Dogs in anyone's plan

We have a coon hound with a ton of natural talent. The problem I have is that he isn't mine, and he keeps coming out of nowhere and running my game off after I get something close in on a stalk. Extremely irritating.

 

Yep, free ranging dogs are both a problem for hunters here, and illegal to let 'em run loose.

 

I'll bring home the bacon.

 

O. O A puddle jumper! Better hang on to dat one! =)

 

I hate to say this but no, not anymore. The current dog is, frankly, not smart enough to help in a post event world and would be a drain rather than an asset. He doesn't bark at strangers and rarely barks at the door. He's big but 1.3 second is all it takes to realize he's not going to hurt you.

At this point it would be too much work to get and train a new one and honestly, the wife is tired of having a toddler under foot all the time. We have 3 kids, the youngest one is almost 10, and having something that doesn't help and is a lot of extra work is not something we're looking forward to.