Nov 7 my first w/ Muzzleloader

[VaRedneck]

Heh....as to his training...

I don't know how long he was on his own before I took him home. He was awfully thin...only weighed 85lbs....hip displasia too.

My other two dogs were never behind a fence...or on a chain...they visited the neighbors...but they knew where their food bowls were.

When Black Dog got here...he stuck around...I think because of the free eats and warm dog bed. After a while he called this place home...but for a while there....

Ever see a lion on tv hunt?.....when one is close enough to the prey....she hunches down to make herself small...and waits till the time is right, then launch? Black Dog would do that. He was damned near fast enough to run one down giving it a 30yd head start across open ground. Once they hit the woods the deer would leave him behind....he wouldn't stop though. after a few hours he'd come limping home...outa breath...tired...wore out.

Come hunting season...we had better bring his ass in and put him on a chain. or we'd have every gut pile in the county in the back yard either being rolled in or yacked up after being gorged on.

When I'd come in towing a deer behind or on my shoulder...he's beside himself...you can almost see him thinking WOO HOO, YOU GOT ONE! Ha!.

Anyway....he's back trailed me before....three day old trail...the mrs let him out to eat and didn't get him on a chain soon enough. A few days earlier I'd brought a doe home. We watched him tear outa the yard and run down the exact path through the pasture that I'd walked 3 days before. I watched him go right into the woods where I'd come out. Then it dawned on me and I hurried down there before he got into that pile.

Anyhow...I've been training him to be a good family dog, sit, stay off my bed...no begging...walk on lead ect.

I didn't have to train him to track/hunt.

He's up over a 100lbs...still thin...but with his hips, we try an make sure he don't gain too much weight.

A coupla years ago...he got a neighbors cat...didn't kill it but shook it like a rag doll in front of it's owner. In an effort to keep the peace and make sure he wasn't shot when he'd run around the next time...we put up a 2 acre invisible fence perimeter. He hasn't been outside the fence off a lead since.