Hello Wes,
Thanks for writing.
Your question is you have an 8 month old bull dog will not catch unless the hog is bayed up... Well, first of all, Im not a bull dog expert by any means, but have had success with the ones I've used. Presently I have 3 bull dog pups I've raised that are 8 months old. Not a one of them has seen a hog yet. I imagine I will take them out to the bay pen pretty soon and tie them outside the pen so they can watch the other dogs work the hog and get their "fireyness" up for when Im ready to try them. I should be able to tell from their reaction while being tied OUTSIDE and not letting them catch as to wither there is a desire or not. I will not start these pups until they are about a year old. There's two reasons I do this. One is, I simply at this time don't need their use since I have grown catch dogs to use presently. The other reason is because even tho its bred in them, I don't want them to be 5th graders when Im going to put them in a varsity level game. Also I want their permanent teeth in their head that have strong roots and not use their baby teeth. I know that bull dogs will catch at a real young age, some even alot younger than yours, I've had em catch at a real young age also. But I just want them to get some of that growing done mentally AND physically before I use them. My 3 pups probably weigh about 45 or 50 lbs each by now. all are big boned, big headed and a larger type dog. I figure when they get thru growing they will be about 65 lbs. Which is the size I personally like for catching. My suggestion to you, would be to simply wait a few more months. Maybe even take them along when someone is working hogs in some way. But If it was me, i wouldn't use them yet. But that is simply a personal preference and opinion which doesn't mean a thing but only to me. If you have a dog that is not being aggressive wither it be a bay dog or catch dog, its been my experience that you use a little psychology on the dog and have some patience...The hard part is the patience....hahaha When you hold him back from NOT LETTING HIM GET TO THE HOG. The psychology part is HE WILL WANT TO GO TO THE HOG. The patience part is you seeing he's got fire in his eyes and not letting him go to soon. I had a red nose gyp one time, that when I started her would not fire in on the hog like a ton of bricks and catch. she would kinda run in, kinda tip toe up and try to like "sneak up" on the hog. I couldn't handle that.... she would finally catch and would kinda chew before she would lock down. So I used the reverse psychology treatment on her and took her to the bay pen about 5 different days and let her go absolutely crazy when I was working some other dogs. I finally decided that she had had enough of this teasing and took her in the pen. She about knocked the hog down when I turned her a loose and locked on like a pair of vice grips. I never had another problem with her from that day forward. Will this method work on all dogs? Of course not, but its worth a try. If you try this method and the dog gets a little age on him/her and still wont go to a hog, go to the next dog. There's to many out there that will work.
Best of luck to ya.. Jim