# training a catch dog



## sergiomonzalvo (Dec 30, 2011)

i just bought a Dogo Argentino puppy supposed to be great hog dogs. but i know hes going to need some training to begin with. who know how to train catch dogs and who is willing to help out?


----------



## coolerman (Dec 30, 2011)

are you gonna use him as lead -in catch dog or a running catch dog ? If you are using him for a lead in catch dog there is no training ...just exposure he will or he wont ! I show mine a pig at about six months and MOST of the time thats all it takes show em a pig and get them excited and he will or he wont . If they dont catch keep showing them a hog till they are a year old ...If it still wont catch cut your losses. If it does catch and you havent already done this the dog needs to be socialized with other dogs and make sure there is no dog agrresion at all .Once the dog agression starts its hard to break so start them at this from day 1 . Once you get the dog sociable and he catches take him to the woods ...or I let my pups bay in a pen and make it where the catch dog cant see whats goin on but, make it where he can hear it so that he associates dogs barking with a hog and I leave the door open so he has to find his way in the pen and then catch . That teaches them to go to a bay . Watch the dog aggresion real close  its a nightmare to turn a catch dog to a bay and him have a bay dog caught instead of the hog THIS WILL GET YOU HURT not to mention ruin a baydog . Watch where the dog catches the hog ,the ear is the preferable spot but the nose will work also ...the dog just wont live as long ....the ear is better . Me personally I like a dog that catches anywhere on the head as long as he has enough jaw power to hold if it aint on the ear . If the dog continually goes to the rear or a leg cut your losses .When its a pup turn him loose head on so that the head is the first thing it comes to , if he catches anywhere else move him to the ear this usaully only works on pups and not grown dogs as far as movin them to the ear . Just because a dog will catch a hog DOES NOT MEAN HE IS A CATCH DOG . Keep that in mind , you want good temperment around other dogs , a good grip , and as much brains as possible . If you are using him as a running catch dog make sure he will catch a hog and start taking him to the woods at about a yr old , let him get big enough to do the job you want him to do ...dont send a boy to do a mans job kinda thing . Other than that its just in them to do it aint really a whole lot of training just exposure and feed him hog tracks every chance you get


----------



## johnf (Dec 30, 2011)

"Lady hoggers" said to use a squeeky toy.....


----------



## sergiomonzalvo (Dec 30, 2011)

coolerman said:


> are you gonna use him as lead -in catch dog or a running catch dog ? If you are using him for a lead in catch dog there is no training ...just exposure he will or he wont ! I show mine a pig at about six months and MOST of the time thats all it takes show em a pig and get them excited and he will or he wont . If they dont catch keep showing them a hog till they are a year old ...If it still wont catch cut your losses. If it does catch and you havent already done this the dog needs to be socialized with other dogs and make sure there is no dog agrresion at all .Once the dog agression starts its hard to break so start them at this from day 1 . Once you get the dog sociable and he catches take him to the woods ...or I let my pups bay in a pen and make it where the catch dog cant see whats goin on but, make it where he can hear it so that he associates dogs barking with a hog and I leave the door open so he has to find his way in the pen and then catch . That teaches them to go to a bay . Watch the dog aggresion real close  its a nightmare to turn a catch dog to a bay and him have a bay dog caught instead of the hog THIS WILL GET YOU HURT not to mention ruin a baydog . Watch where the dog catches the hog ,the ear is the preferable spot but the nose will work also ...the dog just wont live as long ....the ear is better . Me personally I like a dog that catches anywhere on the head as long as he has enough jaw power to hold if it aint on the ear . If the dog continually goes to the rear or a leg cut your losses .When its a pup turn him loose head on so that the head is the first thing it comes to , if he catches anywhere else move him to the ear this usaully only works on pups and not grown dogs as far as movin them to the ear . Just because a dog will catch a hog DOES NOT MEAN HE IS A CATCH DOG . Keep that in mind , you want good temperment around other dogs , a good grip , and as much brains as possible . If you are using him as a running catch dog make sure he will catch a hog and start taking him to the woods at about a yr old , let him get big enough to do the job you want him to do ...dont send a boy to do a mans job kinda thing . Other than that its just in them to do it aint really a whole lot of training just exposure and feed him hog tracks every chance you get


thanks for the great advice!! i will deff keep that in mind. i guess the only thing left is finding a pen to start exposing the puppy to hogs. i will appreciate if anyone can let me borrow a pen and i could buy a hog from someone to get the puppy started. and to get him started socializing with other hog dogs as well. 
please give me your number if this is something you are willing to help me with. appreciate it a bunch!


----------



## coolerman (Dec 30, 2011)

Lady hoggers .......I got a pair of squeky toys i wouldnt mind squeezing but I bet they dont exactly .......squeak


----------



## j_seph (Dec 30, 2011)

coolerman said:


> are you gonna use him as lead -in catch dog or a running catch dog ? If you are using him for a lead in catch dog there is no training ...just exposure he will or he wont ! I show mine a pig at about six months and MOST of the time thats all it takes show em a pig and get them excited and he will or he wont . If they dont catch keep showing them a hog till they are a year old ...If it still wont catch cut your losses. If it does catch and you havent already done this the dog needs to be socialized with other dogs and make sure there is no dog agrresion at all .Once the dog agression starts its hard to break so start them at this from day 1 . Once you get the dog sociable and he catches take him to the woods ...or I let my pups bay in a pen and make it where the catch dog cant see whats goin on but, make it where he can hear it so that he associates dogs barking with a hog and I leave the door open so he has to find his way in the pen and then catch . That teaches them to go to a bay . Watch the dog aggresion real close  its a nightmare to turn a catch dog to a bay and him have a bay dog caught instead of the hog THIS WILL GET YOU HURT not to mention ruin a baydog . Watch where the dog catches the hog ,the ear is the preferable spot but the nose will work also ...the dog just wont live as long ....the ear is better . Me personally I like a dog that catches anywhere on the head as long as he has enough jaw power to hold if it aint on the ear . If the dog continually goes to the rear or a leg cut your losses .When its a pup turn him loose head on so that the head is the first thing it comes to , if he catches anywhere else move him to the ear this usaully only works on pups and not grown dogs as far as movin them to the ear . Just because a dog will catch a hog DOES NOT MEAN HE IS A CATCH DOG . Keep that in mind , you want good temperment around other dogs , a good grip , and as much brains as possible . If you are using him as a running catch dog make sure he will catch a hog and start taking him to the woods at about a yr old , let him get big enough to do the job you want him to do ...dont send a boy to do a mans job kinda thing . Other than that its just in them to do it aint really a whole lot of training just exposure and feed him hog tracks every chance you get


That sir was a good read. Only been once with dogs but again that all makes sense and is very interesting. Thanks


----------



## coolerman (Dec 30, 2011)

I appreciate that j seph . I was taught that by several dogs . Ive had dogs that would catch ...and Ive had what I call a catch dog ...they are 2 totally diffrent creatures altogether imo. Thats whats wrong with bulldogs today ,inexperience is alot of it and the other is ignorance and stupidity by people who own dogs that are smarter than they are . Ive give a bunch of "ill raised"bulldogs a dirt nap cause of just that ill raising or ill breeding 99% of the time its not the dogs fault but some habits cant be broken or you just cant take the chance for it to reoccur I.E. bulldogs and kids . I hunt with an older gentleman that says it better than anyone "everybody wants one but very few need one or know how to control one". Its a shame to see what todays bulldogs have become , they been breed for everything but what thay are for . people breed the legs and lungs out of them in order to get "the look "they want and breed "the look " instead of "the attitude". Its kinda like takin a loaded thumb cocked .38 and laying it a playground to see what happens . Bulldogs are not toys and are strong and powerful and my biggest fear is a dog that has passed through my hands at one piont or another attacking someone's baby . That bein said if you breed them right you can get a dog that knows its place at home and the woods . Ive got some that are catch dogs , Im not gonna be stupid and say I trust them around a child cause I dont . They are well mannered and i havent had one in generations even attempt to bite a person or even think of it but " a gun is just a stick till you put bullets in it " .Ive been around the block a time or 2 with the bulldogs and I am very strict on them . With the question of advice on a bulldog Ill give all I got cause I dont want to see a mishap with a child or somebody raise a bulldog with no manners that cant be controlled properly . Thanks again for the compliment


----------



## coolerman (Dec 30, 2011)

I ll give you a prime example .I had a nieghbor that saw my bulldogs and wanted one so bad he could tatse it but I only let mine go to hog hunters . This genius goes and gets a full grown and I mean full grown (80lbs plus )and brings it home . I'll admit it he was a good looking specimen , leggy  , nice head and snout ,real easy on the eyes . He chained him up in the back yard . I got talkin to the guy , cause a strange bulldog makes me a little nervous , and I asked him "who did you get him from" , "whats the background of the parents" , "has he had any kind of training" , "why did the previous owner get rid of him" . His answers were either "I dont know" or "No" . Come to find out he got the dog from somebody  who knew somebody who knew somebody that knew he wanted a bulldog . Now there was never an incident with the dog , he evn got off the chain a couple times and never caused a problem and seemed to be just a good dog . Did I fail to mention the fella had 3 kids 5 and under ! He brought a strange full grown bulldog home to his house and put him on a chain not in a pen with 3 small kids in the house , and didnt know a cotton pickin thing about the dog . Whats the first thing a child does when they see they got a new dog ? It was miracle that he got a descent dog and nothing happened . BUT WHAT IF.......


----------



## buddylee (Dec 30, 2011)

How old is your pup ?


----------



## sergiomonzalvo (Dec 30, 2011)

buddylee said:


> How old is your pup ?


He is still a small puppy. Two months and a half. But I want to get him familiar with the scene and the action...I know I'm going to have to wait a couple more months before letting him in a bay with a piglet but if he can see other dogs in action and familiarize himself with what is going on it will be an easy training.


----------



## PURVIS (Dec 30, 2011)

coolerman left little to say he learned like most dog men do from being a around dogs you should be fine with your dogo most start slow and and don't get to out of hand.like he said he ether will or want be dead catch if your not firm enough to give him guidance give it up they can go from level 1 to 10 in a hurry a u got to have a off switch close at hand i trust no ones catch dog untill he earns it.i got to know hes got that off switch. i've seen the side coolerman warns u about and it is bad hands,legs,your back or another dog are fair game when one gets out of hand and a dog catching u is the last worry u need when u lay hands on a bad hog.my 2 cents i like to preach bout this stuff bout as much as coolerman.lol!!


----------



## coolerman (Jan 1, 2012)

well agreed and well said purvis


----------



## olcowman (Jan 1, 2012)

sergiomonzalvo said:


> i just bought a Dogo Argentino puppy supposed to be great hog dogs. but i know hes going to need some training to begin with. who know how to train catch dogs and who is willing to help out?



I ain't never had one of them kind (probably cause it was too hard to spell) and I am pretty much too old and fat to hog hunt now anyhow... but the coolerman needs to write a book on hog hunting dogs. That's about as well as I have ever heard it put before and reflects the wisdom and experience of the man offering his advice. I was always too hard on my own dogs and was bad about pushing them before maybe they were mature enough. 

Heck I might've had me a couple of really super-duper catch dogs back in the day... if I had followed coolerman's advice and 'worked' at bringing them along? Some of us always had us either a pretty mean or at least a pretty 'experienced' (as far as dogging went) ol' boar hog penned up somewheres... our litmus test for a 'catch dog' often amounted to tossing him over the fence in with said beast. He either caught or he didn't... usually if he didn't, well you saved a few dollars on the feed bill that week...


----------



## olcowman (Jan 1, 2012)

PURVIS said:


> a dog catching u is the last worry u need when u lay hands on a bad hog.my 2 cents i like to preach bout this stuff bout as much as coolerman.lol!!



Lord knows you probably sure don't want yourself one... but it sure can be entertaining. I had an ol' catahoula gyp that was about as good a all-around hog dog as I have ever owned...cept for one thing. Lord that dog was weird, I mean real weird... country, 'quare', odd natured, un-socialized, brain damaged, whatever you want to call it. My wife could do anything to her and as long as I didn't touch her (at all, not even on the truck) she'd do pretty much anything you wanted as far as hunting, piling in on a hog, and loading/un-loading at the truck. She'd let go and follow along as pretty as you please without ever laying a hand on her. She was like this when we got her, (which is why we got her) and she throwed some awful good pups, although they was always the weird one in the bunch. You just always had to know where she was at around the house if company came and be sure and let your hunting buddies know about her.

Anyhow, she was worth all the trouble all them years for just this one little adventure we had. In a nutshell, I had went to Florida with some boys and we ended up a hunting with some real 'experts' I reckon. They was pretty good ol' boys but they was this one, and he had to be the biggest un' to beat all, that 'bout got on my last nerve a throwin' off on our 'little mountain dogs' while a bragging on and on about his 'real' hog dogs. Heck they looked like fat, short legged blue tics to me... and Lord almighty they'd run from coast to coast a hunting a hog. Back home in the mountains you'd turned them dogs loose and had to catch yourself an airplane to catch up with them. 

Oh big boy had just finished telling us about how he wouldn't waste a bullet on dogs like mine when suddenly, by some miracle I reckon, my poor ol' mutts somehow managed to corner themselves a pretty good sized mule-footed sow. Well we all piled off that high-wheeled swamp-buggy thang we was a riding in and by the time we got there my dogs had her caught up and stretched pretty good. As I took a second to 'analyze' my next move ol' big boy blowed by me, bout knocking me right into the pile and did make me swaller' a little  of my snuff', and he straddled the hog with them long legs of his and went to jerking and throwing dogs off and in every direction. I had warned him already about 'Ruby', but it didn't sink in I reckon cause he grabbed her up about third and just threw her between his legs like hiking a football and she went a tumbling through them palmetters and that ol' prickly saw grass. I seen her catch her feet and kinda hesitate for a minute... I knew this was a 'critical' moment from experience. She was either going to freak out and go to the truck and hide in the dog box till Easter or... she was going to do something else... and something else was probably something bad? 

She did something else and it was fabulous... before anyone could intervene ol' Ruby done her a one-eighty right back the direction she'd come from and caught 'expert' on the first section she come too... and I mean caught hard. I know for sure she had her one cheek, and some part or another of his 'heritage' locked up in a bad way. (i can't be precise cause he wouldn't let us look and we didn't see him no more after this?) That is still, till this day, the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life... that big ol' boy a dancing around all wallered-eyed, a reaching ever which a way with that dog a swinging off him, he was a high-stepping like he was running thru a brush fire bare-footed... she was in such a way he couldn't 'exactly' get a clean hit on her and he was a bellerin' like a snake-bit brahmer bull a beggin' some of us to get her off'a him. We was all a laughin' so hard we couldn't do nothing to help get her off and he finally had to jump in the canal and 'bout drown her to get her to let loose.

Well Ruby took off to the dog box like I figured she'd do and big boy took off for his truck. He honestly pulled his pistol out from behind the seat of his truck and threatened to pop a cap in me... not cause of what my dog had done... nope. It was cause I had got my camera out of my truck and was a sitting in the passenger seat of his'n insisting that I go with him to the emergency room just to 'make sure he made it okay'... 

Sorry about the long hijack in ya'lls thread... but Purvis' comment brought up a memory that was just too good not too share.


----------



## coolerman (Jan 1, 2012)

Ol man told me the reason he hog hunted cause "you just never know what was gonna happen around a pack of sorry hog dogs " hahaha good read ...you wanna sell that dog I got a few folks Id like to take her hunting with ...A hard head makes for a soft rear end


----------



## coolerman (Jan 1, 2012)

Thanks for the compliments also ...humbley accepted .


----------



## olcowman (Jan 1, 2012)

coolerman said:


> Ol man told me the reason he hog hunted cause "you just never know what was gonna happen around a pack of sorry hog dogs " hahaha good read ...you wanna sell that dog I got a few folks Id like to take her hunting with ...A hard head makes for a soft rear end



The 'Ol man' hit the proverbial nail right on the head... hunting hogs is an awful lot of hard work a running thru the briars and brambles, a wading snaky-looking creeks, not to mention a piling into a wad of snapping dogs and one really mad hog. It's expensive too! Gas and dog feed ain't getting no cheaper and the govt done made it near impossible to get even a nickle out of a caught pig these days. It was worth it for the times like that'n I just described... worth every single cent. 

Tying a Canadian boy and a great big ol' dumb bulldog together one night, a running with that feller down in Yeehaw Junction with the wife that always wore her bathing suit top a huntin'... and she weren't no little gal neither, by no means! Watching my drunk as a skunk Uncle demonstrate his hog tying skills... the time we run us a pile a dogs and a big ol' piney-woods rooter right into a whole campful of them Rainbow hippy folks... the hog hunt at the pumpkin patch that somehow turned into a foot-race with a bear to the truck... the "I only brung one bullet" city feller that paid us a hundred dollars to go hunting... and then offered us another hundred to take him back to his truck... watching Loudermilk do his 'big hairy hawg dance' with out spilling his beer or a spitting the marlboro out of his mouth... my poor ol' Wife's one and only hogging trip (she can go for 3 days and not poop? is that a record or something you reckon?)

Lord these things is what kept me at it as long as I did, often even when it was tough on me both physically and financially. I wouldn't trade it for nothing... the Ol man of yours got it right...


----------



## coolerman (Jan 1, 2012)

I had a similair situation one time where a hog was tearing up brand new soccer field a local college around the corner from the house . The head of maintenance had told me about this one lone hog tearing up the new $20,000 field and it was getting under the craw of the hogh and mighties of the college( When I first heard of the hog i offered my services to catch the hog and I was frowned upon cause I was a dog hunter ) but, they wanted a trapper but a lone hog aint a lone hog cause he is dumb . I do all their refrigeration and cooking work and I went out on a service call and they hit me up to catch the hog cause me and the maintenence man are good personal friends and he got me the hunt lined up . My first suggestion was to hunt at night to keep a low profile in case it got a lttle hairy but NNNNOOO couldnt do that (cause it was too smart and easy ) had to be done in the daytime cause they locked the place down at night ...... That saturday I get a call "we just seen him so come get him" when I say they I mean the high and mighties "the smart college educated people that run the college" and if I was gonna do it I had to come right now or they would call someone else !!  I guess they saw how cute a hog really was and were just mortified that it was tearin up their new $20,000 soccer field (ida drove faster had it been a football feild). I pull up to the college and "OH DEAR GUSSY " It was parents day or a huge pep rally or first day of class I wasnt sure but there was folks everywhere . So I made 1 last phone call to make sure it had to be "right now " and I was told to catch that hideous thing immediately . I found out later that some genius "college educated kid" was trying to use a sharpened stick to kill the pig cause he saw it on Rambo ( wont the world be a better place when common sense means more than a college education again) . My maintenance buddy said he witnessed this and told his boss "he wasnt takin that moron to the doctor when he actually poked the hog with the stick "( he has been hunting with me a few times and new how well this kid "had it all figured out"). The college is off the beaten path and despite all the folks there wasnt any traffic except maintenance trucks and they were all on 2-way radios on "hog patrol". So here we go , I turned loose at the soccer feild and the dogs hit the woods and jumped ......I was riding in a maintenance truck with a catchdog and my tracking system trying stay up with the dogs so we could do what we had to do as fast as possible and get outta there . I thought my dogs were bayed so we went to them hopin to hear them when we stopped ( the students had actually been getting real close to this hog feedin it so it really wasnt scared of folks that much it even had a name at 1 piont ),we stopped the truck and about the time i started listening here comes the hog busting out of the woods with 2 dogs smokin his butt...wide open . They never checked up and all I could say was "this aint gonna be pretty " across the road , through a big heard of students and parents and "high and mighties ". I couldnt stop 'em so I just watched ......Yall it looked like somebody took a 6 foot bowling ball and rolled through the crowd ,and then something what looked like Moses parting the Red sea "BUNNY HUGGERS WENT EVERYWHERE" I was almost worried my dogs would get trampled at 1 piont , needless to say the made it out the other side and we werent that far behind after I caught my breathe from laughin .The hog runs about 40 yrds past the courtyard and "shear pandemonium" and stops pretty as you please and bays up , cut the catch dog loose . flipped him , tied him , and headed to the maintence shop........for one of the worst "chewings" I ever had I almost lost the account and my buddy almost got fired .........but we got the hog ...1 definitely to remember ...I also caught a bad boar at a high school parking lot on friday night with a football game  goin while bein held at gunpiont by the local cops  .He hollers freeze and the other one says "is that a bear he's tying up?".....


----------



## olcowman (Jan 1, 2012)

Classic hog hunting... great story!


----------



## sergiomonzalvo (Jan 1, 2012)

You guys have some crazy stories. I like them!
Can't wait to get the little guy started. Who's taking me on one of you guys adventures?


----------



## coolerman (Jan 2, 2012)

Im in south alabama anyone with manners alwalys has an open invitation send ma pm and we will see what we can do


----------



## Ranger (Jan 2, 2012)

Coolerman, I'm still laughing at that that. Great story and thanks for sharing.


----------



## coolerman (Jan 2, 2012)

Too much education influences stupidity , some folks are so educated they loaded their brain too much and their common sense squeezed out of their ear . It was hilarious and pure fear all at the same time . I did ask if they were sure they wanted to do it ....several times....never thought it would have winded up like that


----------



## slade770 (Jan 2, 2012)

coolerman said:


> Im in south alabama anyone with manners alwalys has an open invitation send ma pm and we will see what we can do



Coolerman has opened the door for me to come hunt with him and I plan to take him up on that! That's what this forum should be about, good people makin good memories and friends!


----------



## sergiomonzalvo (Jan 2, 2012)

I second that!


----------



## j_seph (Jan 2, 2012)

slade770 said:


> Coolerman has opened the door for me to come hunt with him and I plan to take him up on that! That's what this forum should be about, good people makin good memories and friends!


 Same for us just not sure when yet. Thanks Coolerman you are the man!!!


----------



## coolerman (Jan 2, 2012)

My best friend has a camp and is 1 of the best huntin partners you could ask for , they dont make em like him no more . He s alot like me , likes meeting new folks and bein in the woods if we get lucky and get 1 its just iciing on the cake . I can holler at him to make sure its ok and we can go aint no doubt......we wil take up with anybody......long as they got manners ....if not we let his 80 yr old pawpaw (thats still tromps the swamps with us) deal with em haha


----------



## Ranger (Jan 3, 2012)

Olcowman, coolerman yall need to get together and write a book. That is some funny reading. Thanks


----------



## coolerman (Jan 4, 2012)

If I wrote a book or had anything to do with writing one it would be full of crayon colorings and fin gerpaintings and probably be on a first grade level ... Id wanna be like them "high and mighties " and have some body write it for me , you know follow me around and make feel important . haha man id be somebody then . In all seriousness id like to have/read a book that come from a bunch of "Ol Timers " ...kinda like hog hunting camp fire stuff of diffrent folks hunts and things of that nature . Im not talkin bout the whole "how to" junk thats going around ,Im talking bout a real "hog hunting " story book kinda thing ...That my friends would be some good reading ......Guess Ill just stick to reading "COSMOPOLITIAN" or "REDBOOK" haha


----------



## Tieemuporleaveem (Jan 4, 2012)

Hate i missed the college party but the football game boar hog and police sure was fun!!! lol What about the boar we cought behind the cvs! lol


----------



## coolerman (Jan 5, 2012)

If you remember right the cop that pulled up on us when was checking the tracking system in CVS parking lot was there when we caught the hog at the halftime show in the staduim parking lot haha (Im glad he didnt go to the 50 yrd line)... I think he was the one that hollered "is that a bear they tieing up ?" Even though it was hard hunting its a shame we lost that spot the way it happened . You couldnt alwalys catch a hog but you could alwalys get on one and it was close to the house


----------



## Tieemuporleaveem (Jan 5, 2012)

Yep there is a bunch of cut troat people and some dang good half time shows! Lol


----------



## Tieemuporleaveem (Jan 5, 2012)

Josh I remember when we was piecin dogs back together and layn what was left up for months just to hunt the next month them was some bad boars and to come to think of it we never cought a sow there?


----------



## coolerman (Jan 5, 2012)

never did that i can remember  I seen tracks of sows and pigs but never laid hands on one ...I dont think they ever caught a grown sow in a trap down there I no ol cutthroat did but it was shoats . Yea they was some bad ones there thats for sure , I think them tie tie bushes had to be loaded with protien kinda like the palmettos in the marsh ...I still think them hogs run a close second to the hogs at the "butcher shop" down in the marsh...


----------

