Dear No Luck,
Thanks so much for taking the time to write.
Guess your question is basically "How do I train a
dog to rig and how do I train a close ranging dog to
go out and hunt?"
FIRST
HOW TO TRAIN A RIG DOG OR A DOG WE CALL A "HOOD DOG"
in my part of the world.
Im sure there are a number of ways to train a dog
to rig hunt that are better than the way I do it. I
can only explain how I do it presently. Some dogs
are just plain ole natural at it. I've had a number
of dogs start to do it on their own after a few hogs.
Others I have trained to do it if they have the
desire. First, when I had my bay pen up, it was on
the north side of my kennels, in the winter time when
there was a north wind, my dogs would go nuts because
of smelling the hogs. The dogs kinda naturally
trained them selves in doing this from the smell and
from me turning one or two loose and they would take
off and go bay the hog from the outside of the fence.
Next, you can get you a smelly young boar, tie
him up or put him in a crate or in a small pen and
place him off the side of the road somewhere where the
dog cant see him. Make sure you have a cross wind
blowing the scent from the hog across the road. I
usually do it with the dog either on the back of my
four wheeler or tied up where he can stand up in the
back of the truck, some folk have holes cut in their
dog boxes with round doors on top that they can open
and the dogs stick their heads thru the holes. Other
folks, simply put a bath mat on the hood of their
truck and leash the dog and let him ride (i dont like
to do it that way for fear of them getting run over).
I drive real slowly down the road to where I know the
scent is passing, the dog SHOULD smell him. Watch
the dogs reaction and see what he does. I usually do
this a couple of times before the dog is ever
released. When the dog is really fired up, let him
go to the hog. Repeat this procedure several times.
REPUTITION IS THE KEY. I don't like to do it off a
trailer where the dogs are tied up and I'm pulling the
trailer with the fourwheeler. The carbon monoxide
fumes mess up the smell. Just keep doing this over
and over and over at different spots each day. Be
sure you don't drag the hog from the spot on the road
where the smell is or the dog will simply find the
scent in the air then get on the ground and then run
the track/ground scent.
Since I had the training pasture, I was able to
train several dogs to do this simply by driving around
the road. I had one young dog, that was exceptional
at it, but his problem was that he wouldn't bark when
he smelled one. He would just bob his head up and
down rapidly. That took me a bit to figure out how
to get him to bark. What I did was I put him on the
back of my fourwheeler with another dog. When he
smelled one, i would turn the other dog to go to the
hog and not him. The dog would go absolutely nuts
that I wouldn't let him go and of course would bark
his head off while I was gone to the bay of the other
dog. After awhile, I guess he figured out in his
brain, that I wasn't going to let him loose unless he
barked. And I guess him barking frantically was his
way of saying "Dang Jim, turn me loose, turn me
loose so I can do it" hahaha Took a while, but I
got him not barking solved.
SECOND
HOW TO TRAIN A DOG TO GO OUT AND HUNT?
Some where in the archives of my writings, I have
written about this. And I guess my answer is there's
no best way and no way will work on every dog, and
some dogs will just flat not go out and hunt. The
best ones to start are dogs that have the
go-out-and-hunt genes in them from breeding. Others,
you have to try and work with. Just always keep in
mind, some dogs are going to be long range, some mid,
and some short range and the worst are the ones you
trip over that go no where.
On to your question. Here are some ideas to try.
Just remember, you have to think about HOW THE DOG IS
THINKING.
First, After your dog has been sent to several hog
bays and is getting a feeling of what's going on, turn
him loose with the dog you are wanting to most hunt
like or a training dog he can keep up with. If you
or your hunting buddy have a dog that you like the
way he hunts, turn your dog out with him and let him
hunt with him. Im not a believer in turning several
dogs out at a time, or training more than one puppy at
a time. If you do turn more than one pup out at a
time, the pups will stay together and play. But
even if you have turned your pup out with a training
dog, Your dog might or might not stay with him.
Just know if the dog comes back and you pet him, he
will think he did it right. Which is not the case.
You cant beat the heck out of him for coming back
either, what will that do? that will make him think
he's being punished for coming to you, and not
coming back to you from leaving the other dog. I
like for my young dogs to understand what the word
"get a head" mean. I start them on that command just
as soon as I walk thru the woods or am walking around
with them loose near home.
Second, have you a hog staked out some where, start
in short distances and let him go to the hog. Each
time you do it AND he does it correctly, move back
farther. If he does come back to you, tell him to
"get back on that hog or get ahead" or you can hit
the ground with a stick or something. Main thing is
to let him know hes not to come back to you and is
suppose to be back barking at that hog. You will be
surprised how far after time that you can move back.
Sometimes hundreds of yards. Now, this is not the
ultimate way to do it because of course the dog is
remembering where the staked out hog is and not having
to use any of his senses but sight. So this is what
you do to start working on some of his other senses
like sound or smell. After the dog is going the
distance that you are happy with. Take the hog and
pull him somewhere else, the first time or two I might
move him 100 yards or so. Now, think what the dog is
thinking when you turn him loose.... this is the dog
talking to him self now..haha
"Ok, I get to go bark at that ole hairy critter
again, Just wait till he unsnaps me. Im going to be
there in nothing flat I KNOW JUST WHERE TO FIND HIM.""
So the owner unsnaps him BY HIMSELF, and off he goes.
Now back to the dog:
"Ok, Im almost there.....there's where he is in that
cattle panel thing." The dog is using his memory to
get back to where the hog usually is, he's not paying
any attention anymore to how far he is. Now the dog
gets there:
"Bark, Bark, Bark," the dog runs around the cage and
there is no hog to be found. At this point, the dog
is going to do one of two things. 1. he's going to
come back to you or 2. he's going to use his next
sense AND SMELL FOR the hog. If the dog comes back
to you, I wouldn't say nothing but "get ahead" and
still proceed to where the hog was. When I get
there, I will walk down the path where I drug the hog
scent still telling him to "get ahead". Hopefully,
he will smell the hog scent on the ground and do it
him self. If he doesn't, I would probably turn
another dog loose on the track for him to go with.
Doing this several times will either show you the dog
will be one that has the heart to go out and find one,
or just end up being one of the Calvary herd.
On the other hand, if your dog went and found that hog
on his own that was drug of from the cage or from
where he was tied up. You have the makings of a
goodun'.
The main thing about training a strike dog, is to have
patience, and try to understand the way he is
comprehending his training. The one way I really
like to do it is have him go with a training dog to
learn from. Most folks don't either have the time,
facilities or patience on training a dog like I just
mentioned above. Most dogs are trained by other dogs
and if they don't get the hang of it after awhile,
they are culled. Just know that not every dog is
going to be a find dog, not every dog is going to
range out and hunt, no matter what the breeding.
They either have it in them to go out and find one or
they don't. Sometimes you can help along the ones
who don't with methods similar to the ones I've
mentioned above or some other idea and ways other
hunters use. But the bottom line is some aren't
going to go out an hunt no matter what you do.
I always try and let a good dog that I like train
my new ones or young ones. If that doesn't work,
that's when I go to the drawing board and try to
figure out the psychology of what its going to take to
get this dog to do what I want him to do.
Hope this helps, Good question but a booger to
answer since everyone has their own way that works for
them. And if it works for them DON'T CHANGE
NOTHING.....HAHA
Good hunting,
Jim