Dear Derrick,
Thanks for writing. Nice to hear a Canadian is wanting to hog hunt
with dogs. Training a puppy. Well, thats a short question that has a
long answer and a lot of "what if's" to boot. First let me say, there
is no right or wrong way to train a pup. Everyone who has been in the
training end of this sport builds their own tried and true method which
works for them. The sows you have, you dont mention if they are wild
sows or not. I would think it would work better if they were wild sows,
I personally like to use boars rather than sows for the smell that the
dogs need to become familiar with. But if thats all you have, go ahead
with it. Some dogs will start young to paying attention to hogs, some
have to be older, some never get the gumption and have to be culled.
The amazing thing about the ones that are late starters is, a person
will show them and show them a hog over and over, with out even the
slightest interest shown.... Then all of a sudden like turning on a
light bulb, they will kick it in gear and start baying... It still
amazes me to this day. I had one leopard gyp that was pick of a litter
that I bought some years back (its actually a longer story that just
buying, but for my explaining, lets just say i bought that particular
one) anyway, I took her off her mother at 6 weeks and raised her. I
had other pups I had raised that were about the same age. So it came
time to let them see a hog in my 48' round bay pen from the outside,
they were all about 4 months old at the time. The other pups started
one after the other in the next week or so. This leopard wouldn't have
a thing to do with it. In fact, once they had a little age and size on
them, I would put her in the pen with a couple of other pups that were
baying their hearts out, and this leopard gyp would put her tail between
her legs and scream to get out of the pen. At one year old, my
patience had run out so I was ready to cull her from the kennel, a
friend saw her and wanted a shot at her before I culled her. So I gave
her away to the fella who figured he could get her to start. She was a
beautiful red and white leopard. Six months later, he called me and
said, Jim, this dog I got from you wont do a single thing, do you want
her back? If not, Im going to cull her. I said, let me try one last
time and work with her a little more, so I get her back. The dog is
now 18 months old, hasn't barked a single time at a hog in her life even
on hunts I had tried her on. So what I do is put her in a kennel with
one of the sure nuff good young dogs I have already got started... I
leave her there for a couple of weeks. Now i take her back out to the
pen and snap her leash to the outside of the pen and put her buddy and
another one in the pen to bay. (I have this on film too somewhere
around here...) The gyp barked one time, her first!!!! I put her in
the pen with the other two, and within 2 minutes I had her baying...
She's now almost 19 months old!!!!! Within two weeks, She is CATCHING
hogs. I take her hunting (she had been several times before but did
nothing) and after a couple of trips and hogs she is going out with the
strike dog and finding hogs. When she was around 2 yrs old, I loan
her out to a friend to use whose needing a rougher type dog. About a
month later, she meets the wrong hog. I know to this day that I spent
to long on this dog since I had all the others going good, But the
bottom line is, she did turn. Of course not all will, and its upsetting
some time if they don't especially if you have raised them from a pup,
and put in all the time, money energy and HOPE in this young dog only to
find out he's a potlicker.
So if you have the time, money and energy to wait a dog out, go ahead.
5 months is not a very old dog. Might try putting her up awhile and
trying her again. See if you can locate another dog who will bay the
hog that your young one can learn from.
Your next question ask basically, "How many dogs do i need to hunt
hogs" This is another question that has a thousand different
answers. Guess it depends on who your asking at the time. Some dogs
can do it all by them selves, it also depends on the hog its running
also. Ive been on hunts with as many as 20 dogs (now that was a site to
see i assure ya) and have hunted with just one many times. But my
actual answer would be at a minimum of 2 or 4 to have on hand. In
regards to catch dogs. Ive probably caught 90% of my hogs with just one
catch dog, but alot of those times another one or two was needed. Ive
seen hogs where the catch dog grabs hold and the hog runs off with him
like he was a knat hanging on. I always think its a good idea to have
a back up catch dog at hand. And dont let him stay caught a second more
than is absolutely necessary for his safety.
Hope this helps answer some of your questions, Good luck hunting them
in the north country...
Jim