A catch dog is a specially trained dog that is used to catch large animals in
hunting
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...
, working livestock, and
baiting.
As hunters, catch dogs are contrasted with
bay dog
A bay dog (or bailer, in Australian English) is a dog that is specially trained to find, chase, and then bay, or howl, at a safe distance from large animals during a hunt, such as during a wild boar hunt.
Bay dogs chase and circle the boar, kee ...
s who corner prey animals and alert their handler by howling, or
baying
Dog communication is the transfer of information between dogs, as well as between dogs and humans. Behaviors associated with dog communication are categorized into visual and vocal. Visual communication includes mouth shape and head position, li ...
. Catch dogs are typically outfitted with chest armor to prevent being speared by the boar's tusk, and neck armor to prevent neck injury.
As livestock dogs, catch dogs use their weight and teeth to immobilize live animals so that they can be captured, or literally
hogtie
The hogtie is a method of tying the limbs together, rendering the subject immobile and helpless. Originally, it was applied to pigs (hence the name) and other young four-legged animals.
Details
The hogtie when used on pigs and cattle has ...
d, by the dog's handlers, who may be
stockmen,
hunters
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
,
butcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...
s, or
farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...
s.
Terminology
According to the 2009 edition of Webster's Dictionary of American English, the term "catch dog" is a noun phrase referring to a dog used or bred for working livestock.
The entry identifies the term as being American, and dating to circa 1857, although the practice is known to date at least back to the ancient Romans.
Boar hunting dogs
Catch dogs physically take hold of the boar, typically seizing the base of the boar's ear. Once the catch dogs have physical control of the boar, they will hold it down by the head indefinitely until the hunter arrives. The hunter then comes in from behind the boar, and dispatches the boar with a knife or spear.
It is not unusual for hunters to utilize both bay and catch dogs in the same hunt. Bay dogs are used to find the boar, initiate the chase, and pursue the quarry. Sometimes the boar will run from the bay dogs at first, but at some point during the chase either stop to fight or become cornered. At this point catch dogs are released to keep the boar stationary for the hunter.
See also
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Boar hunting
Boar hunting is the practice of hunting wild boar, feral pigs, warthogs, and peccaries. Boar hunting was historically a dangerous exercise due to the tusked animal's ambush tactics as well as its thick hide and dense bones rendering them difficu ...
*
Medieval hunting
Throughout Western Europe in the Middle Ages, humans hunted wild animals. While game was at times an important source of food, it was rarely the principal source of nutrition. All classes engaged in hunting, but by the High Middle Ages, the necess ...
*
Hog-baiting
Hog-dog rodeo or hog-dogging, is a spectator event that simulates wild or feral boar hunting with dogs. It requires specially trained and bred "hog dogs" that are used to bay and sometimes catch a hog or boar. In most cases, bay dogs psychologic ...
*
Uncle Earl's Hog Dog Trials
References
{{Domestic dog
Hunting
Hunting dogs