novicane65
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Dec 2013
Location: Nichols Ny
Posts: 1565 |
Re: .
quote: Originally posted by Bruce m. Conkey
Sgraves, I will try to give you my viewpoint on a couple things you said.
1. Dog won't make much of a comp hound but is a meat dog. For a dog to be a meat dog it has to tree coon and have the coon in the tree. You also need your comp dog that does this. The meat dog can do a lot of things that would get it minus points in a hunt the a pleasure hunter may overlook.
Many pleasure hunters still walk hunt. Their dog hunts close and around them. That dog treeing coon would be a good meat dog and perhaps not a good comp dog. A dog that trees a bunch of coon but their mouth is weak. Might be the best for competition hunting. Again a good meat dog but their mouth holds it back in competition.
Now the sad side of the coin is a dog that really isn't that good of a meat dog, getting sold as one with the excuse it isn't the comp dog the person wanted but a heck of a meat dog. Thats a lie and one used all to often to sell a dog.
2. You talk about competition dogs being manmade and you want to see the breeding or genetics come out in a dog. Competition dogs need to be trained and handled every time they are hunted as if they are in a hunt. That doesn't make them man made. That gets them to conform by the rules. Their genetics just like a top meat dog is what takes them to the top. Just down a different path that the good meat dog takes. Actually a narrower path. More structured. The breeding and genetics needs to be in the upper class for a comp dog to excel. They need a top mouth that can be heard a long ways. You can get by with a meat dog that doesn't meet this standard. They need to have some handle on them. Both when leashed at the tree and also being led. They need to be able to respond to being called in. All these things a meat dog might have but don't need to have. Because it is not costing him minus points to loose a cast. Just causing the owner some aggravation and way to many owners put up with aggravation they don't need from a dog. Just because a dog is handled and trained to perform by a set of rules. Doesn't make it man made. It makes is like a diamond that has been polished. More enjoyable to look at and more valuable. I have a dog here right now I love. He is surly not a polished coonhound but one with plenty of coon in the trees. I will probably never take him to town or sell him. So why do all this fine tuning on him and get overheated while hunting, correcting him for some minor things I let him get away with. We just have fun. His genetics as a pleasure dog or a comp dog are there. His training and polishing are lacking. Because I have gotten lazy. LOL He gets in some real thick stuff. I just call him off the tree. In the past I would never, never call a dog off the tree. I would never turn a dog out of the box without a leash on him. I would never walk to a tree and not leash my dog right away and snap them to a sapling or something close by. I would never allow a dog to go any different other than where I pointed him. Or even let one think of running down a road a hundred yards. Quality dogs are quality dogs. They are trained dogs. Meat/Pleasure hunters, just let them do some things a serious comp hunter can't allow. But the genetics to get to the top of either category have to be there. The ones you find for sale that are advertised as good meat dogs and not good comp dogs. Probably are lacking in the genetic department also.
Bruce you're 100% right. More of the "pleasure" type dogs have bigger faults than the competition type, sometimes. And sometimes it's the trainer holding the dog back from reaching its full potential. I'm not saying pleasure dogs can't compete. I'm saying they don't get hunted the same most of the time. I know very few pleasure hunters that hunt as often as a competition hunter. Most pleasure hunters only hunt a few nights a month around here until season comes back in.
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