Gday

[starlo]

gday my names sean starling im 24 years old havnt been piggn long probably only about 4 years but im hooked hard, im in the army and put in to be posted to darwin for the sole reason that theres good pig numbers up here. Havnt been out yet arrived in the wet so have just been acclimatising the dogs ready for the dry hope to have a few pics and stories in the not so distant future, good luck and good hunting

[Dogmann]

Welcome starlo. Looking forward to the pix.

Cheers.

Edited January 26, 2010 by Dogmann

[jimmy]

welcome sean,,,look forward to your input

[starlo]

Cheers guys cant wait to get out there and get a few, hopefully there will be a few crackers amongst em.

good luck and good hunting starlo

Edited January 29, 2010 by starlo

[starlo]

Gday i was reading a blog by one of the other blokes who just started he had a good ideah so im going to do the same.

my first dog was and still is:

Sledge male 4-5 generation pig dog finders on fathers side

built like a brick shithouse with a butterbox for a head 4years 5months, bullmastiff/dane/boxer X english mastiff/bullterrier out and out holder. he's 43kg hunting weight.

Too heavy for my liking, knocks up too quick,doesnt like exercise, reasonably quick over the first 100 metres or so but dies in the arse pretty quick, hasnt shown any interest in using his nose too much but thats probably my fault hes only been on about 50 pigs over his life and generally they were all caught within line of sight either off the ute on crop paddocks or bieng lucky enough to stumble upon the whilst walking, or he just hangs with finders till they hit a mob then he seems to usually split from the rest of the dogs and go after the bigger pigs and when he catches them he swings like a scrub tick, wont let go until told, he's great round the backyard doesnt fight unless another dog has a good go then finnishes it wont bite pups no matter how much they piss him off just walks away. very smart too.

overall: although hes great round the yard smart and lugs like a deamon hes not what i want in a dog far from it but he's been a good mate and loyal dog and a good stepping stone to learn from.

Tiger male dunno how far it goes back but the bloke still had great grandmother 18 years old, both sire and dam still hunting hard at ten years old and leaving younger dogs for dead.

still growing but should be well built and leggy, nearly 7 months, bullarab/kelpie/cattle/xboxer/cattle guaranteed to find and hold. last weighed at bout 6 months 24 kg.

nice lean leggy build can definatly tell hes got working dogs in his blood, bloody energetic shaping up to be pretty fast hasnt seen a pig yet but cant wait to get him out good round the yard quiet with my boy, sire apparantly was calm on the ground would stick pretty close by his owner until he picked up a scent then he would leave quick, on the ute he would give a few false starts but was still handy.

dam on ground gets out and covers a lot of ground in search of a scent, when on the ute if she left apparantly u knew you were on.

Ben male father was a stud bred queensland kelpie, mother was a genuine heinz

still growin should be similar to a kelpie but slightly more solid, 4 months old kelpie x ?, last weighed couple of weeks ago at 12kg.

leggy pup doesnt knock up easy, has more bark than any kelpie pup i ever had. try's to work the other 2 dogs all the time very loyal pup hopefully hell make a decent bailer its the only reason i got him, the spear grass up here is unbelievable after the wet, from what ive hears you can be right on top of youre dogs and not know they're there without a bailer.

I run them 2-4km every afternoon separately so they should hopefully be ready for the coming year.

[Dogmann]

Good analysis of the team Starlo.

Like your approach.

Cheers.

[starlo]

cheers dogman

yeah mate hopefully my little team works well together what with speed holder and nose, hard holder and go all day bailer, works in theory just gotta try out the practical now all i can do is hope and give them plenty of exposure, and im definatly going to try what you suggested with scouting like a dog and encouraging them on fresh sign.

This time at least ill be costantly hunting with a mate up here who has pretty good finder luggers, it was my biggest problem before me and 2 other mates jumping in the deep end with sledge and his 2 litter brothers and just doing heaps of k's and leg work to try and get them onto a few.

Cheers again for the feedback mate ill keep you posted on they're progress starlo

[davmor]

Welcome Starlo, sounds like you got a plan. Good to see young blokes thinking ahead, keep us informed

[starlo]

Yeah i hope it works the 2 new ones are goers especially tiger hes a bit arrogant like my old working dog was and he turned into one of the best dogs in the district at home (other blokes words not mine)no worries mate will do

Cheers starlo

Edited January 30, 2010 by starlo