Hello Lauren,
Thanks for writing. Your question is "I bought a catch dog and a hog video, now what do we do"? I had to smile when I read this one. But believe me, your not alone in asking that question. Ive seen the following happen several times over the years----Fella gets invited to go hog hunting, they get a hog bayed up, and the hunters turn the catch dogs loose and the action is a unbelievable adrenilin rush with the action and courage the catch dogs are showing.. So from there the fella is hooked, and the FIRST DOG HE BUYS IS A PIT. And then wonders "I got a catch dog, what do I do now?" I dont know if this is how your husband got interested in hog hunting, but this is how A LOT OF PEOPLE IN MY AREA got started. As far as a place to hunt, I cant help you there. You will need to ask at your local feed store or farm and ranch supply if they might know some people in your area that might be hog dog hunters. In reguards to what you can do to help your dog learn. If you cant find someone in your area with a bay pen that will let you try a catch dog (alot of them dont like their pen hogs to be caught by catch dogs). If you cant find that, and have a bit of property to where you could make you your own pen, make you a pen. The best one I ever made was a 48' round pen out of hog panels. Get the taller pannels, since hogs can jump pretty high sometime. It would be better if you could find a wild hog from someone who trapped one, but I guess a domestice one will do...(ive never tried that) Get you a piece of 1/2 inch ply wood and cut it in half to make you two board shields... I usually cut out hand groves on the side to where I can grab it. get the hog to moving around the pen with the dog tied outside the pen... move and run the hog around until the dog is about to come apart wanting in. Next, make sure you have a helper, if the dog catches, things are getting ready to fire up. What I do is go in with the dog on a leash and have someone move the hog until the dog is READY. and I mean ready.... When he is, do the best job you can in pointing the dog towards the hogs head and let go. The dog should catch an ear, if he doesnt, get someone to hold the back legs of the hog and put the dog on the hogs ear. Try this two or three times until he catches ONLY the ear. If you dont have a breaking stick to open the dogs mouth, Have someone hold the hog down, and grab the leash you left on the dog and just pull back with a steady pull and basically choke the dog off. Dont give him any slack or jerking or hollaring or beating,,,,just a steady pull... a breaking stick would be very usefull since yours is a catch dog. Now, with all that said, the bottom line is this if you want to get into hog hunting. I dont care if a person owns the worlds greatest catch dog, IF YOU DONT HAVE A DOG WHO CAN F-I-N-D THE HOG, all you have is a glorified pot licker. Thats not said to be sarcastic or put down pits, because there are some pits that can go out and find a hog. But the percentages of that happening are very slim. My suggestion is, to find you what hog hunters refer to as a "find/strike" dog. Those are your money dogs, they are the ones who put pork in the freezer for ya. I noticed on the baydog classifieds that there are several for sale. My suggestion is to not raise a puppy... If your new, get you one thats already finding his own hog. They are more expensive, but by far they will save you alot of time. If you find a dog, let the seller show you the dog in the woods on a hunt. If hes suppose to be a "find/strike" dog, he should beable to go out in the woods on his own and find a hog. When he finds one, the seller will most likely turn other dogs loose to go help him get it bayed. But for me to buy a "find/strike" dog that I didnt train, hes going to have to be able to do it on his own. I hope in some way this helps you get started....
Good luck,
Jim