Registered: Jun 2005
Location: North of Panama City Florida
Posts: 1014

I was recently given a young dog, and a lot of the people I hunt with have prospects of various ages they're hauling to the woods as well... some are coming on faster than others, and some of the hunters are expecting more than others, which got me thinking... how many times do you hunt a young dog (not talking puppies) before you expect to start seeing some progress? And how many times of no progress before you determine that dog is a cull?

We'll use my 2 young dogs for example....

I have a 6 month old female that's still very much a puppy but I've carried her to the woods quite a bit. She will go as far as my finished dog and has barked a couple times while my finished dog was tracking and showed some interest at a tree... you dont have to beg her to go hunting and she loves to go to the woods but I don't think her interest has turned on yet.

I was given a almost 2yo that has sat in the pen for the most part... shes only seen a caged coon a time or two, supposed to do pretty good on a turned loose coon. Was left out loose over a weekend recently and was supposedly heard treed for several hours. He tried to hunt her with his deer dogs on a fresh track and wouldn't run it... she went off by herself and was caught up by a bridge where she'd followed the creek down.

Both have good papers and both are stuck in the pen for now due to being in heat... but I would expect the older prospect to come on quicker, would you? How many times would you hunt each one and expect to see progress before you determined whether they would be something or not?... just curious to what everyone says anshe what they expect out of young dogs at what age...

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-Amanda

- In Loving Memory of -
DEEP SPRINGS BLACK MAX
&
LEVIS SOUTHERN BLUE DOC

Last edited by ItsOlMander on 07-02-2017 at 11:01 PM

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Registered: Jun 2016
Location: Suffolk Virginia
Posts: 39

I don't start my pups until they're about 1 year old. that being said when i do start them they better get going pretty quick. Id say any pup 1 or older i will work with them 3 or 4 times on a caged coon, maby turn one loose for them. After all this i will immediately start taking them about every other night with a older broke dog. I would give them about 10 good nights of hunting over the course of a month, knock the coon's out when they do good then hunt them by themselves 80% of the time after that. During those first 10 hunts with the older broke dog if they don't turn it on and continually progress ill stop there, cull the pup and get a new one.

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Registered: Jan 2013
Location: Marietta
Posts: 10790

I bought recently a female out of my old Grntch female she is 5 yrs old was never hunted just in case my old female never comes in heat again we been taking some cage coons turning them loose for some pups and she is getting where she trees every one of them she won't even bark at them till you let them out of the cage lol. I over the years have seen this many times I can't count the times I have taken older dogs that have never been hunted and made pretty nice coon treers out of them if they got it they got it if they don't they don't simple as that.

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Registered: Nov 2011
Location: Freeport,TX
Posts: 1911

X2 on what yadkintar said...
I will say that well bred dogs will hunt the first time in the woods...and for me a well bred pup has an expected progression towards making a good hunting dog...a ten month old pup needs to be showing he or she is on the way to making a dog...if I don't see the progression I don't keep the pup...

Something else to consider...if we are doing the right things at the right times with the pup then the pup will progress well if it has it in him or her to make a good hunting dog...

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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: Jan 2005
Location:
Posts: 593

quote:

---

Originally posted by ItsOlMander
I was recently given a young dog, and a lot of the people I hunt with have prospects of various ages they're hauling to the woods as well... some are coming on faster than others, and some of the hunters are expecting more than others, which got me thinking... how many times do you hunt a young dog (not talking puppies) before you expect to start seeing some progress? And how many times of no progress before you determine that dog is a cull?

We'll use my 2 young dogs for example....

I have a 6 month old female that's still very much a puppy but I've carried her to the woods quite a bit. She will go as far as my finished dog and has barked a couple times while my finished dog was tracking and showed some interest at a tree... you dont have to beg her to go hunting and she loves to go to the woods but I don't think her interest has turned on yet.

I was given a almost 2yo that has sat in the pen for the most part... shes only seen a caged coon a time or two, supposed to do pretty good on a turned loose coon. Was left out loose over a weekend recently and was supposedly heard treed for several hours. He tried to hunt her with his deer dogs on a fresh track and wouldn't run it... she went off by herself and was caught up by a bridge where she'd followed the creek down.

Both have good papers and both are stuck in the pen for now due to being in heat... but I would expect the older prospect to come on quicker, would you? How many times would you hunt each one and expect to see progress before you determined whether they would be something or not?... just curious to what everyone says anshe what they expect out of young dogs at what age...

---

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Mark

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Registered: Jun 2005
Location: North of Panama City Florida
Posts: 1014

Anymore opinions?...

__________________
-Amanda

- In Loving Memory of -
DEEP SPRINGS BLACK MAX
&
LEVIS SOUTHERN BLUE DOC

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

If the dog your trying to train is not causing problems. It hurts nothing to take it hunting. If your trying to work it and it is causing problems then it is time to make a change.
Again as long as the dog isn't causing problems, it hurts nothing to hunt it as long and you can stand. Should make some progress as your hunting it. It starts running trash, being mean, won't leave your feet, barking in the box and disturbing the hunt. A decision has to be made quicker than it just not doing anything. The old monkey see, monkey do is something that has ruined a lot of good young prospects. They are hunted with someones dog that will never turn out and just has issues. Those issues end up with the young dog.

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Registered: Jan 2012
Location: Goshen,Ohio
Posts: 2679

There was a wise man one here one time.I believe he hunted Black and Tans.He said once a dog is mature enough and used to the night woods.Then he gives them 15 hunts close together to make some progress.If they don't Then down the road they go.That sounded good to me.The number doesn't have to be 15.It could be 30.But a man has to draw the line in the sand somewhere.If there over 12 months old the clock is ticking for them here.Id keep the 6 month old in the pin for a couple months and put that 2 year old to the test.

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