The Dogo has a very good nose, and can be trained to find it's
own wild boar. The problem we had with that approach, is that they do not bark at all once they find one. They just
catch it, and
often the only sound to be heard, is the sound of the struggle- heavy breathing,
brush moving and quit growling and grunting.. It is very hard to locate a dogo fighting/catching a wild boar by sound alone,
much less when they are 1/2
mile away in heavy brush.
The second issue we had when hunting a Dogo only pack, was that
there was the chance that they might pick up separate trails and each wind up
getting on their own wild boar, and each be locked in a life and death struggle somewhere
in the woods, fighting silently. Not good....
What we have done to compensate for this, is to use
"cur" dogs. For the most part, they are either Black Mouth Curs,
Catahoula Curs, or Mountain Curs, or a mix of all the above, sometimes mixed
with a little plott hound . These cur dogs.are used to find a boar, and once
they find it, keep it at bay (keep it bayed) ideally, without trying to catch it
if it is a big one. We then release the dogos who run directly to the sound of the bay. If
everything goes well, we get ALL of the dogos on ONE boar, which we can then
locate by the sound of the cur dogs barking.
These cur dogs will catch smaller hogs and boars up to maybe
100-150lbs by themselves, which keeps us from the unpleasant scene that results
from 2 or 3 grown dogos on a hundred pound pig. Anything bigger than that, and their
job is just to keep the hog bayed.
Why do we hunt with 2 or 3 dogos? I think it is best said by one of
the Co-Creators of the breed, Augustin Nores Martinez: "One
cannot hunt large game with less than 2 Dogos; and based on my experience and
understanding a pack of four to six dogos is ideal - although 4 is sufficient.
Alone, the Dogo's courage will cause him great injury, if not certain death."
The Dogo's great athletic ability allows him to get quickly out
of earshot, this combined with his scenting ability, hunting instinct, and
finally his tenacity, provide a dangerous combination when hunting alone. They
give the Dogo the ability to find a wild boar all alone, the instinct and urge
to do so, the ability to get far away from help quickly, and the tenacity to
fight to the death without making a sound wherever he finds one. THAT is why the
creators of the breed recommended to hunt with a minimum of four Dogos. Four
Dogos can hold a large wild boar by themselves, ideally, until help arrives
to finish it off - this gives you and your dogs a little bit of an edge should
the worst happen and the Dogos catch a wild boar out of ear shot..
Can you hunt with less Dogos? Of course, but you
better make sure he never catches a boar out of earshot....or has to stay caught
by a bad boar by himself for very long. You may never hear
the great battle that takes place...
