How To Properly 'Train' A Hog Dog For Pen Or Woods

An old timer named Charles Tucker recently told me his advise for training a hog dog in the woods or pen.

He said first you need the right genetics because if he wasn't born a hog dog, you ain't gonna make him into one!

And then he said; "Take him to the woods, don't put your hands on him and keep your mouth shut!"

I had a big laugh, because it reminded me of so many people calling me up through the years and advising me that they were just getting into hog hunting and wanted to get a puppy and then 'train 'em'  to be a hog dog.

And I would ask them 2 questions: Have you ever had a Catahoula, and have you ever hunted hogs?

A lot of times, they had neither hunted hogs nor owned a Catahoula, but had been watching Youtube videos and wanted to get into it.

"Okay, if you have never hunted hogs, what makes you think you are qualified to train one to hunt?"

And then I would ask them; "How about you get one that is bred to 'be' a hog dog, and let him train you?"

Because if he is bred right you don't need to train 'em to hunt, you need to train 'em to survive!

I have had some great dog men and 1 amazing woman teach me about competition in the bay pen,

Jimmy Young and Reggie Little in the golf cart at Uncle Earl's 2011


 but the real credit goes to the dogs when it comes to 'who' taught me to hunt hogs in the woods, swamp and marsh.

It was the dogs who taught me, and to this day, I must confess; "The dogs are still smarter than me when it comes to hunting hogs!"

I will be editing some more in here later, so you might want to check back, but I got to get out on the lake for now...

I am Marcus de la Houssaye and my phone is presently down and being upgraded to a smart phone, and UPS should deliver it in a few days. Until then if you want to communicate with me, email or facebook is our only connection. My email is: catahoula1@gmail.com

When my new phone comes in I have decided to keep it private for now as I am writing a book.