Finished Blood Trail Dogs For Sale

I am writing this article for 2 reasons:

#1.  I have several dogs that are finished in their own right and hunt for me,

AND #2, I am willing to sell them, but  95% of the people calling who are looking for blood tracking dogs, want a finished dog that will hit the ground running without any transition time for the dog to adjust and hunt for the new owner. This is a big problem faced by dog buyers who operate from the presumption that buying a finished dog is a surer and time wise shorter means of getting a blood trailing dog to work for you during this ongoing deer season.

And...               I couldn't disagree more!

                                                   Toulouse with his nose on the ground...

 

But first.... let's consider what you could be missing by NOT having a tracking dog

 that WILL work for you NOW!

 

Such as...

 

Your daughter's first deer

~photo courtesy of Sarah Whatley Stringer~

 

 

Or...

 

this fine 12 point that was harvested in Michigan yesterday and.... was tracked and found courtesy of Michigan's deer tracking dogs, and he can be reached at: (810) 240-4891 

  http://www.michigandeertracknhounds.com  and email: mdth07@yahoo.com

 

here is another shot of this 12 pt. just so you can compare it to this BIG man...

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michigan-deer-trackn-hounds/242940005717193

 

Just shoot that and try to suffer NOT finding it without a dog if there is no blood visable!

 

 

Back to blood tracking dogs for sale...

But actually what may be the quickest, and in the long run the easiest means of owning a tracking dog in this season is in getting a started puppy,

about six months to a year old from me that has been trained in my facility and eating raw meat all of its life,

and is ready to fire off, especially NOW that the deer season is in progress and that my friend, is the quickest plan in my opinion, to have a blood tracking dog work with you now.

And I know you want a finished dog, but, after getting a puppy way ahead of the hunting season, the next best thing is to get a started dog DURING deer season and put them on real blood trails as much as possible, because as you can see above, eating deer meat at my facility is an ongoing part of life.

And... if you really want a finished dog, remembering the title of this post... why is it that this is the absolute best time of the year, now that deer season is in progress? Because when it comes to training a started OR finished tracking dog, the rubber meets the road

and real blood trail dog training occurs during deer season, not in the off season, and this is a great time and way to help your new dog understand that you want them to track blood because you can at the very least feed them raw deer meat, and put them on multiple blood trails even if you have found the deer already, because the more you give them in blood experiences, the more focused they are.

 Remember that they were trained to track FOR ME, NOT YOU! And therefore, no mater how well trained they were by me, they were trained to track for me, not you.

This is your best time of the year to spend a lot of time with your new dog and develop the relationship factor ASAP, because it is a busy time of the year and the dog is capable of being a part of a lot of the goings on such as, the holidays with family,(and lots of left-over treats for the dogs),

and it is hunting season with dead deer on the ground, and you are going regularly to the hunting lease monitoring feeders and stands, and scouting, etc..,

and staying in at home during bad winter weather(with your dog in the house or camp!). Because of ALL of the above, you can spend a lot of time with the new dog, and easily overcome the relationship transition factors most people experience and do not understand that the dog is in an emotional transition, and more easily get a started OR finished dog to fire off and work for you.

And... #2.

95% of those people think if it is a "good" dog, it will hunt for anyone, anywhere, and anytime! And if #2 were actually true, then getting a finished dog makes a lot of sense, but the truth is: tracking dogs are part of a team of men and dogs, and if they don't know you, they won't hunt for you...

and because dogs are neuvo-phobic, meaning they are afraid of anyone or anything new, and a new place often causes them to stay close to your side, and not range out very far, so that way they don't lose you OR get left behind, so YOU must give them time to adjust, and work with them by moving them along, on leash or off leash until they warm up,  ...and if the dog is having a bad day, they won't hunt FOR YOU any and every time you want them to.

Why? For instance if a dog has broken ribs, because they fought with a live healthy buck yesterday on the last track, and every breath now hurts, they may not be as aggressive a hunter as they were yesterday. And you may want to bring in the back up dog,,,, Or if their best hunting partner is not around(such as their momma, or brother,) they may not hunt because(in the dogs mind) the team is not all there. Although an older dog works well solo,  often times a younger dog will not work alone, or just works better as a team with other older and more experienced dogs.

And....I'll let you in on one of my secret training methods, I don't train pups, my older dogs train the pups...sssuuussshhhhhh!

 

Here is the bottom line: If you wanted a finished dog for this hunting season, why didn't you buy a well bred puppy that was weaned on deer meat 3 or 4 years ago?

OK, maybe your dog just got lost or killed, and you don't have a back up... well you are in a bind that could have been avoided by having a back up plan, and that means you buy a new dog about every 3-4 years, and let it live with you and your finished dog, or as an option if you can only keep one dog, place it with someone as a pet in your hunting club, friends, family, etc... So, if you need a back up for what ever reason, you have one ready to go ASAP!

Let me share a true story, one that is repeated again and again among Catahoula breeders...

OK, ... Now here we are, I have several fine, well bred, well raised, well trained, and experienced blood tracking dogs for sale, and someone comes and picks one up and is convinced in less than 1 week that this dog will never be a blood tracking dog even though it has already found deer with me AND them, AND in less then one week they presume to know the dog better than I do, and I have spent years with the dog!(this a true story!)

 

 And here is the problem: I told him the dog would go through an adjustment period and the best thing for him to do to help the dog in this transition would be to keep the dog for a week or two, and if it slows down, then bring it back to me for a time, and then bring it back to the hunting club again, and see if it can get more comfortable with the program of tracking for other people(and this customer lived close enough to make the transport back and forth very practical).

Here is the solution: If I sell a finished dog, you must work with me in person or over the phone to facilitate as smooth a transition as possible.

 So... I call, leave messages, get no call back, and then a month later, he called to advise me that the dog is not working for his family! Big surprise! You failed to communicate with the breeder/trainer who spent many months OR YEARS with the dog, raising, training, socializing and knows a lot of tricks of the trade to help you connect with the dog, and facilitate a smooth transition!

And... here is the rest of the story: After five days of the dog doing really well with him, as I told him it would, he left the dog with his family contrary to my advise while he went offshore for 30 days to work, and the dog did not like being abandoned by the new owner! Although it was doing well for a few days with the new owner, when that man left, the dog was suddenly abandoned by his new friend and felt all alone because he was left with people he didn't know and maybe didn't like, and really needed to come home to me for it all to end well.  Then if the dog had went back at the end of the 30 days it might have gotten into the hunting season and the new owner had a tracking dog that had been there before and all ended well last time simply because it got to come home again in the first  "transition" period.

 I had been calling to help you facilitate the transition from me to you, but you don't communicate with me, and only communicate rejection to the dog by only looking for faults in the dogs performance, and thus the dog gets no positive reinforcement for THE THINGS DONE RIGHT.

 And believe me,

                                     my breed, the Catahoulas are very sensitive to such nonsense!

And then before you actually give the dog a chance to warm up and work for you, you reject the dog under the presumption that this one year old PUPPY should be acting like a 5 year old, well trained, and experienced blood tracking dog that YOU actually raised from a pup!

If you want to SAVE TIME and short cut raising a dog from a pup, you will pay for it in other ways, starting with the fact that I am putting 1 or 2 years of MY TIME AND MONEY into making YOUR FINISHED DOG a finished dog, because I travel thousands of miles every year visiting hunting clubs, and tracking for many difficult, hard to find deer, and some are not dead and are fighting mad when we get there as can be seen in the injuries Jessie girl sustained tracking a 9 point this month!

In case you are wondering, this buck was shot in the foreleg, and was otherwise a very healthy buck in full rut, when the dogs got there. Every time the deer tried to run, Jessie was nipping and biting it on the ass so bad, it had to turn and fight! As a result of his assaults on her head with hooves and antlers, you can see in the photo above that her head was still swollen 3 days later!

 

And here is smiles from some of my satisfied customers who bought puppies that ran blood tracks 500-600 yards long at only 3-4 months old!!

 So, if creating a finished dog is a process that is going to cost me time AND thousands of dollars, up front, and you are looking for a "good deal" in a finished dog, forget trying to luck out and find something for cheap with me!  Finished dogs are not cheap!

 

 I collect and store deer blood during deer season...

                                       
and I store heads, skins and legs during the hunting season...

and, I am constantly collecting deer, sheep, goat, and beef ribcages year round to simulate blood trail dog training exercises AND THE FEAST AT THE END OF THE BLOOD!

 

Not to fail to mention the cost of feeding, watering, medicating, worming, etc....

Another way you will pay is that a finished dog no matter how experienced, OR HOW MUCH YOU PAID FOR IT, will not work for you until you invest time into developing a close personal, warm relationship,

AND THEN... here is your biggest challenge: you also need to be taught by the person who raised and trained the dog!        Duhhhh!

*SO,  IF YOU BUY A FINISHED DOG, AT THE VERY LEAST, 'YOU' NEED TO BE TRAINED!

And...Most people who want a finished dog have grossly unrealistic expectations of what a "finished dog" should be doing and at what age.  In my opinion: a dog is never finished until they die because they just get better and better the older they get. Just get a puppy and invest in the long haul...and if you get a smart one based upon genetics, they may actually teach you how to track!

And if you buy a finished dog, there will always be a reality check on the fact that it is not now nor will it ever be the same dog with you as it is was with me! It could be better or it could be worse. Sorry there is no getting around the best way to have a finished dog is to raise them from a pup. This truth is not open to negotiation or discussion, and you can believe what ever you want. I and all the old timers can't ALL be wrong...so if you have to learn the hard way... good, because I don't want to argue about it.

So if you want a blood tracking dog, you can call me at 337 298 2630 and I will be posting more photos of finished and started dogs in my sell sites ASAP.

for a link:  de la Houssaye's Catahoulas  www.bloodtraildogs.com    www.delahoussayes.com

Blood Dogs Are Not Hard To Find

And neither are lost and wounded deer if you have a good blood trail dog!

If you are getting ready to take home a trophy buck or meat for the family this coming hunting season, and you want to push your game plan to a whole new level of success, you won't want to miss out on the opportunity to be fully prepared for avoiding the most difficult aspect of deer hunting; losing a wounded or dead deer because of not having a blood trail dog. There will be lots good times ahead at the camp this season, and lots of hours of waiting patiently on stand. Make sure you don't forget to have your best friend close by when you need him most.


Elijah, a five year old son of Patch and Ruby, and he will trail.

Many people not aware how simple it is for a dog to find wounded deer, because they have never used a dog for trailing blood. Many times we are not allowed to use a blood dog because of state legal restrictions or hunting club rules, but we need to lobby the law makers and rule makers to open the opportunity for us as deer hunters to make every effort to find and take home the deer we shoot.

For me, I have for the most part always hunted state land in Louisiana where there is no restriction on me using a blood trail dog. And because I hunted close to home for the most part it was never an issue to go get a dog out of my yard if I needed to.


Little Ray, a double glass-eyed, yellow leopard, house broke, well travelled, and eager to please.

Also the fact that my dogs eat a raw meat diet all their life, made them naturals that did not need any special training to figure out that a blood trail led to a tasty meaty meal.

Jesse guarding a frozen block of raw meaty bones as it thaws on my driveway.

Most of the people calling me about blood dogs are shopping around, and it seems they think they can call me at the last minute during deer season, and find a trained dog and the dog will work a blood trail, if it is trained to do that.

And I say yes, if it is trained by me it will work for me, but if it doesn't know you, and that takes a few weeks or maybe even months for a dog to get warmed up to someone, it may not work for you come hunting season if you have not bonded and warmed up the dog prior to the day when you need it to find the deer you cannot find.

Bud is a two year old, black and white, neutered male, house broke, very quiet and shy, but eager to please and gamey, when there is blood on the ground.

And in my opinion, a good blood trail dog should ideally be a loyal, obedient, well socialized member of the family or even better to be working in some way and feel usefull year-round.

Just like you prepare the stand, feed plot, camo, boots, ammo, weapon, scope, ATV, boat, etc you should be planning to have a dog that is familiar with you, the people you hunt with, and your style of hunting, your camp, other dogs, etc, so come deer season, the dog is not only trained to trail blood, but also not distracted by anything new. Because dogs are neauvophobic any new smell, sound, person, animal, or locality,is a cause for fear. And if a dog is worried about anything but finding what is at the end of the blood trail, his performance is diminished.

So to get the elite high performance you need from a Catahoula blood trail dog you need to get the dog months before you need it and haul it to the camp, ride it on the ATV, or boat as you scout and fill your feeders in the off season, allowing the dog to know your routine, locale, and hunting buddies.

Big, a three year old, glass-eyed, red leopard, neutered male, house broke, well travelled, in boats, around horses, has a great nose, and like most of my finished dogs will catch, if your deer gets up and tries to run.

I have several started dogs at all times that are almost a year to 3 years old that are well socialized, obedience trained and are gamey and ready to hunt for you should you have a situation where rain washes away the visible trail of the deer, or it crossed water, or worse stopped bleeding externally.

All of the above are no obstacle for a well bred, and well started blood dog, because the smell of blood is so powerful to a hungry, raw meat fed Catahoula from de la Houssaye's Catahoulas.



Always feed your dog raw beef as much as possible and any venison from last season, that may have got freezer burnt.

If you would like to contact me to discuss any questions you may have about specific breeds, or raising, training, or handling a blood dog, I can be reached at 337 298 2630.