Ironglow,
What you might be more interested in is this:
Two years ago this month, my niece found what appeared to be a half Pit Bull female puppy in the parking lot of her apartment complex. Without going into the whole story, I wound up with her. She was in good flesh but almost frozen to death, and no one would claim her.
I raised her, and, true to my notion that a person's best dogs seem to just turn up, she is a great dog. She proves my notion that the best way to get a good reputation as a dog trainer is to find a dog that is smart enough to learn stuff on its own and, then, let on like you taught it everything it knows.
I haven't hunted her much, but, when I have, she stays close and there is very little danger of losing her. She isn't much for tracking: she sight hunts. That, and her appearance, lead me to believe that she is Pit crossed with one of the Grayhound breeds.
She may be Grayhound or possibly Italian Gh or Whippet. She isn't real large. She probably approaches 40 pounds. She is fast and agile.
I have her--her name is Stretch--penned with a really classy, tight-wound Jack Russell male--his name is Jack Daniel--and I intend to raise a litter of puppies from the two of them. Varmint dogs? The pups should be just about the right size and have the right instincts to do Squirrels, Rabbits, 'possums, or 'coons.
Speaking of 'coondogs, did I ever tell you about my Grandpa's 'coondog? It was in the early 1900's, and he and his family--my mother was his oldest child--were living in Big Coon Valley in Jackson County, Alabama. The 'coons had a tendency to visit his corn field, but he had a "little white fiest" and a .12 gauge single-barreled shotgun. The little dog would heel. Grandpa would take the shotgun, heel the fiest, and walk slowly and quietly down the corn rows--listening. When he heard a 'coon shucking corn, he would sic the fiest. The fiest would bay the 'coon, and grandpa would use the shotgun. What's wrong with having another skin and a meal of young 'coon?
