Active in companion animal rescue for a decade, primarily with Great Danes and hounds, but also Malamutes, Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Lacys and other medium-to-large breeds. Founder of a coalition of scenthound rescuers covering the state of Texas and southern Oklahoma. Moderator of a nationwide American Foxhound rescue e-mail group. Board member of Sunbear Squad, Inc. Board member of the Alamo Great Dane Club. Former Board member for Etosha Rescue and Adoption Center.

Jerry and his wife, Linda, have trained Great Danes and scenthounds for AKC Obedience competition and APDT Rally-O competition. Two of their rescue Great Danes have been nationally ranked in AKC Obedience, one winning the top placement (called High in Trial) at the 2003 Great Dane National Specialty in Orlando with Linda handling. Linda has also been a substitute trainer for Austin Canine Central.

Jerry and Linda live with 4 cats and 4 dogs (2 Great Danes and 2 coonhounds) in southern Williamson County, Texas.

I’m a typical dog lover who’s always had a dog in her life, but I had never considered adopting one from a shelter. Five years ago, I did just that and stumbled into this world of extraordinary people who are committed to saving the lives of the multitude of unwanted and abused pets in this country and to placing the right dog with the right family. 

When we adopted our black and tan Coonhound Olivia, she exhibited the behavior of a dog with an unstable past. It was a rocky in the beginning, but she slowly came to trust us and to show her “coonie” clownish side. A true hound, she wheedled her way into our hearts. She hasn’t completely lost the fears from her past, but she knows that we’ll never give up on her and that she has a forever home. 

As an outdoor enthusiast and a publisher of trail maps, I have watched the number of public places that one can take dogs decline. My mission is to encourage dog owners to be responsible for their pets’ behavior and safety when using public parks and forest. My motto is “I’m attached to my dog” – she’s right here by my side.

It doesn’t take long after getting involved in showing and training purebred dogs that you get “suckered” in to rescue.  It takes even less time when you spend hours every year training in animal behavior.  And even less time when you work professionally in an animal shelter and have an incredible love for four legged critters.   I’ve owned Shelties, Labs, Weimaraners, and Coonhounds and shown them all in various venues including conformation, tracking, agility, obedience, field trials, hunt tests and more so I was ripe for a lot of suckering.  I’ve fostered hundreds of dogs at my home and helped to transport and place them in to loving homes.

Finding the right home for a dog after fostering it and watching its personality blossom is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.  It puts a bandaid on my soul for all the sights I see at work that I can’t fix or help.  My personal mission statement is:

To reduce the overpopulation and the dumping of animals at shelters and rescues by sharing the beauty of each animal's individual persona with the world.  If people can be taught to treasure each animal for its personality, whether it’s wild, feral or domestic, whether couch potato or chained, mutt or champion; perhaps then people won't be so quick to abandon, abuse or neglect the lives of the animals around them.

My mission is to share my "tricks of the trade." To teach people ways to better the lives of their pets and to better the lives of the pet owners through behavior modification and training.  Each pet I've owned has shared new lessons with me.  I wish to share those gifts with as many people as I can.  To prevent life's hard knocks through shared knowledge.  I realized this after I noticed that the rescued animals that most upset me were the ones that were the easiest to train.  These ones often came into the shelter with a bad habit, but it was incredibly easy to fix it.  Instead of being relieved at the ease of the solution, I was doubly mad that the owners hadn't handled it themselves.  It's easy to understand when a tough to train animal is turned over to the pros.  It's hard to understand when the easy ones are dumped.  Perhaps that's a message I need to understand.  The ones that seem easy to me to fix must have seemed impossible to live with to the person who dumped their problem on to the shelter.  May I find a way to intercede.

This phenomenal project helps me live my mission statement and it helps me to share my love for some of the greatest pets I’ve ever owned, fostered or handled---long eared, song filled galoots otherwise known as coonhounds!

One spring evening in 2004 while researching something for the shelter where I have long volunteered, I stumbled upon a news release about Sunbear and the sentencing of his owner on the website of the Humane Society of the United States. His haunting eyes in the photo taken while he lay in the shallow creek bed immediately and permanently lodged into my heart and mind. My life has never been the same. I resolved to learn more about Sunbear and Gene Fields, the Animal Control Officer who worked so long to bring Sunbear's owner to justice, so I tracked Gene down and contacted him. We talked many times over the phone.

Gene told me that the saddest part of his job was finding that neighbors frequently did not call law enforcement when they observed an animal being neglected or abused. He told me many tragic stories that could have had very different outcomes if only neighbors would have taken some action. Those conversations planted the idea for a web site to educate and encourage people everywhere to do the right thing when finding an animal in distress. The web site launched in January of 2005.

I work full-time in the corporate world and I still volunteer at the same regional no-kill humane society on a near daily basis, doing everything from writing Petfinder blurbs and taking photos to maintaining the web site to walking dogs to working on fundraisers. I'm currently board secretary. In addition to that, I transport dogs regularly. I'm a trained emergency animal rescue volunteer. My husband and I share our lives and hearts with a Great Dane, a Treeing Walker Coonhound, and an American Staffordshire Terrier mix and two lovely, and loving, cats. 

Austin, our adopted Treeing Walker Coonhound, inspired me and my husband to support this new Coonhound Companion effort. Austin is a soulful and sweet companion. When I'm feeling down, he always notices and wants to comfort me. He has a funny side too; we call him our "spazzy boy" when he stomps excitedly in little circles to earn a treat. I took him to Bark in the Park last summer and he sang SOOOOO EAGERLY and LOUDLY that the microphone stayed right over his head! When I asked him to stop, he did. We were surrounded by amazed laughter; it was so much fun. Everyone had to pet him and admire him. We love him so much and want to share our appreciation for that great American dog, the coonhound.

Emily S. Plishner has two pet redbones, Clamour and Mudd. They split their time between Brooklyn, NY and the Catskill high peaks where they wander the mountains and chase raccoons, bobcats and bear up trees, then go home to share meals and the bed with Emily and her husband, Mitch. In the city, the hounds walk nicely on leash and attract huge amounts of attention, especially from children who have read "Where the Red Fern Grows" or seen one of the movie versions.

Emily and the hounds participate in United Kennel Club competitive coonhound events. Clamour, 6, is a Grand Field Champion and Mudd, 5, is a Grand Show Champion, Grand Water Champion, and Field Champion. Emily also has a NY hunting license to train her hounds on bear, responding to calls from citizens to help chase bears out of areas where they are unwelcome, such as summer camps, cornfields, and orchards. 

She is the secretary of the Sullivan County (NY) Coonhound Association, the Zone 4 representative of the NY Houndsmen Conservation Association, and a columnist for that group in "American Cooner," "Full Cry," "Hunter's Horn" and "Rabbit Hunter" magazines. She is a member of both the National Redbone Coonhound Association and the American Redbone Coonhound Association. She writes a column for the national  association in "American Cooner" magazine, and posts regularly on several internet coonhound boards, including the UKC coonhound and redbone boards, the Shade Tree Big Game and Coonhound forum, The Yahoo Pet Redbones and Coonhound Fanciers boards, and KC's Hounds and Houndsmen forum.

I remember the first time I saw a picture of a Bluetick Coonhound, I thought that this was the most beautiful dog I had ever seen.  I vowed one day that I was going to have one of my own.  

After our first dog Max, passed away at almost 15 years of age (he was a pointer/lab mix), I set out to try and find a new companion, and it was going to be a Bluetick Coonhound.  After searching and contacting various people through the internet, I found my boy Jake from a breeder who also hunted his dogs.  Well Jake just wouldn’t have any part of hunting. He wanted to be with his people and none of that nonsense of running in the bush at night chasing raccoons. In fact, he didn't like the rain or getting his feet wet. So long as he was with us and near a food bowl, he was the happiest hound alive!

I remember bringing home this huge 1 ½ year old, lanky, big dog and thought “oh my god, what have I done!”  But after a couple of days with our new boy I knew he was exactly what I was looking for and he was here to stay. He was an amazing, kind-hearted, lovable, goofy boy who gave me almost 14 years of companionship and love. He was such a special boy he inspired me to want to help more wonderful coonhounds find forever homes.
  
The rescue was started in 2003 and we have saved over 150 coonhounds and bloodhounds. We have two dedicated volunteers, and we spend many tireless hours trying to find foster homes for a homeless hound. We could not do this without our very special foster homes and volunteers.  We are the only Coonhound Rescue in Ontario, Canada.  

My husband and I have two other very special Bluetick Coonhounds, Kink & Nemo, and we usually have a foster hound or two.   I could not imagine life without my coonhounds. If you are looking for that perfect companion, then a coonhound may just be the dog for you. 

The Coonhound Companions project is proudly sponsored by Sunbear Squad Inc., a not-for-profit corporation based in Wisconsin, USA. Sunbear Squad has been granted 501(c)3 status by the IRS. Sunbear Squad seeks to prevent companion and domestic animal suffering by educating and empowering individuals to advocate for animals in a positive and assertive manner. One person helping and one animal helped builds a kinder and more compassionate world.

Sunbear was an 18-month-old chocolate Labrador Retriever who was left in a West Virginia townhome laundry room for 6 weeks in 2002 without food, water or any care whatever until he was discovered just barely alive. Neighbors on both sides did not report hearing him. He died 3 days later after intensive veterinary care failed to relieve the damage done by severe dehydration and starvation. Animal control officer Gene Fields tracked the owner across the midwest for many months, had him extradited from Indiana, and helped prepare the court case that resulted in his conviction. Over 400 people from around the world wrote letters to the judge urging conviction. The West Virginia legislature enacted stronger animal cruelty laws and penalties because of Sunbear's ordeal and the groundswell of public opinion that surrounded the case.

Please give to our cause. We are all volunteers (no overhead costs except for web and email servers), so your dollars have maximum impact on our programs. You can designate 100% of your donation to Coonhound Companions activities by clicking on "Add special instructions to the seller" on the PayPal screen and entering "Coonhound Companions." For those who itemize, Sunbear Squad's EIN number is 14-1932593. Thank you thank you thank you for any donation. We are heartened by your faith in our work!