Hello Mike,
Sounds like you have a dog thats impressing you so far, Im proud for ya. Your questions basically is "how do I get a young dog started at 6 months?" Well, you named alot of things your dog would chase that runs- cows, cats, coons and other dogs. But didn't list out hogs, so Im guessing he hasn't seen a hog at the time you had written me this question. My suggestion would be to let him see a hog in some manner wither it be in a bay pen, a trap, tied up etc... If he's a live wire like you mention, I would think he would go to baying right away. Thats always nice to see-a dog bay its first time out. But if he doesn't, don't get discouraged, give it some time. 6 months is still a puppy to me. Starting a dog in this manner is basically training him with sight and sound and very little on nose. A dog using the NOSE is what puts bacon on the table in real woods hunting. On getting a dog started, alot has to do with WHAT YOU HAVE ACCESS TO. Not everyone has access to a baypen, a trap, or even a hunting spot. So a person has to do what he can with what he has. If you don't have access to a penned hog and only to the woods, my suggestion would be to go with someone that already has hog hunting dogs and hunt him with them. Everyone has their own way of doing things and training dogs and their own views of doing it. And most of them have great results from ever how they do it. So what Im going to say is strictly how "I do it". Theres other folks out there that train pups their own way thats alot better than mine. What Im going to suggest doesn't mean its the right way, but its my way. If I don't use the bay pen rout and only train him in the woods, usually try to do it like this. For the last couple of years or so, I havent been training mine in a bay pen, strickly in the woods. Why? well its not because I dont like it, its because Ive had my baypen hogs stolen on three seperate occasions. Oh well, thats part of it..haha A young dog needs to learn EVERYTHING! From riding in the truck, riding with the other dogs, the new sites and sounds different from his home territory, to being leash broke, to loading, to unloading and then of course the hunting itself. I personally don't usually start young dogs to hunting at 6 months, I usually try and wait till they are more near a year or when I see they are starting to mature. Thats just my personally preference. But, I've had some dandys that were finding their own hog by 6 months also. But in the same breath Ive ruined or setback some over the years by eiether taking the fun out of it for them or getting the heart scared out of them by getting them buggered up before they were mentally mature enough to take the pressure. It all depends on the individual dog in my opinion. I guess you could say, I try and really pay attention to how young dogs are handeling things. Its been my experience that cur type dogs mature faster than hounds. But there's always exceptions. When I do start a young or older dog in the woods, I do however usually do it the same way. I turn a seasoned dog out to find the hog but hold the young one back on the trailer I pull with my four wheeler. If the seasoned dog finds the hog. I usually turn another dog or two to the find dog, at this time, I will turn the young dog loose to GO WITH the dogs I've turned loose. The young dog should go with them. But occasionally they wont. If they don't, I snap the dog back up. When its time for me to go to the bay, I bring the young dog with me. When he acts like he is interested in going to see whats happening, I will turn him loose to go. If he doesn't, I keep him on the leash until I get closer. If the dog has interest, he will usually "want to go to see whats up". I do this on several hunts or until the dog itself is good at going to a bay or barking dog on its own. At that time, I will start turning the dog loose with a seasoned strike/find dog to start working on training him to hunt. A good seasoned puppy trainer dog is worth its weight in gold on training a pup. Its been my experience that some pups will pick up on things REAL quick and will be hunting with the trainer dog real quick, but some of them take a while and others wont do it. IF I HAD ONE RULE TO GIVE YOU ON TRAINING PUPS, IT WOULD BE THIS---DON'T LET PUPPIES TRAIN PUPPIES. What I mean by this is, I try and not let over one pup go at a time. This is an exaggeration but its true----If you turned 20 seasoned dogs loose at a time and two puppies, the two puppies will stay together. So thats what I mean, don't let puppies train puppies. Always train a dog with a trainer dog that hunts like you want one to. If your trainer dog is not worth a crap, your pup wont be. If your trainer dog is a good one that doesn't necessarily mean that the pup will be, but he's got a good teacher to learn from if he wants or has the gumption and heart to learn from. Good luck with your dog, Hope you have a good'un in the making.
Jim