Dear Jimmy,
Thanks for taking the time to write. Your question is
"My 9 month
old dog quits baying a hog and comes to me when I walk up to the
bay".
Well, I really would need to ask you more questions, but I will try
and base my answer on what you wrote. I would first ask you "Do
you
treat your dog as a pet at home?" Ive only ever owned one coon dog,
which I traded to my brother last year for a hog dog. But Blue Boy
(the coon dog) was a real good coon dog in hunting, tracking, treeing
and fighting the coon. But he had one major problem. When I walked
up towards the tree, he would quit and come to me as if seeking
approval of his accomplishments from me. Of course I always scolded
him and told him to "get back on that tree" which he would.
In
talking to some other long time coon hunters who had been raising and
training these dogs back to before I was born, they all seemed to
have a unique question for me and pretty much the same answer. They
would ask me if he was a pet at home and if I petted him at the tree.
What happened was, Blue Boy was basically Beckies dog, and she and
two others were "her babies", they werent house dogs, but were pretty
much babied from the time they were born into being pets around the
house. I have dogs that I pet on of course, but not anywhere near
the extent these were. So the coon dog was wanting my approval is
what the problem was. After thinking about what I was told by the
older more experienced hunters of some 40-50 years of experience, I
thought long and hard about two of the dogs that were babied and low
and behold I realized that both of them matured later than the others
the same age.
I dont know if this is what happened at your home or not, but if i
was guessing, I would say your dog simply hasnt matured out yet.
Heres what I did to Blue Boy to get him to quit coming to me at the
tree, I never touched him but only to tie him to the tree, I spoke
strongly to him if he ever came off, and if we ever knocked the coon
out on the ground, I would not let him get a taste of the coon. What
this did was use reverse psychology on him. Ive done the same thing
to other type dogs especially young bull dogs to get them to catching
harder. Simply lead the dog to the bay a few times and dont let him
get to the hog, tie him to a tree. What should happen is the dog
should go nuts wanting to get to the hog, and IF YOU HAVE THE
PATIENCE to do this, it should work after 4 to 5 times. And when
ever you do let him go, he should get with the program. This and
time in the woods is my suggestion.
Hope it helps,
Good hunting and let me know how things turn out,
Jim