Help with the hounds

[ex bc guide]

I have 2 hounds that are 13 months old, they are doing good at the tree as well as staying on a track.The problem that I am having with them now is that they are not barking on the trail as much as they could be.I have tried tying one up and letting one go, this gets the tied up dog fired up so I let him go and he makes all sorts of noise untill he catches up with the first dog then they are usually pretty quit again.I would like them to make alot more noise on the trail so they get that cat up the tree! any suggestions would be greatly appreciated thanks
Mike

[houndogger]

Hey Mike,


Trail barking is a trait they are born with some do it lots some not much. If you have a bit of a silent trailers thats not a bad thing. They will tree you as much or more game. They will be deadly on Bobcats. Are they silent until they jump the cat? If so they will get alot of game up trees in a hurry. It just makes it a little harder on you trying to locate. Down the road you might want to get a more open hound to turn in later for locating. But they are still pups and they could start to open more with more game under their belts.

Good luck and let us know their progress.

Dave

[ex bc guide]

My concern was if they are so quiet would a cat turn on them and attack?the cat would not be thinking oh crap I am being chased and might sit off the trail and wait for the dogs then attack them? just a thought that I had
Mike

[Sniper]

Mike, I think you are going to see a difference when you drop them on a cat track my sons dogs get louder and louder when they get closer and closer to what they are chasing. See you in Bobcat season!

[ex bc guide]

Sounds good,how are your hounds doing? I am just waiting for snow and the season to start.
Mike

[Barracuda]

Hey Mike,


Trail barking is a trait they are born with some do it lots some not much. If you have a bit of a silent trailers thats not a bad thing. They will tree you as much or more game. They will be deadly on Bobcats. Are they silent until they jump the cat? If so they will get alot of game up trees in a hurry. It just makes it a little harder on you trying to locate. Down the road you might want to get a more open hound to turn in later for locating. But they are still pups and they could start to open more with more game under their belts.

Good luck and let us know their progress.

Dave

I gotta agree with hounddogger on this one , if you want voice (or any strong trait for that matter) you have to breed for it . I dont think you will have a problem with a cat as long as the dogs stay together ,Wolves on the other hand can f*** up a dog just for territorial assertion and i think alot of folks blame Cats for what wolves do.

Hey we should all get together for a bobcat run when you come over Sniper

[Sniper]

Mike, The dogs are ready to go! looking forward to putting some fur on the wall this winter. After buying and reading the hound trainer Ben Wicks book Walk With Wick which is generaly the hound dog training bible http://www.wickoutdoor.com/ I realize it is to easy to over train young dogs and that the biggest part of the equation is breeding as Barracuda says, you let them loose and if everything works out well you can give most of the credit to the line the dogs came from. As you know we have the sister to your dogs and believe me there are lots of serious hound people out there that would cut off their right arm to have her so I think it's safe to say your dogs are from a good line! If you are concerned about a cat getting a hold of your dogs this is what we where told to do and this is what we did - Let your dogs corner a f#### #at or raccoon, the raccoon or f#### #at will rake up their noses and they will learn to keep some distance . I have heard of people that crossed hounds and pit bulls but the dogs all got killed because they go right in and try to do what they do! they get a hold of the cougar by the throat(not a good move against a killing machine like a cougar). Good Luck!

[houndogger]

Hey Mike,

Your dogs will open on trail when they jump the cat no matter how quiet they are at trailing. I wouldn't worry about a cat grabbing them because they are a little quieter then you think they should be. No matter how open your dogs trail you are eventually going to run in to a bad cat or bear that would rather fight then tree. But they are far and few between lots of good trees.

Good luck

Hey Cuda how are those Walker pups doing? Maybe Mike should get a walker to add to his pack. You can never have enough you know!

[ex bc guide]

I would love to take one of those walkers,... but my wife on the other hand may have something different to say about that! not to mention the neighbours.
Mike

[houndogger]

Mike I was roading the hounds this morning and I remembered I wanted to suggest to you to use some cow bells on their collars. It might ease your mind a little.

later Dave