WEBVTT - Ep. 260: This Country Life - Dog Traders 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:08.680 Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves. 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:12.760 From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:14.720 I want you to stay a while as I share 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:19.280 my experiences and life lessons. This country life is presented 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:23.279 by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:25.520 the best outdoor podcast. 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:26.360 The airwaves have to offer. 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:30.880 All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tailgate. 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:41.680 I've got some stories to share dog traders. Dog traders 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.720 can get an undeserved bad reputation at times. Back in 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.200 the day, some of them are as bad as snake 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:51.440 oil salesmen, promising high, delivering low, and then it's goddadling 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:54.560 out of town with all your money. Modern times have 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.120 all but erased them, but there's still something to be found, 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:59.520 and if you do get caught up on the short 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:03.360 end of the retribution is a lot easier these days. 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:05.200 I'm going to tell you some things that can help 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:07.720 you a little about what to look out for and 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:08.240 what a. 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:09.160 Dog trader is. 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:19.280 But first I'm going to tell you a story. It 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.840 was the day before the COVID catastrophe started in Arkansas. 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:26.000 I had driven three hours through the backwoods to the 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.720 foothills of the Washington Mouse to look at a coon. 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:31.840 How that I'd only seen a video of barking at 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:36.520 a coon in a cage on Facebook Marketplace at Chawa 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:39.480 while will do the same thing a dog, even a 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:42.560 dog made for barking at coons, actually barking at a 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:46.639 cage coon only proves one thing that the dog can bark. 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:47.680 Now. 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:50.080 Had he not done that, it could have been a 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.920 red flag. But because he did it certainly wasn't a 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.760 testament to any inheritabilities other than to be able to 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:02.720 produce sound. He did it with a lot of vigor 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.320 that didn't go unnoticed by me. I've told the story 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:10.880 of how his living conditions were not ideal and were 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:15.200 borderlined criminal. The dirt floor was inches deep and sloppy 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:17.760 mud due to the slope of the yard, and his 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.000 only escape was on the top of a window unit 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:26.160 air conditioning frame that doubled as his house. Looking at 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.680 this six month old coonhound standing on top of the 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:29.680 empty air. 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:31.840 Conditioning case, and as I walked up to the. 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:33.520 Porch, I didn't know if I was there to look 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:35.600 at a dog or to rescue one. 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:39.040 It struck a chord with me that the way he 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:39.600 looked at me. 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:42.000 Now, there are a lot of people who will roll 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.200 their eyes when it comes to a person remarking that 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:47.800 dogs have the power of reasoning or can project anything 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:50.600 other than contentment, fear, or anger. 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:53.400 But I didn't get any. 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:55.440 Of those when I looked into that dog's eyes as 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:58.720 he stood there looking back at me, through my own 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:01.760 interpretation that could have easily been of my own manufacturer, 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:07.000 I felt connected to him immediately. He was half grown 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:10.359 at around thirty five pounds, and outside of being muddy 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.079 from legs down, he was as handsome a tree. 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:14.880 And walker coon hound as I'd ever seen. 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:18.560 He appeared well fed and looked after the best of 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:20.760 the ability of the folks who owned him. 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.119 A young lady opened the door after I knocked. 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:27.040 On it in a small mobile home that stood in 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:29.960 line with half a dozen that looked just like it 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:34.519 in that trailer park in western Arkansas. She was very young, 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:38.440 She was very polite and holding a little baby, and 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:40.960 looking past her through the doorway where she stood, I 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:44.440 couldn't help but notice everything inside that seventies model house 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.400 trailer looked like it was in its place and as 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:51.280 neat and tidy as it could be. It didn't appear 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:53.120 to be a lot of furnishings in there, but what 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:55.800 I could see in that brief instant of looking past her, 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:59.160 it appeared to hold value to the folks that lived there, 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.160 and they took care of over the best they could. 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:04.880 I suddenly got the same feeling that she valued this 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.520 dog in the same way. And maybe my initial impression 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:11.160 was biased towards what I had seen before I really 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:15.400 saw the whole picture. Maybe she was just doing the 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:20.960 best she could, but what she had I'd rehearsed my 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.680 bargaining speech for the last ten minutes before I pulled 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.520 up at her home, and after talking to her on 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:30.120 the phone the night before and that morning, she seemed 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.160 highly motivated to sell the dog and asked several times 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.479 during my question of her about his abilities, if I 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:38.120 was going to buy him that day, and if I 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:40.120 was bringing the money when I came to look at it. 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:42.680 What was her motivation? 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:48.240 And my excitement bled through in our conversations was. 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:48.960 Was he sick? Did he bite? 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:53.040 Why was she so eager to sell him? I kept 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:56.480 asking myself these things all the way over there. Ten 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:58.919 minutes after I got there, I knew all I needed 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:01.320 to know about this dog. Oh again, this young mother. 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:05.880 She needed the money, that dog needed a better life, 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.400 and I had the ability to crackt both of them. 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:12.359 I gave her more than she asked for, and I 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:15.800 watched her crying. As I backed out of the driveway. 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.719 Driving away, I was thinking, dang, lady is just a dog. 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.599 Thirty minutes away from home, my wife Alexis called me 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.279 and said, Brent, can you pick up Bailey from school? 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:31.480 Someone at work has reported they've been exposed to this 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.000 COVID stuff and we're all on lockdown until they can 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:39.440 figure out what we're supposed to do next. Yes, just 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:41.240 tell the school. I'll be a little late. I'm just 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:44.200 now get into the little rock. Oh yeah, I bought 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:48.880 that dog. She didn't respond. It was just I'll let 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:51.000 you know what's going on when I know. I love you, 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:54.440 and she hung up. So to the school I went 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:56.880 and I picked her up, and I explained to Bailey 0:05:56.920 --> 0:05:59.120 what was going on, and that mommy would be fine, 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.600 he'd be home in a little bit and she'd be 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:05.240 back at school the next day that I had a 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:09.520 surprise for her. Turns out that lop eer display of 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:14.039 clumsiness was a surprise for us all That day in 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:16.159 March when I picked Bailey up from school would be 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:20.839 the last day that she'd attend that year. Drastic and 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.320 abnormal changes in ours and everyone's lives would be the 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:27.039 new normal as we just adjusted to our new way 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:31.640 of life. Spring mornings and evenings were spent outside in 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:37.080 the backyard together Alexis, Bailey and Me and Whalen. He 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:40.880 was what seemed to be an exercise in futility. He 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:44.520 knocked over everything he came close to, including tables and Bailey. 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:48.000 Cups of coffee and glasses of tea were targets for 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.919 his big, old, sloppy tongue that could wreck your favorite 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:53.200 drink and started you when he snuck up behind you 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:57.719 to lick your hand when you least expected it. His 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:00.599 personality is that of a mischievous child. No that means 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:03.919 no harm by any of the calamities he's causing, and 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:07.720 regardless of the scoldings he receives, his memory of being 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:10.040 in trouble is over quicker than you can say. 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:10.920 Bad dog whaling. 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:16.160 We couldn't imagine where we'd be four and a half 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:19.320 years later after that spring day when he and I 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:23.520 brought Bailey home from school, or the impact that just 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:29.600 a dog would have on our family. We wanted normalcy 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:31.800 and to get back to the routine of how all 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:35.559 our lives were the day before we got it. Going 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:37.600 through all of that over the course of the next 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:40.560 year was made a lot easier by him being there. 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:43.720 The fact that I don't ever take for granted or 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:48.160 failed to realize what that silly dog has done for 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:52.000 all of us. We wanted to go back to school, 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:56.400 we want go back to work, We wanted to gather 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:58.800 with our friends. We wanted a lot of things that 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:02.239 we couldn't get. But in the form of a barrel chested, 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:06.400 big footed howl at every sirn within earshot hound dog, 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:08.880 we've got what we needed. 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:11.840 And that's just how that happened. 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:24.120 Caveat Emptore. That ring bells with anyone, I'm sure it 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.520 does with the majority of you, but for those that 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:31.480 it doesn't. It's a Latin phrase that translates to buyer beware. 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:34.000 And it was a bezo. 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:36.520 Or stone that set this whole chain of events into 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:40.640 motion many moons ago in Mary Old England. What's a 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:45.080 bezoor stone? Well, I'm glad you asked, simply put it's 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.680 anything that can be swallowed that gets caught up in 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:51.240 a digestive system that can calcify over time and have 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:55.920 the appearance of a round, smooth riverstone. Now, from what 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:58.920 I found out, the ones recovered from animals were believed 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.400 to hold some type of healing power. Now, I ain't 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:05.959 much on eating guts myself, so I can only surmise 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:09.199 that there was some chitlin folks pawing around through the 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:11.360 gut pile and looking for the goodies when they came 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:15.679 upon the calcified whatever it was and decided it had 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:21.680 some medicinal value. The Latin phrase caveat emptor became part 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:24.600 of a common law in England way back y under 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.160 in sixteen o three. The phrase comes from a court 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:33.800 case of Chandler versus Lopus, in which a goldsmith sold 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:38.240 a buyer a beez or stone for one hundred pounds, 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:41.680 but the buyer later sued the seller after realizing the 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.559 stone wasn't making him feel any better. In fact, it 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:48.000 was making him feel worse, being sick and thinking about 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:52.000 all the money he lost, paying what would be twenty 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:56.440 five thousand pounds in today's English currency for a remedy 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:00.600 that didn't work. The court ruled that the seller hadn't 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:05.040 made any warranties that that stone was healing, which established 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:08.880 a term in the legal world. There's lots of cool 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.240 sound in Latin phrases in our modern lexicon, but maybe 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:17.640 none as important as caveat emptore. Whether you're buying a 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.920 car or a cow, you have the responsibility to yourself 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:24.679 to make sure you understand all the components of the deal. 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:27.839 But let's say you ain't buying either one of those. 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:32.880 You're buying a dog, and not just any dog hunt dogs. 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:39.400 There's lots of options when it comes to hunting dogs. 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.400 In the bird hunting world, you got retrievers, pointers, flushers, 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:45.160 and a combination of all three, along with a box 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:48.680 car load of different breeds. The same as true in 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:52.600 tree dogs, squirrel, coon, bear, bobcat, and line dogs. There's 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:57.360 bay and catchdogs for hogs, rabbit dogs, deer dogs, fox dogs, 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:01.520 cow dogs, and even turkey dogs. That's a right, I said, 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:06.040 turkey dogs friendly support of hobby. There's a dog that's 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:08.080 been bred to do the job of helping the hunter 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.240 get his game. I talk about that partnership a lot 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:14.200 because it's an important one. In my family's legacy and 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:18.600 relationship with nature. It's also symbiotic of the trust humans 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:21.480 and dogs having each other, a relationship that we've been 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:25.800 nurturing for a long long time. Scientists say around fifteen 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:28.280 thousand years, but who really knows. At one time the 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:31.840 leading scientists of the day thought the world was flat. Anyway, 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:36.080 the best places to look for hunting dogs are through 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:39.520 folks you know that are selldom one or having knowledge 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:41.640 of being one for sale. A lot of you may 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.360 have seen the Bear Grease road show film. Oh, Clay 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:47.479 Bow and I did Call Squirrels and Coons in Arkansas. 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:50.720 Portion of that film was dedicated to a coon hound 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.760 that Clay was hunting on trial that belonged to my 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:57.839 good friend Michael Roseman. That dog was two years old, 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:00.200 and the plan was this, Clay and I were going 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:03.000 to be making this film, and before we went into production, 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:07.760 Clays faithful old female plot Fern, she passed away and 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.920 he was coon dogless for the first time in a 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:11.520 long time. 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:14.200 It was his idea to add. 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:15.960 The element to the story of the film and started 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.960 looking for Fern's replacement. We started beating the bushes looking 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.880 for dogs, and my first call was to Michael. Ninety 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:26.560 percent of my coon hunting is done with Michael and 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.160 has been for several years. He's a good friend and 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:32.960 a trusted source for anything, but especially when dealing with 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:37.400 coonhounds and coon hunting. His whole livelihood depends on it. 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:40.360 Michael and his family manufacture son spot hunting lights, the 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:42.800 coon hunting lights that I and everyone else that meet 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:46.720 either wears. Selling a good dog to me is like 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.480 selling a pocket knife for a shotgun. Why would you 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:54.000 do that? Why would you get rid of something that's good? 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:58.360 Never in my life have I ever sold a firearm, 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:02.240 a pocket knife, or a dog. But tonight I'll be 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:04.280 sitting on the couch with my phone in my hand, 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:08.000 watching an online auction and bidding on pocket knives that 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:11.880 I'll never sell or may never even poke into my pocket. 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:16.240 I might give one away. But my thoughts on selling 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:19.120 a case knife is the same Atticus Finch took about 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:20.200 killing the maukingbird. 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:21.720 That is a sin. 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.240 Alexis looks at the knives I've sequestered all over the house, 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:29.679 and cause of the sickness whatever, I don't buy them 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.840 to sell, And the same appliance to dogs, However, if 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:36.600 someone else wasn't inclined to do so, I'd have neither 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:40.800 dog nor not pretty well, know what you're getting. When 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:42.640 you buy a knife, even if it's dull, you can 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:44.000 sharpen it. 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:46.600 The same doesn't always apply to dogs. 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.440 So back to the story of Clay Michael's two year 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:54.400 old dog, it was a trial basis front dog. Something 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:56.120 that may be new to some of you, that you 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:59.000 could take a dog out and try it out before 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.839 you bought him. I remember my mama taking clothes home 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.840 from Martin's Department store and Warren when I was just 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:08.840 a boy, and she wanted to try them on. The 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:11.400 ones she liked, she'd come back and pay for, and 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:13.360 the ones she didn't, she'd just bring back. It was 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:16.800 called taking them out on approval. There was a lot 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:19.160 of trust between the two, my mama and the store, 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:23.040 but Warren was a small town and everyone knew everyone, 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:25.240 and the thought of not bringing them back or taking 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:28.200 advantage of the store it anyway, wasn't even a consideration. 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:34.120 It's just how folks did that type of business back then. Anyway, 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:37.480 It's not uncommon for dog owners that are selling them 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:40.760 to take potential buyers hunting to show off the dog's abilities. 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:43.320 For the buyer, it's a chance to see the dog 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:45.880 in a familiar environment to the dog. Were there no 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:50.280 distractions during that film project? We hunted three nights in 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.080 a row. In the first two nights, every time Michael 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:55.720 un snapped the lead off of that hound, he treated 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:59.040 a comb before a cat kili gets behind. He was 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:02.360 on fire, and in every tree there sat a big, 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:07.320 fat bandido looking back at us. Michael kept saying, Clay, 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:11.080 this dog ain't this good. He was tree and three 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:13.760 and four coons to Whaling's won. It was a heck 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:15.680 of a time for a dog to show out in 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:18.880 front of the camera and equally his opportunity for one to. 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:20.720 Look bad like Whaling did. 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.040 Now, not that Michael's dog needed any help, but his 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:27.520 two night bandido beat down of old Whaling was bordering 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:31.920 on cruel and unusual punishment. A dog could absolutely do 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:38.120 no wrong. Now here's where the seller is an event like 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:41.560 this or a time like this, has the advantage over 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.000 the buyer. He could have said, there's the proof right there, 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:48.200 and there would have been no valid argument made against 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:51.760 the dog's abilities. It was the perfect storm to sell 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:56.040 a dog. But honesty and integrity stepped in. In cases 0:15:56.160 --> 0:16:00.480 like this, it usually doesn't. Michael was adamant to Clay, 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.920 this dog is good, but he ain't this good? But 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:07.880 how could he say it? He was doing just what 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:10.000 he was advertised to do. Cut him loose and watch 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:14.520 him treacoon time after time. The truth was he was 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.080 hitting pitches like Babe Ruth at a T ball game. 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:18.840 He was in the zone. 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:22.480 In every decision or gamble that dog made was the 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:26.040 correct one. And even though for his first two nights 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.320 in February that dog looked like a machine, the third 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:33.480 night proved that he wasn't. He didn't treacoon every fifteen 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:36.920 minutes like he had the previous two nights. He only 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:38.720 wound up with two or three that night, and even 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:41.920 let Old Whaler slip in and get one himself, which 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:45.120 was still a well above average out and during that 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:48.120 time of year here in Arkansas, for the most seasoned 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:51.720 of hounds. Now, for those of you that watched that film, 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:54.000 you know that Clay didn't wind up buying that dog. 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.320 Folks like what they like, and even though that dog 0:16:57.360 --> 0:16:59.520 would have been a bargain at any price, as far 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:02.480 as qual he goes, he just didn't feel what Clay 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:06.360 Bow was looking for. There's more to hunting dog than 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:09.080 just the dog, and that's the way it is to 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:13.000 a lot of folks. Michael's a lot like me when 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:15.080 it comes to good dogs. Why would you sell one? 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:18.160 But sometimes you have more than you can handle, which 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:20.080 is the reason he'd offer that dog to play in 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:23.240 the first place. Michael had more good dogs than he 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:25.480 could hunt. And a good dog sitting in a pen 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:28.760 not being hunted, it's way up there on the no 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:32.080 No list. We were talking about this just the other 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:33.880 day and he got to tell me about the old 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.600 dog traders from the past that he knew growing up 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.320 that helped lay the foundation of how he handles selling 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:43.720 a dog on the rare occasion that he does. And 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:47.080 by laying the foundation, I mean doing the exact opposite 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:50.600 of what he saw most of them doing. These old 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:53.520 guys were in the trading business and gathered twice a 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:56.520 day at the local Coon Hunters Club where he grew 0:17:56.560 --> 0:18:01.200 up to swap lies dogs and lies about dogs. He 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.439 said they'd be a gathering six days a week at 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.400 the clubhouse of a dozen or more men that Delton 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:10.280 coon house like blackjack dealers pass out cards at the casino. 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:13.239 He told me they'd trade a good dog for a 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:16.439 bad one just to make a trade. It was a 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:20.360 game and the only rule was there were no rules. 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:24.080 They were all on an even playing service and they 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:27.399 knew it. Michael said he couldn't count the times when 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:30.399 a trade was made and the registration papers, some of 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:33.520 the ink barely dry on them, were handed over to 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:36.119 the new owner. And the question that was always asked, 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:40.399 do these papers belong to this dog? And the response 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:44.439 was always I give you my word they are. I 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:50.000 gave them to that dog this morning. During the evening 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:53.560 gathered at the coon Club, they'd all leave together once 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:55.560 it got dark and cut all the hounds loose a 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:58.280 lot of times in one pack and just wait for 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:01.840 one to get treated. They'd all marched to where the 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.239 dog or dogs were treed to shine the coon. And 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.160 he said he was with them one night as a kid, 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.440 and he heard a dog come treae weed down. 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:14.080 In the bottoms. So the way they all went, he said. 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:17.040 After a mile of mud and briars and swamps, they 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.199 found that hound tree barking at a crawfish that was 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:23.000 backed up against a dead law. Both pinchers out like 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:25.200 he was holding a pistol in each hand and daring 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:33.120 anybody to come closer. Now, in dealing with a dog trader, 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:35.920 how do you know what kind you've got? 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:39.000 Are they like the old men that Michael told me about? 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:41.800 Are they more like Michael, who's not a dog trader 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:45.040 by any means? There's a lot of folks just like 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:47.600 Michael who sell dogs for the same reason and believes 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:49.560 or not, there are a bunch of good folks who 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:55.600 simply make a living selling good quality, hone dogs. Here's 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:58.640 how you weed your way through the sea which kind 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:02.040 you're dealing with. You ask questions, You do research, You 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:05.600 seek out references. You take everything with a grain of salt. 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:10.600 Unless you're buying a robot, be prepared to be frustrated, surprised, 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:15.200 and maybe even disappointed. Sometimes even the best of intentions 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:19.119 and qualities end in failure. It's a gamble every time. 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:25.040 And one other thing, Remember the phrase, mmmm, that dog 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:26.400 ain't never done that before? 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:29.160 When and if you hear. 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:31.879 That one when you're describing something out of a character 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:34.520 and off the wall, that the dog that you just 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:38.159 spent your hard earned money on did to the person 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:41.480 you bought it from. If you hear that one, don't 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:46.600 be surprised if he eventually trees a crawfish. 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:49.760 It's been on to happen, you know. 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:52.680 It's easy to see the common denominator and what those 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:55.119 old folks Michael told me about we're doing if you 0:20:55.160 --> 0:21:00.359 look past the subpar dogs, falsified registration papers, and the 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:03.679 fruitless hunts that they were all sharing. Within that group, 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:08.120 they were spending time together and join each other's company 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:11.560 and competing on who could come out ahead this week, 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:14.480 only to start it all over the next with the 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:19.160 majority of the same dogs. Now, I'm sure there were 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:21.600 one or two whose motives were less than honorable, but 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:24.960 those folks usually weed themselves out of a group like that. 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:28.040 I saw that with the men who hunted and dealt 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:30.880 dogs with my dad. New faces would come. 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:33.320 And go, but there was always a core group. 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:37.520 Of men that were seemingly always there until they weren't. 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:41.920 Time is a thief, and it steals us one by 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.000 one from our circles. There's only a few of those 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:48.000 men left the hunting with my dad and the old men, 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:51.520 along with Michael's old coon club from his youth, they're 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:55.679 both gone too. What once was a regular twice daily 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.200 meeting of houndsmen and dog traders has now left to 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:02.400 stories and memories that, unless told, they'll all be gone 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:07.080 as well. Now dogs are so more on the Internet 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:09.920 than anyplace else. You can watch videos of the dog 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:12.800 you're interested in, and see live feeds from the woods 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:16.560 in real time, what the dog's capabilities or limitations are, 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:21.240 and never leave the couch. With DNA and micro chipping, 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:23.399 is harder for a crooked dog trader to get. 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:24.880 Over on someone. That's a good thing. 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:28.240 It's hard to dodge an irate person you just circled 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:31.080 out all his money with the speed of social media. 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:34.000