Registered: Apr 2016
Location: WV
Posts: 118

I am certainly not an expert breeder, with that being cleared up right off, I have found it easier to keep what you have, rather than add something to it. If you have speed, tracking, mouth, brains, and need more tree, it seems to work best for me to cross back to something with the traits I already have, plus what Im looking for. I seem to have less culls this way. I have reached out a few times just looking for a certain trait and wound up with a litter of junk. As far as nose, I think it is directly related to desire. As a generalization, the most intelligent hound doesn't usually have that uninhibited desire, that does not have to be provoked by competition. The best cold nosed track drivers I have seen, had very little interest in what anything else was doing. Not that I am all knowing, Im certainly not. Great Thread

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Registered: Jun 2007
Location: Menard,TX
Posts: 1158

While I hunt coon to train my hounds and keep them in shape, my passion is hunting lions. The reason that you do not see many and I should say "any" of the competition bred coonhounds out here and west is that these dogs don't want to work an old track and want to tear through the woods 90 mph until they find a track that they can RUN. An old lion hunter told me something that is very true, "the most difficult thing to teach a lion hound is patience" and patience and intelligence are qualities that all good lion hounds must have when trying to work a track that is a day or two old, especially on dirt.
I do see some of the competition type dogs from back east used on bear with good success for obvious reasons.
Adios,
Gary

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Registered: Sep 2009
Location: Monticello, Wi
Posts: 791

Treeing coon should be a simple task. Anytime the process seems difficult and you have a hard time figuring out what your dog is doing then you probably need a new dog. The problem with most dogs is that they switch tracks. They can't tell one coon from another. If you hunt a lot in snow and are observant you will see the following. Dogs are cold trailing, cross a red hot coon track and some of the dogs switch and take the hot track. The best track dog with check that hot coon track in the snow and go back and finish the track they were on. If you don't have the luxury of living in snow country then a dog that doesn't switch tracks can be identified by hunting then down small creeks or fence rows. After running and treeing a coon and turned loose to hunt in the direction that you originally want to hunt they will go back and run and tree a track that they crossed while running the first coon. If you don't have intelligence and desire then you probably just have a nice dog. Top dogs don't have to win hunts, but they operate like a machine. When they strike any kind of a track, in any weather, in any terrain, it not a matter of if they will tree it? IT ONLY A MATTER OF WHERE!

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Dog House
Posts: 4112

in my humble opinion, there is no substitute for drive in a hound.
if one comes out of the dog box at daylite and fires like it was shot out of a cannon with one thing on its mind which is catching a ricky, the same as it did the first drop of the nite, you've got something special.

Bruce, Mongo sounds like a goodn.

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Registered: Nov 2011
Location: Freeport,TX
Posts: 2014

I think the difference between excellent hunting dogs and a once in a lifetime dog is the level of intelligence...but the one that stands alone is head and shoulders above because his intelligence is head and shoulders above those dogs...but I am basing my opinion on one dog but more than a handful of what I consider top notch dogs.

When breeding dogs one should never or almost never breed opposite traits to get an average as already mentioned. Breeding a roach back dog to a sway back dog to get a level backed dog will not work...and if one of these traits is a dominant trait the majority of pups will have that trait...and if the other trai is recessive then that trait will be passed on to each pup but not necessarily be displayed...but since I do not know much about genetics I breed for natural ability...find the pups that naturally hunt the way I like without having to feed them a ton of tracks...if we have to feed lots of tracks and make excuses we will be doing the same with the offspring...

We should purify the gene pool by selecting and breeding the right pups...start with the best line available and select from that as often as possible...when breeding outside the line alot of the times it is like rolling the dice...
if breeding out to improve then breed to a line that looks and hunts right and is linebred and favors your style of dogs as much as possible...the hard work has already been done with this dog...if the majority of pups dont make it or show too much diversity in looks and actions them move them on and repeat with a different dog...test and select the best pups...at this point there will be lots of questions one must ask of ourselves and answer logically and correct and as to which way to breed from here...otherwise it will be another set back...to minimze setbacks we should keep as many pups as possible or send them where we can have access to them if needed...this thread has been really good reading...

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Training dogs is not so much about quantity, it's more about timing, and the right situations...After that it's up to the dog....A hunting dog is born...

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Registered: Nov 2011
Location: Freeport,TX
Posts: 2014

I think the difference between excellent hunting dogs and a once in a lifetime dog is the level of intelligence...but the one that stands alone is head and shoulders above because his intelligence is head and shoulders above those dogs...but I am basing my opinion on one dog but more than a handful of what I consider top notch dogs.

When breeding dogs one should never or almost never breed opposite traits to get an average as already mentioned. Breeding a roach back dog to a sway back dog to get a level backed dog will not work...and if one of these traits is a dominant trait the majority of pups will have that trait...and if the other trai is recessive then that trait will be passed on to each pup but not necessarily be displayed...but since I do not know much about genetics I breed for natural ability...find the pups that naturally hunt the way I like without having to feed them a ton of tracks...if we have to feed lots of tracks and make excuses we will be doing the same with the offspring...

We should purify the gene pool by selecting and breeding the right pups...start with the best line available and select from that as often as possible...when breeding outside the line alot of the times it is like rolling the dice...
if breeding out to improve then breed to a line that looks and hunts right and is linebred and favors your style of dogs as much as possible...the hard work has already been done with this dog...if the majority of pups dont make it or show too much diversity in looks and actions them move them on and repeat with a different dog...test and select the best pups...at this point there will be lots of questions one must ask of ourselves and answer logically and correct and as to which way to breed from here...otherwise it will be another set back...to minimze setbacks we should keep as many pups as possible or send them where we can have access to them if needed...this thread has been really good reading...

__________________
Training dogs is not so much about quantity, it's more about timing, and the right situations...After that it's up to the dog....A hunting dog is born...

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Registered: Nov 2011
Location: Freeport,TX
Posts: 2014

I think the difference between excellent hunting dogs and a once in a lifetime dog is the level of intelligence...but the one that stands alone is head and shoulders above because his intelligence is head and shoulders above those dogs...but I am basing my opinion on one dog but more than a handful of what I consider top notch dogs.

When breeding dogs one should never or almost never breed opposite traits to get an average as already mentioned. Breeding a roach back dog to a sway back dog to get a level backed dog will not work...and if one of these traits is a dominant trait the majority of pups will have that trait...and if the other trai is recessive then that trait will be passed on to each pup but not necessarily be displayed...but since I do not know much about genetics I breed for natural ability...find the pups that naturally hunt the way I like without having to feed them a ton of tracks...if we have to feed lots of tracks and make excuses we will be doing the same with the offspring...

We should purify the gene pool by selecting and breeding the right pups...start with the best line available and select from that as often as possible...when breeding outside the line alot of the times it is like rolling the dice...
if breeding out to improve then breed to a line that looks and hunts right and is linebred and favors your style of dogs as much as possible...the hard work has already been done with this dog...if the majority of pups dont make it or show too much diversity in looks and actions them move them on and repeat with a different dog...test and select the best pups...at this point there will be lots of questions one must ask of ourselves and answer logically and correct and as to which way to breed from here...otherwise it will be another set back...to minimze setbacks we should keep as many pups as possible or send them where we can have access to them if needed...this thread has been really good reading...

__________________
Training dogs is not so much about quantity, it's more about timing, and the right situations...After that it's up to the dog....A hunting dog is born...

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Registered: Jan 2012
Location: NC
Posts: 91

Yea a smart dog willing to go is great and you can tell it when you head to the pen the dog that just sits there with its head down tail wagging 90 mph that has that look in its eyes im ready to go to work it hits the ground never looking back hits the track works it harder than the day or the night before going down into the muck swimming in ponds never quitting no matter how tuff it gets no matter if its got ice all over its body or its 90 degrees its determined and its will power wont be broken until it has that game up a tree or on the ground thats the hound you always have a smile on your face feeding it you want to breed to get better than what you've got not to just have because it has so in so in it im not a competition man im a hunter but my opinions dont matter much any ways

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Registered: Jan 2007
Location: Al
Posts: 3069

Can¡¦t say I have the greatest of Skills in anything but I do have a little knowledge about trailing hounds , Here in South Alabama and northwest Florida , conditions change quite often from day today , Summer time is not for the faint of heart if you can¡¦t take the heat you best stay with the AC ! through the years I¡¦ve seen all kinds of hounds and one thing I¡¦ve noticed is the change in the style of hounds people prefer! when I got serious about coon hunting back in the 8Os I was hunting with a group of people that had all walker hounds , we would hunt the Hills and Holler's and branch heads , from dusk till dawn, year round , we hunted Chop mouth walkers out of Finley river Chief ! they were smaller built hounds that run to catch and would cull a trail beater, pretty quick, these were some of the toughest hounds I¡¦ve ever seen and hunted with and could flat run and tree a coon . they were not what you would say Cold nosed hounds but if they struck a coon they were determined to either catch him or tree him , one thing I remember the old man that Breed most of these hounds saying was a hound has to learn to trail a coon before he can tree one , the thinking has changed a lot today on this and most think you don¡¦t need a trailer you need a tree,r I guess if your hunting buckets that might be true , Just my thoughts on the Subject ƒº

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Well Stanley,this looks like another fine mess you've gotten us into

Ray Hudson

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