Very well said Devin.
Today I was out scouting for coyote dens with a couple of young dogs tagging along. It got me to thinking about everything that goes into "starting" a decoy dog.
There are a ton of hours in the field to get the basics that most guys buying a dog, don't even think about. Things like loading in and out of a vehicle, riding in a vehicle without getting car sick, negotiating fences, how to hunt for game, knowing what "sic" or "get em up" means, knowing what "enough" means, knowing what the beeper on a collar means, hunting for the master...instead of themselves, knowing to ignore cows, horses, deer, antelope, goats, sheep, chickens, etc...yet focus on the prey at hand. All of this and more, and we're not even talking about how to pursue and handle coyotes, yet. That takes alot of fur and few scars.
With daily training, this can all be covered with a young "started" dog in a few months. Without daily training, it'd take years...if ever.
Here is something that baffles me. On the hog dog websites, guys have a bunch of started dogs for sale. The typical reads like this...
"Cur/Cato cross male, 1 yr and 7 mos old, started dog, will help bay a hog, been in the woods 8 to 10 times."
Eight to ten times?? Heck, a dog would be dumb as a box of rocks if living on the end of a chain for the past 19 months and only in the woods that few times. What a waste of a good dog. Totally baffles me!
Again, well said.
Tony