Dear Joe,
I appreciate you saying you enjoy my writings. I try real hard, and
put alot of thought into my dog training/hunting questions, its
always nice to hear someone got something out of them.
Your question is "How do I use a breaking stick to get a dog to turn
loose of a hog?" and "What makes a good break stick?"
I have to say, this is the first time I've gotten this question.
Alot of the others I get are repetitious, but yours is the first
breaking stick question.
First, What makes a good break stick? Well, this is a opinion
question. I really dont categorize my self as a bull dog person,
however, I do own and use and train them for my self. Im sure there
are alot of people out there, thats main thing are bull dogs, that
will have a better answer than me. But I will tell you what I like
them made out of. The one i currently use was made out of a 1 1/2
inch thick piece of heavy gage PVC pipe. I have used this same one
for several years. Only lost it once..hahaha mine is about a foot
long with a tape wrapped handel. The shape is kinda like a wide
dagger. Of course its not sharp. But does kinda come down to a
slight point thats dull. Its about a 1/2 inch thick. Near the
point, I have it slanted down. Another good one ive used over the
years was made out of a hammer handel. I simply slanted it near the
end on both sides. Ive seen them made out of deer horns, thick
plexaglass, even a aluminum one someone had cast. As I've mentioned
before, I teach industral Technology in school. We have a shop type
area we can use. When ever we are in the lab working, if I have
students who finish early on their activities and dont have any thing
to do, I have them make break sticks. We make them out of the
seperator board of oak pallets. I start with a 1 1/4 x 1 1/4" x
12"
piece of oak, shave both sides of the end and then go to the sander
and sand it off around the handel and smooth the rough edges. I like
mine to be not very wide at all at the teeth end. I have found that
the wide ones that go in their mouth dont always fit between the
teeth very good. I usually have my kids make these and I sell them
to make extra money for our class.
Second, How do I break a dog off? What I do is this, I grab the dog
by the collar, place the wedged edge of the stick between their
almost closed teeth on the side, I twist the stick side ways, this
allows the teeth to gap a bit, and with you pulling pressure on the
collar, the dog should come right off. Of course, some dogs are
harder to get off than others. If your careful, there usually isnt
any problem with the dogs mouth or teeth. You really dont
"break"
anything, you simply open his/her mouth.
Hope this helps,
Jim