Catch Dog Training

[dikatry]

I have a 3 month old American Bulldog pup. My family has been breeding them for years now and this has been my first chance to get my own pup. Anyway, he is from great and very well known hot hunting lines from Florida. He is already starting to show a great prey drive and a desire to please. I contacted the breeder who’s lines he is from and he told me to wait until he is 8 or 10 months and take him out with someone who has experienced dogs. My question is, is there anyone here with hog dogs that would be willing to help me train my dog or let me tag along? Hell, I would even be willing to help pack out someone else’s hog in return Any way, thanks for any replies in advance.

 

[Speckmisser]

Dikatry,

If you don't get the response you're looking for here, try the Hounds forum. It's a little more active with the hog-doggers, I think.

 

[dikatry]

Hey, thanks Speckmisser.

 

[bhrhunts]

We just might be able to help you out- call us at Bryson Resort 805-472-2922

 

[curdog]

if you could find someone who has a small hog in a pen, thats a good way to get him started. always let the pup win! don;t put him on a hog to big to start with. you would be welcome here but oklahoma is a little far

 

[Nic Barca]

You shouyldn't need to wait that long. We take ours out at 5 or 6 months after they are done with their shots. It's been a while for me so I can't remember exactly which shots I'm talking about but even at the age it is now, what you need to do is get yourself a pigleg in an enclosed area large enough for it to run around.

Next introduce your puppy to the piglet. Do not put the dog into the pen unless he or she shows an interest. What you do is make sure the dog sees and smells it. If the pup is not real interested, try making the piglet squeel. The squeel is usually what make the bulls "come on" (that's the term we use). We've had two month old bulls grabbing and even had one two month old mix breed half bull that locked on the ear of a 100 pound sow. It looked like an earing. Also if you let another dog bite or chase the piglet, that might excite your puppy into doing it too.

If the dog isn't ready, shows little sign of interest, or is scared of the pig, just quit and try again another day. I'll advise not to put the dog into the pen if it doesn't show interest. It will likely be confused anbd scared.

Always end on a good note with the dog wanting more. Don't let it go until it looses interest. Not that it makes a huge difference but it does make a difference with some dogs.

Keep it fun, it's just a pup. Praise him or her when it grabs hold of the pig and don't hit the dog to get it to let go (a lot of people do that here). If you want to get the dog off, often times grabbing both back legs and pulling will get the dog to loosen up if not let go completely. That's a trick I learned.

um... You don't need a whole lot of pen grabbing practice, just enough so you know the dog is interested. But if you want to take it further and teach your dog when to go in and when not to so that the dog doesn't rush in blind, a concern for us here when running whole packs of grabbers, get a mean sow on the large side and let it whoop the dogs ass. The dog will gain a better idea of when and how to approach a pig... hopefully. Some dogs are just blind when they go it, it depends on the dog.

Or you can just take your dog along for a hunt with experienced catch dogs but wait for all the puppy shots first. In our situations, the younger we strted training the pups the faster they would improve their hunting skills, the less chance they will get hurt or killed, and the more educated they would be when they started real hunting. Whew, that came out a bit long.