Back into the pig dog training. Today I had Odette and Jono Groters come in with 2 dogs, their 5 year old bitch Willow and 2 year old dog Beau. The reason for their visit was Beau had cost them over 5 grand this year in vet bills and so far had not wanted to bail but shoot straight in and get ripped up on the good boars.
When they arrived we walked up the gully with just their 2 dogs. The dogs tracked well and put up a nice bail 500 meters up the training block. We got to watch them bail for about 90 minutes before calling them off.
What I could see was Beau was just like most impressionable teenagers when faced with an aggressive situation and would have loved to go in for a fight with this boar, however seeing the size of the boar and wearing a muzzle he showed great restraint. Every now and then he wanted to go in for a nip but I think the boar had proved to him on their first encounter that he was not going to get away with having a nip. Willow on the other hand was old hand at bailing and proved to be a very good bitch. Because of her nature the boar was happy to stand for her to bail, but whenever Beau came near the boar was ready to charge him.
Hopefully Beau will go away with a lot more respect for those big boars and get less injuries. I think as he matures he will settle down and having him only hunting with Willow will help him.
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