What's yur opinion for advantages and disadvantages.
Likes & dislikes.
Reasons for one or the other (excluding already have, no reason to switch)

I spent the majority of my trapping life with dogged traps but in recent years of using dogless traps I can see myself moving more that way as I need more traps or need to replace traps. Until the advent of the heavier dogs like you see on MB 550s or the Duke 650s, we stiffened our dogs with a backer piece. And only having an arc welder back then, I blew through a few dogs before I figured out how many amps were just right. With a mig it’s far easier. It’s still one of those tedious jobs I dislike.

I’ve modified several #3 DLS with dogless pans and really like how they come out. I end up with an adjustable tension pan that sits flat and level with or slightly below the jaws.

As to advantages one over the other I can’t really say other than the dogless traps have one less part for the coyotes to bend, spindle or mutilate. But I’ve caught some big piles of coyotes on dogged traps and just dealt with the occasional bent dog. How’s that for an ambiguous answer.

There’s a couple things I like better about the Montgomery style dogless design.

One, it’s dogless. Duh.

The second is with that design, the pan is able to sit quite a bit lower in relation to the jaw faces, much lower than a traditional dog-on design at least.

Bridger dogless design.

No negatives.

Adjustable nut/bolt design dogless pan.

Trap beds easily and stable...better than any trap I've used and I've used many brands and sizes.

Mongomery system, once adjusted they don't go out of adjustment unless damaged. No nuts or bolts to tighten or loosen. No dogs to get bent or introduce creep or varying pan position due to a loose dog eye. Pans don't get bent and beat up if you leave the stud and bolt on the pan.

Montgomery dogless style for me also

I’ve used the Montana #3 dbl coils and love they are dogless. In either offset or tight jawed, they were awesome. Arthritis is keeping me away from foot traps or I’d still be using them.

I rate the dogless # 2 SJ Montgomery with a modded lever and jaw width as tied with the dog on MB 550. The Mont. is everything Boone said plus it is lighter in weight, initially cheaper, slightly larger jaw spread area and sets easier. The MB has better cast jaws but is heavier and more expensive. Never had a coyote tear either pan apart or lose a dog from the frame. Out of the box the MB wins but the dog less Mont is as good as it gets when modded for me. Got some Mont SJ dogless in Sioux Falls the lot for 4.00 ea which makes the additions cheap enough when you can do the welding. Those wide cast jaws of the MB make it hard to beat, tougher and I don't see any more loss or foot damage on either one when compared in a (our) daily trap check law. Boils down too - How deep is your checkbook vs. how good of a welder are you? From this side of the fence. .............................the mike

dogless -ease of setting, less dead spot, less maintenance- just more advance trigger IMHO

I had always used dog on traps, and didn't think I would like dogless... until I tried them. I far prefer dogless now. Coyotes may bend up a dog, wolves will bend any dog made, not every one will bend the dog, but I would say 80+% of the time when you catch a wolf in a dog on trap, you will be straightening the dog in order to reset. Never had a problem with dogless traps needing straightened, regardless of catch. Less moving parts, which means less things to hold on to when setting. I've got plenty of glove fingertips between the dog and pan over the years, can't recall ever having that issue with a dogless trap, because my fingers aren't near there. I like my pans lower, so all my dogless traps latch on a tab on the inside of the jaw, rather than on the top of the jaw.

On the plus side for dog on traps, any idiot can make a dog that will work out of scraps laying around with simple hand tools, it takes a little more finese to make a dogless pan that will work, set properly and level. But it can be done, and is much less likely to be necessary in the first place.

Dogless is much easier and safer to set, especially the big traps, (think KORO #9), and even the TS-85. No fumbling with the dog. Just lift the pan. And all the advantages listed above.
Now if there was a way to night-latch a dogless....

The Wolf Creek dogless traps are a copy of the old dogless montgomeries.

With Northwoods levers, the one flaw of the monties was the low levers. Northwood levers are better.

There is. Just look at a Bridger dogless pan. Factory night-latched.

Not sure about night-latching those sloppy Montgomery and Wolf Creeks ya'll love.

The ones I am making are nightlatched. The nightlatch is on the tab the pan latches to.

Yes, I forgot to emphasize the spring levers are replaced with Bridger ones on my modded old Mont. SJ #2's so thanks to Warrior for bringing that up. The pivot (attached) point of the pan to the cross member is (proving the Archimedes lifting principal) a little better trigger design for me. The fulcrum point farther away (outside the jaw) makes the entire pan to be used as the lift lever, both easier and requiring a shorter distance to release the pan at the dogless contact point. The physics are better for me with the older design than the newer ones but.......... probably splitting hairs when not needed as "its not rocket science"! PLus once again, I like the reduced weight when hauling, setting and moving lots of sets. The 550's are still hard to beat in farm country but the #2's equal them for me here. My experience. ................................the (lazy) mike

I night latched 2 dozen of my Victor Monties. Just need a triangle shaped file.

Completely agree

Oh, my bad. How I forgot about my favorite wolverine trap, the NO B.S. Canine Extreme. The ones Kendall made for me, (closed jaws), are night-latched and very precise. I will use a triangle file, as suggested, to my TS-85s.

I too spent most of my 45+ years running dog on traps but in recent years got to run several dogless, and I really like them. Years ago I had a handful of dogless Monty square jaw #2s and those were great too. One less moving part.
In last few years I ran a bunch of dogless Bridger #2 and #3 and those have been great to use.
In my future purchases I will be leaning more toward the dogless.
Jim

No need to. Once tuned they are just as crisp and quick as a nightlatch.

^

Anybody that would night latch that style of trap needs their trapping license taken away.

What more could ya ask for?

Night latched and adjustable dogless pan....

I used 18 of those stupid things for about two weeks.

I gave them away. Hated the things.

When that hole packs with wet clay and freezes, you ARENT getting it out. So you have to pull the entire works, take it all home, thaw it out, knock the crap out of there, and now you're sitting at home with a dirty trap.

Huge pain in the butt.

Not to mention, new Bridgers are just a more expensive Duke.

Yeah but u get to hear the click from the night latch

When I went to Alberta last summer, I bought an unused, baseplated, laminated Bridger 5 DLS with a Paws I Trip set up. $35CAD!
I’d take a pic but it’s in the water right now.
I gotta try and find some of them PIT sets ups when I hit the Minnesota convention this summer.

Adjustable means they can go out of adjustment.

Just saying.

The pit pan system my second favorite.

Pan tension!

I guess I've not used any of the dogless traps with a post rather than that setup there. I know what you're saying about snow, ice, or frozen clay getting in there with a catch. But I just take a screwdriver and knock it out of there, sometimes it takes a little chipping away, but I've always been able to knock it out and reset.

I like the dogless #3 Bridgers too. I carry a cordless drill to drill the frozen mud out of the trap.

I got tired of bent dogs on just about everything - even ones that are not supposed to bend.