Biggest reason a dog doesnt preform?

Jesse lackey

New member
Just thought i would try to stir up some good conversation.

So in your mind/experience, what is the biggest factor in a dogs lack of preformance? Maybe just one day, maybe for a whole season. What makes them hunt to their best ability day after day? What causes them not to?
 
Perform?

My dog wants too hunt! It is in his blood and he will walk to the end of the earth with me:)

Dogs have bad days as well as people, Bullet, at 6 months is ready to tear into Coyotes, the only bad experiences he has had is cactus:-(

Still a lot of season left, i am sure he will have times when he just doesn't want to go, as for now? He loves being outside with me!
 
The human. If a dog is raised right and the time is put into bonding and training, it will do anything including die for it's owner, so that dog will give every hunt 100% baring health issues.
 
Hands down, the number one factor in whether or not a dog makes it is its owner. Usually not getting the dog out enough and giving it a chance! I could go into more detail but probably should leave it at that.
 
ok, so lets say finished dogs. You have a dog that works just the way you like 99% of the time. But what do you find causes those off days more than anything else? Is it food, fatigue, weather...... I was hoping to get a good conversation going here but maybe alotof people dont pay attention to those things.
 
I think the reason those dogs have off days is due to things you or the dog can't control. I firmly believe a well trained and treated dog is a machine that will go to earths end to please it's handler.
 
jesse i say the guy that owns the dog, but if like you said, a dog that is finished and hunts great 99% of the time then i think just a off day. i have seen dogs hunt hard when they were so tired they just bearly got up to go to the truck but they sure hunted when you put them on the ground, same with dogs that had to sleep in a box for aweek of nights, eat different feed, or what ever. i just think if they are sure going good and hunt hard 99% of the time then they are just having a off day when they dont hunt hard, same as we do from time to time, but thats just my thoughts, what do you think?
 
Kyle you are right, but what im hoping to get out of this thread is that alot of the bad days can be avoided. Im hoping to help some of the guys who are new to hunting dogs realize just how important it is to pay attention to how dogs react to changes. How they react to different feed. There is almost always a reason, and it is usually avoidable once you get to know a dog.

But there is also alot more to learn here than meets the eye.
 
funny you should ask this question. My lead dog is a 7 y/o Plott male that is far and away the best dog i have ever owned. I broke him early and often from deer elk etc. He gets an annual refresher course with the e-collar. He has/had never trashed, never not one time. Then last monday happened. Last week he was smoking a lion track like he has done many times over the years. He took that lion track at a run right up until the cat had hunted mule deer for a couple hours. Bullseye, failed me that day.

I don't know why he did that, on that day, he could have done it any other time in his past. He did have my pup with him, was she the influencing factor? He has trained a couple pups in his day. Never a hiccup before.

If you can figure out why dogs choose to think for themselves at the least opportune time instead of doing as I have instructed, let me know!

Generally speaking, I would say breeding influences a dogs hunting drive more than any other thing.
 
Ryan, here are some of my thoughts. Like you i have seen dogs hunt hard dead tired, and on poor food, and every thing else stacked against them, but they arent usually as good as usual. I also agree that every dog will have an unexplainable bad day here or there. But i have seen huge differences in performance just from different feed. Every so often I run out of feed for my hounds, and have to feed the cheep stuff we feed the house dogs for a few days. After four days of feeding junk food, it takes a quick toll on the hounds. They wont perform as well, and will take longer to bounce back after a hard hunt.

Stress is also another factor. I see a big difference in performance when the hounds dont sleep well, get stressed out, or have too much excitement before a hunt.

Another thing would be climate change. They adjust to the climate at home, and if there is an extreem change to climate it can also affect them.

Most of these things are pretty subtle, but still there. I know that most of this seems unusual, or maybe some of you dont think you would ever experience these things, but we all can and will.

For you guys out west, if you live in lower elevation, and decide to take a trip up the mountain to call some yotes, well you will probably have a pretty quick climate change. Or if you are like me and get a wild hare and drive 6it hours north at midnight to run on fresh snow in the morning.lol

Also stress and excitement. If your decoy dog is also a house dog, and you have Christmas dinner at your house. The kids are running all over, its noisy and bussy, then after dinner you decide to take the father in law out to see some decoy action. If you dont think all the excitement is going to affect your dog even a little i think your crazy.

Like i said, most differences are probably pretty unnoticeable, but the small differences could make the difference.
 
Jesse:
I agree with what you say about food and the environment the dog is in. I also think that guys can be lazy when bringing a dog up, and the easy excuse when the dog doesn't pan out is that they just got a bad one. Not saying all dogs will be superstars, but I firmly believe that if you start with good stock, feed well, bond well, train right, at the very least you will have all good dogs.
 
AMEN Norcalkyle!

I have been feeding my dog Taste of the Wild puppy food, he is 6 months old and now weighs in at a healthy 50lbs.

I was told he would be around 50lbs as an adult. He is built like a brick [beeep] house and solid muscle.......

I reckon he will top 60 before all is said and done.
 
Perhaps it is a little like a human athlete in competition. Performance depends a great deal on the performance of the opponent.

A cat, coon or coyote with a stretched full belly is one thing. A race with a lean mean running machine may be something different.
 
First off I think breeding is most important to a dogs hunt. The best handler out there ain't gonna make a dog hunt that doesn't have it bred in them. On the flip side, a poor handler can sure ruin a good bred dog in a hurry.

As for a good day/bad day for a dog, one of the biggest things I have run into is hunting method. I run hog dogs and have the opportunity to hunt with many different people who hunt many different ways. I primarily hunt horseback or walking and my dogs hunt their butts off. But, for example, I have hunted my dogs with people who road their dogs in front of their trucks, and all my dogs would do is follow behind the truck wondering why I am leaving them. On the flip side I have hunted those road dogs on horseback and they would hardly get out from under your feet while my dogs are out beating the brush.. Another thing I have run into is hunting my dogs with dogs unfamiliar to them. And I have seen it go both ways. I have seen my dogs or others dogs shut down when hunted with particular dogs. But I have also seen dogs hunt like never before with new dogs, like they are trying to out do one another. I have hunted behind a few dogs that were amazing regardless of how they were hunted, but they are very few.
 
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