pup and trained him alone, or rather he trained me. He had holes but treeing coon wasn't one of them. He could go through a woods where guys just came out and go in and tree a layup as easy as can be. I was hard on some of the dogs I had after him, I thought they were all that easy to train. I haven't culled many and I've never culled a pup I got to pick out, don't know if it's because I liked them or just got lucky.

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My first pup was given to me by Harold Brummer out of his Fin Riv bred female and Wessel's Wild Casey. Harold had kept this pup back for himself. My dad & I were had just hide hunted up to this point and were just being exposed to NiteHunts and year round pleasure hunting. To my knowledge, my dad had never really raised a pup and had always hunted grade dogs. My dad met Harold at a hunt and after visiting for a while Harold told my dad if your boy is looking for a pup I got one for him. We went and picked up this pup who was approx 4-5 months old at the time. We took him out with some of the club members we had gotten to know and the 1st night in the woods at 5 1/2 mos old this pup treed with the old dog. He never missed a beat from then on. Treed his 1st coon on his own at 9 mos old. By the time he was 11 mos he was making old dogs look bad. At 14 mos old I turned down a sizeable chunk of money for him. He was the nicest young dog I've ever seen and the most natural early starting dog my Dad & I have ever owned.
My dad has had a couple nice females since then but to this day nothing ever compared to that first pup we started.
My dad & I have had our share of young dogs since then that have gone on to make decent dogs and a few sorry ones.
I think we got really lucky with that first pup. We didn't realize that until 4-5 young dogs later when Dad found another nice female.
One thing my Dad has noticed is that if he has had one real nice "main" dog at home he has never had a young dog measure up to it so he usually ends up selling them cheap and whoever ends up with it is usually pretty happy with it. I think that is because Dad hunts regularly but not hard so when he does get out he usually runs the old dog w/ a young dog so the old dog stay tuned up for the hunts but the young dogs never get singled out like they should. He has had a few spells where the main dog at home was a below average dog and when a nice young dog starts coming along that sorrier older dog gets moved and then the young dog gets hunted hard which in turn creates a better dog.

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Registered: Sep 2006
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Brogy, your father has proven that coondogs aren't born but are made.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: waldo wi
Posts: 3221

next one was a walker male and he turned out to be a very good dog and everything i have now and since is decendant of his. he was a son of deanwood drifter, we had another walker male we bought his half brother and we got lucky there too. i realize more and more how lucky we are in this coonhound world. talking to and listening to other hunters of any breed or blood or reading onhere or coonhound publications just reinforces my gratitude to the breeders that made the hounds we are hunting. i'm not as old as alot of houndsman(45) but saw quite a bunch of dogs already and i've seen good and bad and inbetween. in all these dogs there is a few that i would also like to have but never ever have i seen anything that made me say , "wow i should get rid of what i have and start with some of this>" hope everyone else good luck and good huntin!!!!!!!

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quote:

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Originally posted by V. Cannon
Brogy, your father has proven that coondogs aren't born but are made.

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Registered: Oct 2006
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 2737

quote:

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Originally posted by V. Cannon
Brogy, your father has proven that coondogs aren't born but are made.

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Jim don't come on this thread and start trouble, I haven't ever had a cross word with brogy, quite opposite of some people on this boar I think Brogy tries to tell the truth and is bold enough to not be intimidated by the common blowhards that visits this forum.

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Registered: Oct 2006
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 2737

quote:

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Originally posted by V. Cannon
Jim don't come on this thread and start trouble, I haven't ever had a cross word with brogy, quite opposite of some people on this boar I think Brogy tries to tell the truth and is bold enough to not be intimidated by the common blowhards that visits this forum.

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Registered: Jul 2006
Location: northeastern kentucky
Posts: 415

quote:

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Originally posted by sheepster
Coondogs are born, not made. Just my opinion.

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Registered: Sep 2006
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Jim, I make every attempt to tell the truth and always do tell the truth to what I have seen or experenced but usually there's somebody that wants to draw attention to themselves and start problems, there's a couple of them that needs perfessional help and I hope they go see a therapist soon. I wish them a speedy recovery or at least the ability to cope with their problems.

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Registered: Sep 2006
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quote:

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Originally posted by ky_walker_man_x
i agree

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Registered: Oct 2006
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 2737

quote:

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Originally posted by V. Cannon
Jim, I make every attempt to tell the truth and always do tell the truth to what I have seen or experenced but usually there's somebody that wants to draw attention to themselves and start problems, there's a couple of them that needs perfessional help and I hope they go see a therapist soon. I wish them a speedy recovery or at least the ability to cope with their problems.

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