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

Is Technology helping turn your young dogs into Coonhounds.

__________________
www.ConkeysOutdoors.com
"Boss Lights"

Last edited by Bruce m. Conkey on 10-14-2020 at 04:21 AM

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2006
Location: Newton, North Carolina
Posts: 12254

No! But it sure helps me find my truck.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Feb 2015
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 1108

I do think it has helped in training my dog but the biggest thing is it has made them much more fun to hunt. Being able to track and recall my dog is huge for me. No more 3-4 in the morning looking for dogs.

__________________
Tom Wood

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2008
Location: central Pa.
Posts: 406

I'll second that!

__________________
bill lash

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: May 2019
Location: Ohio
Posts: 45

Sure, just knowing where the dog is and what it is doing helps. The added ability to control the dog without adding another collar is so convenient. The bonus is really about making the entire experience easier and more fun. I can hunt deeper hunting hounds and not waste time trying to find them. It is also safer for the dogs, we can tone break them and stop them before they get in trouble. Of course, the young guys and girls love the techy stuff and I think it puts more of them in the woods. That may be our salvation for the future.
(When I was a kid, we spent half our time looking for those hard going, deep hunting dogs my dad always hunted. My teachers probably wondered why I was so sleepy.)

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2007
Location:
Posts: 1176

No, but it has made the process of figuring out what every kind of bark means faster. Understanding how a dog hunts a woods faster. I do think it has made people more lazy. Too many guys cut dogs loose then sit in the truck till there handheld tells them the dog is treed. Then drive as close as they can to get to the dog. Those guys are easy to pick out in nite hunts LOL.

__________________
Home of the Original Whiskey Hounds!
Rebecca Agee

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Nov 2011
Location: Freeport,TX
Posts: 1907

When I was young and the dogs struck we ran as fast and hard as we could in hopes of getting close enough to the bay to hear the dogs...sometimes the dogs spent the night and we left a jacket so the dogs would stay close over night...looking for hours and hours sometimes and my voice would about leave me at times...Every time I cared my dogs my stomach would get in knots worrying about my long range no quit dogs...

Then radio technology came about and it was a major step in the right direction...

Then Garmin 220 and then the alpha...the alpha is really nice...made it so much easier to track and train when needed...

__________________
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...

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Feb 2012
Location: airville,pa
Posts: 2072

Mostly the tracking system. I have trained more and better pups because of it. Shocking system as well.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2016
Location: Central,illinois
Posts: 569

There's no doubt it's a tremendous help, I try not to use it except when needed and still pay attention to the dog

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Nov 2011
Location: north ala.
Posts: 902

Sure saves gas money

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2014
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 3369

It surely helps to know what your dog is doing. If you send him hunting you know if he's gone or just hiding in the bushes 30 yards from you.

__________________
Donald Bergeron

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Feb 2015
Location: Jacksonville NC
Posts: 149

Could not imagine hunting without it. Late 70's early 80's we left the dog box many nights at the last turn out spot with no idea where my hound was. Now days that does not happen thanks to Garmin...

__________________
Roy Jarman

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Nov 2014
Location: S.E. IOWA
Posts: 371

To correctly answer the question..... NO... It has little bearing on turning a pup into a hound.... In fact it has probably ruined more than it helped, by way of owners using electricity in an incorrect manor, or seeing what the dog is doing rather than what the owner " wants " it to be doing.. BUT it has definitely made our hounds handle better and has dang sure saved some from becoming a spot on the road. It has also made hunting easier and more enjoyable by not spending all night looking for our dogs or getting rearend chewings by unhappy land owners. Walking around a ditch or seeing the terrain sure helps too, but it has probably added to my waist line...That is the telemetry side... The lights have came leaps,bounds and Light years ahead from days of old. No more heavy hot light, burnt out bulbs, dead battery cord tangling light to deal with.. All in one cap with colors to boot. Yep it has prob hurt the longevity of some hounds cause we can now see when the are lying.. Information technology... When used correctly can benefit a breeding program by making informed decisions or by getting the genetics aligned properly behind what you are looking for... But just like that happy finger on the zap button, when it isn't used properly it can have less than desirable effects....It takes a lot of work and patience to make a good one, but only takes a lack of patience to ruin a good one. So I guess my answer is no it doesn't help our pups make hounds but it does help us correct some of the problems our pups are making and mold them to our liking on their way to becoming hounds... Just my thoughts for today

__________________
Morgan Branch Kennels:
" where quality comes first "

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Feb 2015
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 1108

quote:

---

Originally posted by morgan branch
To correctly answer the question..... NO... It has little bearing on turning a pup into a hound.... In fact it has probably ruined more than it helped, by way of owners using electricity in an incorrect manor, or seeing what the dog is doing rather than what the owner " wants " it to be doing.. BUT it has definitely made our hounds handle better and has dang sure saved some from becoming a spot on the road. It has also made hunting easier and more enjoyable by not spending all night looking for our dogs or getting rearend chewings by unhappy land owners. Walking around a ditch or seeing the terrain sure helps too, but it has probably added to my waist line...That is the telemetry side... The lights have came leaps,bounds and Light years ahead from days of old. No more heavy hot light, burnt out bulbs, dead battery cord tangling light to deal with.. All in one cap with colors to boot. Yep it has prob hurt the longevity of some hounds cause we can now see when the are lying.. Information technology... When used correctly can benefit a breeding program by making informed decisions or by getting the genetics aligned properly behind what you are looking for... But just like that happy finger on the zap button, when it isn't used properly it can have less than desirable effects....It takes a lot of work and patience to make a good one, but only takes a lack of patience to ruin a good one. So I guess my answer is no it doesn't help our pups make hounds but it does help us correct some of the problems our pups are making and mold them to our liking on their way to becoming hounds... Just my thoughts for today

---

__________________
Tom Wood

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Nov 2012
Location: Roseville Kentucky
Posts: 187

I have a buddy with the old beep beep tracker. I tell my kids one night I'm gonna make them use that so they'll appreciate the Dogtra. That thing had its own back pack the antenna went in. Plus headphones you plug in to listen. Some times if you had the antenna turned backwards it would make you think the dogs were in the wrong direction. I wouldn't hunt now with out a GPS. I think its made my dogs better just for the fact i hunt more nights a week. So the dogs get more woods time, because i enjoy it more not loosing my dogs and the maps.

__________________
Shane Ball
270-922-1527

God only knows who we'd be without soldiers and Jesus.

Rack'em Up Willy pup
--County Line's Rammy(Rambo)

Black and Tans
TREE BANGIN White Boy
*UKC win Friday night Red Bone days 2021
BnT TREE BANGIN BUFFORD the start of it all

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

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

Morgan Branch, I am from the old school and I didn't have the money to have electricity on my hounds in the old days. But when the ALPHA came out it changed my world with my hounds and my thinking about electricity on the other mans hounds. I still use the electrical part very much but the TONE once a hound is trained with it. Works great.

Now I have also learned that our hounds are a lot smarter and tougher than we give them credit for. Let me explain why I say that. I am down here in the south and many guys run packs of deer hounds and fox hounds. Biggest problem is getting the dogs stopped and keeping them off private property or roads. I can't count the number of guys I know that have 20 hounds on their ALPHA and can get all 20 shocked in just a few seconds and stopped from a hot race and headed to the truck. Here is the thing. They didn't to it by taking each dog and spending days that all the training videos show being taken to condition a dog to a training collar. They did it by putting it on a dog and stopping them in their tracks running a hot deer. They did it save their lives from crossing roads and fines from getting on private property. Guess what the dogs were also ready to run the next deer they put them out on. The dogs are tough. The were born to run.

__________________
www.ConkeysOutdoors.com
"Boss Lights"

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Feb 2015
Location: Jacksonville NC
Posts: 149

All I know is that I am 50 years old and for the past 7 years I have pleasure hunted without a leash two hounds at the time... .Walker Female and a Redbone male...In those years I have not had to swim to a dog, listen to a deer race, leave a dog over night, whip a dog, or scrape one off the hwy. In my life and my world that is a big improvement..

__________________
Roy Jarman

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Nov 2014
Location: S.E. IOWA
Posts: 371

Preacher Tom, and Mr. Conkey. My response was that I've seen several ruined by people trying to make independent dogs out of pack mentality dogs. Folks being inconsistent with the shock button.... Yes it sure makes dogs handle better. 100% better. We can correct a lot of UNWANTED behavior. This is for our liking correct?? It makes them behave the way we need them to and it helps keep them off the roads, posted land and so forth. We can help mold them into the hound we want as owners with a little buzz. Fellas I'm not leaving home without my alpha..... Every time to the woods is a training session not just a hunt in my book. I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. My hounds handle and mind better than my ex-wife's house dog. No leash needed.. I have a couple that on a dark night you can see them glow they have taken so much electricity, but they do what is asked of them.. But to answer the question again. no I don't feel as if technology has made an more of my pups into coonhounds... Swimming across the river to get them, keeping them off the hiway, breaking them off deer, not covering another dog, not babbling, not barking in the box and walking without a lead are all things to help us not really the pup if you think about it. I am pushing 50 pretty hard and have coonhunted in every shape and form since I was 11. I have never had a day in my life in the last 40 years that I have not had a coonhound, some better than others. I typically have a hound that can compete no matter what you cut him with but I have yet to see a gadget help them on a tough track, to tree lay ups when the coons aren't moving. to head towards the creek instead of hunting the ridge. To hush when you can't out run the other dogs. To grab the end that bites instead of the butt.. COONSENSE.. If it's not in their genes it will never be, no matter how much we want it to be. If they don't have the brains to understand why they are being corrected then they will never develop into a better hound...So my readers digest answer is ; no it doesn't help turn them into hounds , it helps us make them more user friendly. It makes things better for us. This is just my thoughts on the matter, along with about a $ might get ya a cup of coffee so my opinion ain't worth much....

__________________
Morgan Branch Kennels:
" where quality comes first "

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Nov 2011
Location: north ala.
Posts: 902

quote:

---

Originally posted by morgan branch
Preacher Tom, and Mr. Conkey. My response was that I've seen several ruined by people trying to make independent dogs out of pack mentality dogs. Folks being inconsistent with the shock button.... Yes it sure makes dogs handle better. 100% better. We can correct a lot of UNWANTED behavior. This is for our liking correct?? It makes them behave the way we need them to and it helps keep them off the roads, posted land and so forth. We can help mold them into the hound we want as owners with a little buzz. Fellas I'm not leaving home without my alpha..... Every time to the woods is a training session not just a hunt in my book. I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. My hounds handle and mind better than my ex-wife's house dog. No leash needed.. I have a couple that on a dark night you can see them glow they have taken so much electricity, but they do what is asked of them.. But to answer the question again. no I don't feel as if technology has made an more of my pups into coonhounds... Swimming across the river to get them, keeping them off the hiway, breaking them off deer, not covering another dog, not babbling, not barking in the box and walking without a lead are all things to help us not really the pup if you think about it. I am pushing 50 pretty hard and have coonhunted in every shape and form since I was 11. I have never had a day in my life in the last 40 years that I have not had a coonhound, some better than others. I typically have a hound that can compete no matter what you cut him with but I have yet to see a gadget help them on a tough track, to tree lay ups when the coons aren't moving. to head towards the creek instead of hunting the ridge. To hush when you can't out run the other dogs. To grab the end that bites instead of the butt.. COONSENSE.. If it's not in their genes it will never be, no matter how much we want it to be. If they don't have the brains to understand why they are being corrected then they will never develop into a better hound...So my readers digest answer is ; no it doesn't help turn them into hounds , it helps us make them more user friendly. It makes things better for us. This is just my thoughts on the matter, along with about a $ might get ya a cup of coffee so my opinion ain't worth much....

---

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jan 2006
Location: WV
Posts: 821

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bruce m. Conkey
Is Technology helping turn your young dogs into Coonhounds.

---

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Feb 2015
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 1108

Morgan Branch I definitely agree that if it's not in them you can't put it there with IT. But I do think that IT has helped me get out of them what's in them. By that I mean getting more out of every hunt because they aren't out there running a deer or such. I have used it to get a dog that was treeing to quick to be much more accurate. I guess my view is that I can adjust what is naturally there. It sure won't make one run a track or tree or anything like that. Maybe what we are both saying is that I can make a dog more like I want him to be and maybe that's not any better dog just the dog I like.

__________________
Tom Wood

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Dec 2017
Location: VA
Posts: 128

This is a very interesting topic and I see it as a double edged sword. On one hand the hounds handle better and it’s easier to get the manners out of them that we all like to see. On the other hand it gives an impatient handler ample opportunity to set a dog back. Go back to the first hand we spoke of and you can correct a dog from off game and bad habits. Then jump back to the downside again and you can have a smart dog get collar wise to ya, if not introduced correctly. I also wonder if technology hasn’t effected our breeding programs. We see a lot more “top dogs” now than we did previously because I believe more dogs are being “trained” rather than just “natural hounds” so to speak. I could be wrong but I feel that a lot of dogs are being bred to nowadays, after being “trained” than would have been bred to if we didn’t have the technology. I think the days of breeding “best to best” (two natural hounds together) and getting a fair percentage of the offspring that’ll turn out are long gone. But like I said I believe this topic is a double edged sword and like any discussion, not everybody will agree and it’s just my opinion based on what I’ve seen.

__________________
Cedar Ridge Kennels

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jan 2006
Location:
Posts: 416

Yes it helps you can get more info on your dog in 20 nights than you could in 3 months 25 years ago but you can mess one up also

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Feb 2004
Location: Michigan
Posts: 1669

In the competitive aspect it’s helped some poor handlers become average and some average handlers to become good. What it has taken away is the listening and learning of the coonhound. Most don’t care about the sound anymore because they watch what the dog does. Most don’t learn the hound because they aren’t listening. Easier to push that button and relocate that dog rather than listen to what he’s struggling with and using the brain to fix what it’s struggling with. Also why most pups are junk by 3 or good as they will ever be by 20 months. When I’m pleasure hunting my Garmin only comes out when I see where they are AFTER they come treed.

__________________
989-529-8563

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged