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

The Raw Meat Diet

Let's go back to nature.

In the wild a dog's natural diet is raw meat from a fresh kill or aged meat from a scavenged find.

Either way, a dog does not hunt unless it is hungry!

So if you are feeding your dog right before you need them to hunt for you, they are not motivated by natural insticts, which goes back to the wolf.

Furthermore if you are feeding your dog the dried store bought crap most of us are led to believe is dog food, your dog may not know what real dog food is.

Here is Little Ray, double glass eyes, yellow leopard, three years old, notice his lean athletic physique, he was born on my property, and has been eating raw meat all his life. He is a natural when it comes to finding dead or wounded deer or hogs. He will also catch if the deer if it tries to get up and run. Lil Ray handles very well, is house broke, loves to ride in the truck or boat and does not range out very far without checking back when not on a leash. Although I reccommend using a tracking collar on all blood dogs, I don't feel like you really need one on Lil Ray.


This is Bud, he is not my blood line, but in spite of not having any spots or blue eyes he is all Catahoula. Bud was only a year old when the deer season rolled around last year so I haven't worked him as much as some of the older more seasoned dogs. He is silent on the track and works well off or on leash, but can at times pull hard. He has a very good appetite, and if you keep him lean during the hunting season he is very motivated to hunt for you, knowing he gets to feast on raw venison when he finds your lost deer and id the honored guest back at the camp. He may not be the best dog for a lady or child not familiar with handling a strong puller.


Here is Jesse's nose it is at least 10,000 times more powerful than your own.





Here at de la Houssaye's Catahoulas we live as close to nature as possible.


Here is a block of frozen meaty bones that I got from the meat market. These are government inspected raw meaty beef bones.




Here is Jesse in the photo below with a box of frozen, government inspected raw meaty bones thawing out on my driveway.





Here is Jesse unable to wait for the meat to thaw, and pulling off chunks of frozen meat-sicles.





Raw meat is a dogs natural diet. When a dog eats a natural diet it improves the immune system, stamina, and overall health. It also improves the dogs sense of smell, and well being. Many times after people start their dogs on raw meat, they tell me their dogs have never been happier or healthier. My daughter noticed that her dog smell better, after I keep Beauty here for a few weeks, because the dogs coat does not have the same smell as it does after eating the dried crap her mother feeds. Many times people advise me that my dogs do not smell like "a dog". Meaning: they don't stink.

I don't know what animal by products is, but it is the main ingredient in many commercial dog foods, and I don't like the way it smells when it comes out the back end of my dog.

When I feed my dogs raw meat, it doesn't stink like "normal" dog feces.

Here is Lulu, enjoying her first taste of venison on a doe that was located the day after it died.



Unfortunately we can't always find a deer in time to save the meat for human consumption, but it can be salvaged into the dogs and puppies diet to reinforce their appreciation and motivation for being blood trail dogs.

My pupppies begin eating raw meat as soon as they are eating solid food.



Many people apparently fail to realize that the raw meat diet is a dog's natural diet and not only that. It is essential in my opinion to easily start and a train a puppy to be a blood trail dog if it grows up eating raw meat from the beginning. By eating raw meat all thier life, my dogs know that the smell of blood leads to food, because they have been nutritionally satisfied eating raw meat since before they were weaned.

Do not feed raw meat exclusively, it can and should be the major percentage of the dogs diet if you can get it, but always give some dried dog food or whole wheat bread in addition to meat.

At five months old, these started pups have been eating raw beef and venison all their life. I have a friend who de-bones deer during the hunting season and mixes the meat with beef and pork to make custom order smoked sausage for deer hunters.

Guess who gets the deer bone carcasses to feed to his puppies? Yah me. And if you are a member of a hunting club, freeze the deer bones for treats in the off season, the tarsal glands, and some strips of deer hide for pull toys with your puppies year round.


As I research and study the information being presented about blood dogs I am in awe how much misconception and misinformation is in circulation.

Here is a link to a site with a list of hunter mistakes and misconceptions:



www.hillockkennels.com/Hunter_mistakes.html

I am looking for issues which are not being presented that I believe are important and one the biggest points being left out is the diet of a blood dog in training and handling.

Two things to consider here:

Raw meat is a dog's natural diet and a hungry dog is motivated to hunt.

Prepare For The Next Hunting Season NOW!

Your Past Disappointments And Regrets Can't Be Changed,
But Your Future Success In Deer Hunting May Be A Different Story

One of the most common "wishes" I hear from my customers who call inquiring about my blood dogs is that they wish they could go back in time and do the things they never did, such as having a blood trail dog at the camp the day they shot the 12 point buck that was never found, or the day their son shot his first deer and there was a good blood trail, but the rain came and washed it away before they got to the deer, but at the time, they never thought about using the family lap puppy to see if it could help locate the deer.

You know what my response to this kind of complaints is?

Keep on whining about your past,
and in a few years you will whining about the present.

Think about it. You can't go back in time
and "fix" anything. Regret won't do you any good.
And what's worse is that if you waste your time
"wishing" you had done things differently or if you
waste too much time trying to "relive" experiences you never
lived (Mid-life crisis - sounds familiar?), then you'll
be missing out on the PRESENT. So in a few years, you're
going to find out life STILL sucks because you have
been wasting time NOW.

Time is always moving ahead, my friend - with
or without you. So stop worrying about what you "could"
have done. Instead, focus on what CAN do right now -
at this very moment - so that you won't regret it 5 months
or 5 years from now.

One of the things you can do RIGHT NOW is to sign up to be on the mailing list and get my "Blood Trail Dog Training Course" and start learning to handle and train a blood trail dog, so that by the end of this year you are knowledgeable and are doing the things that will make you more successful in the deer hunting game.

Think of it as one of the best investments you
can make for yourself, your hunting club, and for your family's future hunting success.

I don't know about you, but hunting is a family tradition for me, and one that is or should be passed down to future generations.

Based upon my research, state government biologists are proposing that more deer are shot and lost, than recovered.

This is justifiable cause for the animal rights activists to protest hunting in general and lobby our state governmnets to restrict or deny our privledge of sharing this great sport and American family tradition with future generations.

One way to change the future statistics about deer hunting and the shot and lost factor is to begin using blood trail dogs to locate wounded and dead deer during deer hunting season.

Your best option for having a blood trail dog this coming hunting season is to consider using your family pet or the hunting dogs you already own.



And my course, as well the book I am presently writing on that subject, will enable you to learn how to raise, train, and handle a blood trailing dog.

Many people are worried that the family pet will not perform and I understand the concern. But the reality is that the dog has accepted it's mediocre existence as a pet and playmate for the kids and being a sometime alarm system and guard dog
as this is all there is to life, and it is Ok with that, yet it's natural instincts to hunt and be a valuable member of the wolf pack is still alive and well in there somewhere.

All dogs have an incredible power of scent that may be be 10,000 times greater than our own. And in a blood trailing scenario the scent of blood is often the main focus, not that of the bird or mammal that has been shot.

Another justifiable concern is that using a bird dog pointer or duck retrieving dog may get the dog confused as to it's proper duties. I say that a pointer or retriever is already a blood trail dog, because the scent of blood is so much greater than the scent of duck or quail.


I will be offering my course in a online subscription which you can pay for and download from the website as soon as possible. My webmaster is creating the templates and pages as I write this article for this post.

I will also offer a printed version which I can ship to you in a manilla enveope in the mail if you are so inclined.

But for now, if you will email me at marcus@delahoussayes.com, I will put you on the mailing list to be notified as soon as the new websites are up and running.

You can go to www.bloodtraildogs.com for more info on me and my dogs if you like.

If you would like to call me about purchasing a Catahoula puppy, or a trained or started dog, I can be reached on my cell phone at 337-298-2630.

The Ultimate Blood Trail Dog

The old timers who have groomed me to be a hog dog trainer claim that a Catahoula is the ultimate hog dog if properly bred and trained. I am beginning to think this applies to blood trail work as well. The qualities that make a Catahoula an excellent hog dog are ability to scent in the wind, speed, grit, intelligence, ease of handling, when unleashed short range looping and checking back in with the hunter, and adaptability, these qualities also apply to trailing wounded deer.

The first time dogs from my bloodline were ever used for blood trail work started in 1998 when deer hunters from Knight Oil Tools here in Lafayette, bought two puppies from Bob and Desire to raise and train on the company's deer hunting ranch in Texas. The man who bought those dogs is Vic Benoit. I ran into Vic at the Blue Moon Saloon a few weeks ago. He told me stories of how those two dogs went on to become great long distance blood trail dogs and would go a mile or more to locate a wounded or downed deer. If the deer was not dead when they got there and tried to get up, the dogs would catch and hold or bay it into a corner and keep it there until the hunter arrived to finish it off.

I wish I could talk to the man who trained those dogs and follow up on where those two pups are today. It was good to get some praise from a satisfied customer and sure encouraged me to continue hoping I run into some of my dogs from the past blood trail sales I have made.

A few potential prospects have called in to inquire about a Catahoula because they have been using Bloodhounds and feel that it is too much dog. Sounds like the dog is too big to handle in thick brush and at about 120 lbs. I can imagine they can be a handful on a leash not to mention the feed bill for a whole year.

When I thought about it, I wondered what they were thinking, using a bloodhound because it seemed like overkill. Kind of like using a 50 millimeter howitzer to hunt rabbits!

Some of the side benefits of a Catahoula as a blood trail dog are that a Catahoula is a very versatile working dog adapting to a wide variety of services such as livestock control, security, and if they are not engaged as a working dog, is gentle with children so they can make a good family pet for the rest of the year when they are not trailing wounded deer.

I haul my pups around on swamp tours from early on to get them accustomed to people and travelling in boats and trucks.



Catahoulas are very intelligent and eager to please if properly raised and trained. A good Catahoula blood trail dog should have other jobs when not being used during the off season. This allows the dog to be integrated into obedience training early on and being accustomed to a variety of situations creating ease of handling for the hunter during the hunting season and whether in a boat, truck, or ATV the dog is comfortable and focused on the job at hand.



I have been breeding Beagle and Chihuahua into my Catahoulas specifically to make a smaller blood trail dog with ease of handling and not lose any of the best qualities of the Catahoula.

Or you can purchase a purebred Catahoula if you want a medium size dog.