Please help us by going to our home page and clicking on the Donate Now Button! We need 50 of our fans and supporters to donate toward our new fundraising campaign to help us meet our new $100 challenge. When we get to our goal of 50 donations, one of our board members will generously add $50 and a long-time friend and hound lover will donate the other $50. WOW! an additional $100! We are on our way to meeting the challenge; our numbers are growing! Can you help us get the word out by emailing this to a friend or sharing it on your facebook page? A donation in any amount of $10 and over counts toward the 50 needed to qualify for the challenge.
Coonhound Companions is the first international advocacy group for the adoption of coonhounds and foxhounds and we are making a difference. More hounds are being adopted because of our work and your support. We have helped get dozens of “long ear” dogs the care they need to become adoptable. Thank you for helping us spread the word so we can help more Coonhounds and Foxhounds in need!
Coonhound Companions is registered as a 501(c)3 through our fiscal sponsor Sunbear Squad Inc. and your donation is tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law in the United States. Just in time for Christmas…A new picture book about a hound (for children), We Love Lee by Anne Wills Dogs Finding Dogs (DFD), a nonprofit organization that uses search dogs to find lost pets, has just published a new picture book for young children, We Love Lee, by Chrissy Hoffmaster. It is also charmingly illustrated by Mary Booth. The book is about a Treeing Walker Coonhound finding his vocation as a search dog for lost pets. It is based on the (mostly) true story of DFD’s search dog Lee, handled by me, Anna. Proceeds from book sales will go to Dogs Finding Dogs’ “Walker Fund,“ which offsets costs of searches for lost pets for families that can’t afford a donation to DFD. Dogs Finding Dogs is purely donation financed. We request that pet owners send us a donation for our services, but we will not turn down any plea for help because a family cannot afford to. While some of the details of We Love Lee are a little dressed up for fun, much of it is based on reality. Lee joined our team after he ran away from his foster home in Maryland and camped out in a patch of bamboo behind my local supermarket. I got the call from the rescue about him being missing two years ago on Easter Monday. My veteran search dog Heidi and I found Lee immediately, but he was very scared. We took our time coaxing him out. For two weeks, we did nothing but visit him with chicken, toys, and blankets. We set out a live trap for him with the blankets and treats inside. Every time we went back to check it, Lee had pulled everything out and made a nest in the bamboo with them. Once, I put a leash on top of the trap while I was putting new bait in it, and left it there while I went back to the car for something else. When I got back--no more than three minutes later--Lee had snitched the leash as well! Heidi is a German Shepherd Dog. Lee would come out to play with Heidi when we visited. I would watch him trace her every footstep, nose to the ground. It was marvelous to see. That made me decide to ask to keep him for Dogs Finding Dogs after we caught him. And that is exactly what happened. After six months of training and living with Heidi and me, he was transformed into “Super Hound Dog to the Rescue”! It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure. Lee is a big funny hound, always wanting to run, leap, and spin in the air. He loves to have fun! That is mirrored in the book, which, featuring Lee, is fun and a little silly too, although educational as well. While the international travel is fictional, Lee really did have a case finding lost ferrets, as in the book. In the real case, though, there were seven ferrets lost from one house, not just three. He found all seven safe and sound. Lee also tracked down a lost mastiff in real life, and found a calico cat that was hiding under a deck. Dogs Finding Dogs was formed as a 501c3 in September of 2008. Our motto is “Our Noses Know Where Your Pet Goes!” Its main goal is to help reunite missing pets with their families. By doing this, the pets return home and are saved from the threat of being euthanized as unwanted strays. We are proud of our working dogs, including search dog Lee. For a search and rescue dog to save the life of just one missing pet is a high honor. To save the lives of many is truly a blessing. Lee has already saved many lives. Altogether, DFD has reunited over 4,000 missing pets with their families in just four years, either by counseling on the phone or by deploying SAR teams, And Lee, our beloved goofy fantastic coonhound, was one of those successful cases before he joined our team. The back story. Lee was in a high kill shelter down south in Darlington, South Carolina. He was turned in by his owner/breeder, who wanted Lee and his littermates put to sleep. This guy didn’t want any product of his breeding to do anything but hunt. Well, Lee hunts now, but not exactly what his breeder had in mind. At the shelter in South Carolina, Lee was tied to an igloo shelter outside on concrete for almost a year before he was pulled and sent up to Maryland to a rescue. When he arrived, he was so covered with pressure sores that he slept standing up. He did not know how to lie down to sleep. Lee journeyed up to Maryland and was placed in a foster home with a young college student. Not the best idea for a scared unsocialized hound dog. Soon after he got there, Lee bolted out the door and found his way to a huge patch of bamboo in a vacant lot. Since then, this dog that was thrown away, who slept standing up for over a month at my house, has become a success story. Lee’s story is heartwarming. Lee was given a chance and it turned out well. Of course, Lee had a lot of help from his friends, but he proved himself to be a hero. And he continues to lighten our hearts every day, especially because he has to spin in the air and jump like a kangaroo at least once on every track he is working. Well, this helps to make people smile who are so sad and worried as we are looking for their pets. Lee is truly the “Super Hound Dog to the Rescue!” You can get a copy of We Love Lee from www.DogsFindingDogs.com. I have a paypal button on our Website that says “Donate Now.” The book costs $12, plus $6 shipping and handling. Just donate $18 and say you want a copy of We Love Lee. Or, you can mail a check to Dogs Finding Dogs with a note requesting the book. Our address is: Dogs Finding Dogs P.O. Box 18244 Baltimore, MD 21227 However, to be sure to get a copy in time for Christmas, you would need to do that right away, by December 11. Dogs Finding Dogs also has a Facebook page with some of the pages from the book. You can also reserve a copy there. Got coonhounds? Got foxhounds? Coonhound Companions has added new merchandise to our store on CaféPress. We offer a 2013 Coonhound Calendar, and a new design featuring our logo surrounded by a variety of coonhound breeds available on every conceivable style of t-shirt and more. Go to www.cafepress.com/coonhoundcompanions to view the variety of merchandise available in support of Coonhound Companions’ cause. Please make sure you go directly to our site for the best possible price. If you go to the general CaféPress site and search for coonhound merchandise, you will pay a premium price. Calendar: The calendar sells for $16.99. If the price you see is higher, go back through the link above to get the best price. When entering your order, make sure to request that your calendar begin with January 2013, otherwise CaféPress will begin your calendar in the current month. The new coonhound logo with hounds graces the cover of our new calendar, but you can click through and view the entire year of a dozen coonhound photos on the site before you buy. Thank you to volunteer De Anna Lynn for the design. New logo & hounds design: We have a new design, thanks to volunteer Stan Gove, showing a bunch of coonhounds and foxhounds surrounding our logo. Get it on a mug; Get it on a beer stein; Get it on a drinking glass. Get it on a t-shirt; Get it on a tank top ; Get it on a hoodie. You name it; we’ve got it. But, again, make sure you go through our direct link—searching for “coonhounds” on the CaféPress site will result in a higher cost to you. And while you’re purchasing Coonhound Companions merchandise for friends and family to support our cause, don’t forget to look at our Connie Coonhound designs and our Long Ears League designs as well. These have been available for a while, but they are still fun for coonhound lovers.
For more information, email info@coonhoundcompanions.com By Andrew Suggs My wife was home and I was working at the family’s organic dog treat shop, Terra Dog Bakery, in Norcross, GA, when a local resident brought a pup to our store. She told me that the gawky dog had been abandoned and needed a home. He was very skinny and also very young but he was still big for a pup. He had a pleading hound face, lanky legs, and big ol' floppy ears. How could anyone abandon him? He looked like a purebred bluetick coonhound puppy. The crazy part of it is that I've always wanted a bluetick, and thought it would be many years before I could ever get one, because we already have two dogs and a young child. But here he was, staring right at me, needing a home and someone to love him. He was a sweet boy, playful and clumsy like a baby. I told the girl that I would take him without really thinking on it for long. How could I let him go? We were not looking for a dog or prepared for another, but what would happen to him if I said “no”? I have rescued a pup through an “adoption agency,” but never been in a situation like this, where the dog had been abandoned and arrived by serendipity. So, I left my store that day with the new pup, my mind heavy with a million thoughts, trying to get a grip on what was going on. I stopped on the way home to get him some food and a new collar and leash. I held him the whole time. He was friendly with the people in the store who greeted him. We traveled home. I made sure my wife was seated before I broke the news. Though it was a total surprise, she embraced him and began thinking of names. My son was excited and smiled as soon as he saw him. "If we are keeping this dog, I am naming him!" my wife said. We settled on Jamie, after a character in a book she was reading. He looked like a Jamie. With the uncertainty of his past, we cautiously watched over him for a day until we could get him to the vet. Our vet revealed that he was underfed, had worms, and had yeast infections in his ears. The inside of the poor boy’s ears were covered in a thick black crud. We think he was only about 6 weeks old. We were upset that he had a rough start, but wanted to give him a shot at the life he deserves. Now, about a month later, Jamie is up to a healthy weight, and putting on more pounds (and spots!) each week. He is doing great eating a home cooked diet. He is such a great dog, very loyal already, playful, energetic, and curious, as any good hound is. Even though he is young (10 weeks), he is already about 90% potty trained and stands by the door when he needs to go out. He is my total buddy. He comes to work with me every day and stays with me even while I work a booth at our local farmers market. He is great with kids, other dogs, and people. He is very social and has to say hello to anyone (or dog) he sees. He's a people magnet and draws attention everywhere. He is teething and he still finds puppy mischief, but all things considered he is the best pup I've ever had. He is very smart, and has already mastered getting over and around baby gates and other obstacles. We have been working on obedience, and he is responding well to reward-based training (pretty great since I bake all his treats!). He has that coonhound drive already and is pretty fearless for such a young pup. I took him to the beach with me last week and he had no problems trudging through the ocean waves and climbing over large rocks to catch a scent. This guy is just a once in a lifetime dog, who came to me in such a crazy way. I feel that Jamie will be a great ambassador for the coonhound breed in our little town and anywhere we go. We intend to come up with a line of treats especially for coonhounds. Even though our life together has just begun, I love the breed and am so excited to have one in my life! By Gates Murchie Easy is a Black and Tan coonhound. Once possessed of UKC and AKC papers (lost during an unpleasant period of his life), he is a handsome fellow. In his 7-8 years, Easy passed through several kind and considerate families, a neglectful/abusive owner, a shelter, and a foster home before coming to us. He hunted, slept on sofas and was loved. He also endured starvation, freezing cold, a terrifying wound, a long rehabilitation and the constant threat of death. Yet he came out the other side with several thousand pounds of calm, considerate, canine wisdom in a seventy-eight pound body; Easy is a better person than I. Kind to all non-tree-climbing mammals, and our cats, Easy harbors no pre-conceived notions about others and judges only on behavior, not rumor, stereotype or prejudice. He cares not about feline nature, social station, physical limitation, past transgression, religious belief or political af filiation. A thinker of deep thoughts, he does not act precipitously, even in the face of social pressure, intimidation or implied force. Easy is the independent captain of his own ship; loyal to his friends, open and accepting of strangers, kind to children, intolerant of bullying, immune to bribes, and fierce in the face of hostility. I want to grow up to be like him. Others may “walk” their dogs, but close observation reveals that the dog on said walk is not having a very good time. The people stop, talk and socialize; the dogs aren’t allowed to. The kids run, shout and play; the dogs don’t. The dog on these walks seldom does what it was born to do (unless early cave men had purses). I get approached by other men, men who are walking dogs on shoestring leashes, and they say, “Gee, I wish I had a real dog like yours.” That’s because we get our recreation and exercise on “hunts” in the local parks to locate and exercise the local squirrel population. Maintaining their tree-climbing skills is a vocation for Easy. Though his punishment for those failing to maintain those skills may seem harsh, it is all for the best. When asked by the local squirrel-feeding lady, “Do you think that is a good time?”, I can only reply, “Not particularly, but he does!” Easy is passionate in the pursuit of this hobby, marshalling his energy and resources in rest only to expend them in a great rush of activity and song. Similar to flying a line-control aircraft with a full-size fighter aircraft on the end, he is joyful and focused from his nose to his rapidly circling “helicopter” tail. This endeavor can lead him into dangerous adventures and requires the intervention of friends with a more objective view. My constant companion, he provides the resigned acceptance only available from true friends when I come up short. I know that as a “hunting” pack member, I am slow, lazy and relatively stupid. My lack of focus and failure to consummate our hunts in the public parks frustrates him, but he never gives me a hard time about it. I know I’m merely projecting when I think I detect a sarcastic smirk. Were he human, I feel in my bones that Easy would pick me, despite my shortcomings, in any team selection process, just because he’s a nice guy and I’m his friend. Easy accepts the hand that life dealt him. He stands stoically to receive the bandages, padding and protection that are to be his lot in life, without complaint. He deals with the inconvenience of his cats and the limits of his home turf. He luxuriates in the attention of his humans. He trains others in the protocols and traditions of his species and stands ready to be a friend to all. In short, he is Andy Griffith in a really good dog suit… and I am either Barney Fife or Opie, depending on the day. We may be stupid, stubborn, lazy, smelly, loud and difficult to train, but he adopted us anyway…. New Toy Poster from Coonhound Companions! Click to download PDF. We all do it; we get our guilty little pleasure out of going to the pet store and picking out a new toy for our dogs. There are balls to toss, stuff and hide in a puzzle. And squeak? Every imaginable squeak and squawk can be squeezed out of hedgehogs, bunnies, chickens and more. Tug toys, pull toys, throw and fetch toys, and is your dog bored? Need something to chew other than your favorite chair? Toys. Our choices are endless, we love to pick them out and bring them home to our best friend. For some, the squeak can be de-squeaked in 15.5 seconds and stuffing shredded into a zillion little tufts all over the rug. Toys loved to "death" :) Some toys get a good sniffing over and a poke with a paw and nothing more. There is always one that becomes the favorite toy, the go-to toy when your dog wants to play with you, he dashes to get it and drops it at your feet. It begs the question (excuse the pun), who are all these toys for? Some dogs will happily play by themselves, but what they really want is for us to PLAY with them. Play can be a positive interaction of give and take, helping us bond with our pets and providing great teaching moments. Fetch, “come back” fetch it again. Give or out! “really I promise to give it back to you,” and you do. Tug “gentle, good boy!” Do you want to play? Some dogs, especially shelter dogs have to be coaxed and encouraged to play - they may not have ever had toys in their life or had the chance to learn how to play with people. When we adopted our Black and Tan Coonhound, Olivia, she had gone from being picked up as a stray, to a shelter, to a foster home. In her foster home she played rough and tumble chase with a large Malamute; one coveted toy between them – a tug rope. I think that it could have been any shared article. It clearly looked like a game of this is mine, chase me if you can! Olivia showed no real interest in any store-bought toy. They piled up on her bed. If I moved one to another room, I’d find it back on her bed the next day, but it was rare to see her play with one. It was more of a gentle nibble, nibble, chew, chew and then she was done. I emailed her foster mom and asked her if Olivia ever played with toys there. (That’s how I learned of the Malamute play). She thought about it and said, “You know, you’re right, I never saw Olivia play with any toys in the house, but when I cleaned out her crate after she left, I discovered that she had been taking toys and hiding them under her bedding.” The rope toy that I went out and bought from a store because Olivia loved to play with it in her foster home. It remains unused, she's just NOT interested. Perhaps if I dressed up as a Malamute, and ran around the yard with it she would change her mind. Hum, I did try that - just not the same... woof? Airplane Ears Six years later, Olivia still piles special toys in her bed and all of the overflow toys that I bought her over the years are stored in a basket on the floor. About once a month, she suddenly dashes over to the basket, gently pulling out one toy at time – seemingly taking inventory of her adopted largesse. Good night and sweet dreams. Thank you to all of you that sent in pictures of your goofy hounds for our Toy Poster. Now, go out there and spread the word about adopting these loveable hounds! Do you know any shelters that would like to download these posters to help find homes for our coonhounds? Send them the link: http://www.coonhoundcompanions.com/index.html By Anna Nirva When I opened the daily list from the Milwaukee pound, it seemed like the words throbbed on the screen: Animal ID # 239152 M 7Y 0M Am. Foxhound. This was bad news. A senior hound, a seven-year-old male, in the pound. I clicked the link and saw this picture. Well, he didn't look much like a foxhound, more likely a treeing Walker coonhound, but he was definitely a hound and the worry in his face was palpable. Big old dirty knobby legs. Missing hair on the throat. I didn't think I could pull off saving this old boy but I knew I couldn't turn away either. I emailed my contact Kevin to request the temperament test. His grades were worrisome: no A's; 4 D's; at least there weren’t any F's. “Comments & Recommendations: Dog is very skittish and fearful. Needs socializing. Did so-so on eval -- 4 D's -- all due to his fear. Would recommend that dog, if placed, go to rescue only -- would not be a good adoption candidate -- due to him being so terrified outside of the kennel.” Not good. I went to bed uneasy. When I awoke, I was still thinking about him. I found a link to a video posted by volunteers. He was coughing a lot. Oh great; he had kennel cough too. This was heartache in the making. I didn't care about wasting my time but I did care about my rescue-sore heart and making it worse. I started emailing rescue contacts in the region even though I didn’t have much hope. Who would save an old, sick, fearful, under-socialized coonhound? He didn't have a chance, I thought, and I was filled with dread. Then I got a reply that made my heart leap up and I almost started to cry. Amy at Bob's House for Dogs, a large professional foster organization in Western Wisconsin, offered to foster him. They love hounds. This was the chance I almost didn't dare to hope for. I only needed to find a shelter to pull him and nurse him through his kennel cough, and then he could go into foster care. I heard from the Milwaukee pound's rescue coordinator Nancy. 239152 had a name, George, and volunteers were networking to get him into rescue too. They had taken videos of him daily for several days and believed that he could be socialized. The video demonstrated that, day-by-day, George became a bit more comfortable with the videographer. What I saw in that video was pathetic: this dog was so frightened that he could not even walk without creeping. This boy acted like he’d never been indoors before. Another day passed and I heard from Gina at Chasing Daylight Animal Shelter in Tomah Wisconsin--they offered to pull him! When I read that, I really did start to cry. Old George would live! Now we just needed to figure out how to get him to Tomah, four hours from Milwaukee. Nancy, the rescue coordinator, worked that out with BRATS, Badger Rescue Animal Transport Service, a celebrated all-volunteer statewide network. Wonderful! I slept really well that night. The next note I received was just two words from Gina at Chasing Daylight: "He's here." I didn't realize how tense I had been until I read those words. I turned into a noodle. I was almost singing. I made plans to go on Saturday. I couldn't wait to meet him. He didn't want to meet me, though. I sat on the floor of his kennel for a good half hour, sweet-talking and tossing treats, before he finally worked up the courage to push through that flap and greet me. But he did overcome his worry. Within another half hour, he was sitting behind me patiently in a nearby room, accepting slow petting on his shoulders and soft stroking of his old flea-bit ears: I wouldn't call it trust yet, but he had relaxed. What a handsome boy! Best of all, he had regained his health. His cough was completely gone. He was ready for his foster home so he could learn how to be a house-dog! Amy and Travis from Bob's House for Dogs picked him up three days after I took this photo. And his real training began. George quickly claimed one of the Bob's House kennels as his. Clearly he liked having a "den." He was healthy and gaining confidence, but he was quite fearful of Travis and would quickly walk out of any room when Travis walked in. He was neutered within the week. I drove up to Eau Claire to visit him. He was easy and relaxed with all of the dogs at Bob's House, hanging back a little bit at times. He watched everything going on around him intently. He seemed to feel a special affinity with Julius, another Treeing Walker Coonhound living there. They hung out together. Here he is standing next Sugar, a young Redbone, Julius, and a couple of other dogs. George had some lessons to learn: • House-training • No marking territory (easier after he was neutered) • Permitting touch everywhere on his body • Trusting Travis and other male volunteers • Leash-walking • Understanding floors, couches, sinks, and other parts, smells and noises of a modern home • Accepting affection and petting with ease George was a fast learner and he learned how to be a house-dog quickly. Amy wrote me that he followed her "everywhere!" after she started giving him face and body massages. Within a month a visiting family fell in love with his quiet sweet ways and took him home, where he is today. Here he is in his new home, chewing a rawhide: Seeing his joyful abandon with his rawhide really warms my heart! I like to imagine him snoozing comfortably on his brand-new fleecy-top bed.
George was extremely frightened when he found himself at the pound but within two months he had been fully socialized by Bob's House and Chasing Daylight volunteers. He found his loving family and the comforts of home and he will enjoy his sunset years being appreciated for the sweet shy boy he is. This just reaffirms my belief that an under-socialized senior dog, probably a hunter and an outdoor dog, can be socialized, can learn house rules, and can learn to love human companionship. By Emily Plishner It’s pretty hard to tell the difference between Treeing Walker coonhounds and foxhounds. Most of the differences are behavioral rather than visibly structural, and the behavioral differences are most evident in a hunting setting. Both American foxhounds and coonhounds had the same ancestors--hounds brought from Europe to the Americas in colonial days. In Europe, desirable game did not climb trees to get away from hounds. Hounds were mostly used to chase deer and foxes. In the Americas, gray foxes, raccoons, opossums, black bears, bobcats, and mountain lions all climb trees when they want to get away from hounds, so American hunters selectively bred those hounds that looked for scent on trees and barked at treed game, holding it there for the hunter. The offspring of this selective breeding became the coonhound breeds. The tri-colored coonhounds, the ones that look oversized beagles, were separated out as an individual breed, Treeing Walker Coonhounds, in the 1940’s. Approximately half of all purebred coonhounds in the United States are Treeing Walkers, with the other half divided between the remaining five or six breeds. Hounds that were used primarily to hunt red foxes, coyotes or deer did not need to check tree trunks for scent, so they remained foxhounds (in less formal circles, they are sometimes referred to as “running” as opposed to “treeing” hounds) even though some of them do tree game that will tree. To confuse matters further, there are some hunters that use purebred coonhounds to hunt game that will not tree, like coyotes. There are a lot more coonhounds than foxhounds in shelters, especially in places where there isn't a big coyote problem. Within the foxhound breeds, there are several different named strains, including the running Walker hounds. A running Walker looks just like a Treeing Walker, but it generally has a slightly leaner and racier build (imagine a little greyhound mixed in), making it fast on the ground. The formal mounted foxhunts generally use a sturdier looking hound that is heavier than a typical coonhound with slightly shorter ears. Two such strains are the American and the English Foxhounds. Foxhounds trained to hunt in large packs, like those that hunt with the mounted hunts, are more deferential and are less likely to be terribly independent. Photo courtesy of Beth Gyorgy. Please see two of our other blog posts on retired hunting foxhounds as pets: “Tally Ho!” 3/24/12, by Jerry Dunham, and “Tips on Adopting a Foxhound,” 2/7/13, by Beth Gyorgy. And for further information contact us at info@coonhoundcompanions.com. Hounds who have hunted make excellent family pets, adapting readily to their new pack (a great source of security for them). Hounds are almost always easy to housetrain and take readily to a crate. The hunting dog registries generally recognize two breeds of foxhound (American and English) and six or seven breeds of coonhound (black and tan, bluetick, English, leopard, Plott, redbone, and treeing Walker). Some hunters breed "grade" hounds that are not registered, and may be crosses between the different coonhound and foxhound breeds, or even have a little bloodhound mixed in. This is particularly common among big game (black bears and mountain lions) hunters out west. Within the individual breeds, there are a number of "strains" or "bloodlines" that you wouldn't be able to tell apart without seeing their pedigrees. When it comes to coat color, very few treeing Walker coonhounds are almost entirely white, although there are some, particularly those in the Clover bloodline. In general, a dog that is almost entirely white, with just a little sprinkling of other colors, is most likely a foxhound. There was an old time French breed of hound called a porcelaine that was almost entirely white. However, dogs of many breeds with predominantly white coats may have a genetic tendency to deafness, so they are not necessarily the best breeding stock. Coonhounds with a black saddle on their back are highly prized in show circles. Coonhounds with almost no white—mostly brown legs and black saddlebacks--are known as “high tans.” This color pattern is somewhat more common in coonhounds than foxhounds, but not all that common in either.
Coonhounds that have been bred to look up trees often throw their heads way back when they bay, and are very given to putting their front paws up on anything handy—a tree with game in it, a kitchen counter, some stranger they are greeting effusively. This is bred-in behavior, but can be modified. A pet coonhound can and should be trained to stay off the kitchen counter and not jump on strangers. I have a lot of experience with hounds of all kinds, and even I have trouble recognizing the difference between coonhounds and foxhounds without seeing their papers or watching them work. At Coonhound Companions, we're working hard to find pet homes for the failed hunters. In the right home, where their loud voices are appreciated and their affectionate loyal natures are reciprocated, they are extremely good pets. Guest Blog by Brianne Charbonneau It all started back in fall of 2007, in Denver, Colorado. My roommates decided that it was time we got a four-legged friend. One roommate had her heart set on a basset hound and the other on a Dalmatian. I had been dog-deprived for two years and knew I needed something, but retained an open mind about what kind of dog. Together, we decided we wanted a rescue dog. We came across a couple of great rescue organizations and heard of a Dalmatian at a shelter near us. We made the drive over, but no Dalmatian. So, we looked at other dogs for over two hours. The last stop was in the sick dog ward. There she was--a beautiful dog. But she was emaciated. Something about her was so amazing, but my other roommates were not so keen. I waited for hours at the shelter to meet her and it was the best thing I ever did. The first question out of my mouth was, "Why is she so skinny?" The shelter person told me, “People starve them to make them hunt.” [Editor’s comment: Coonhounds hunt just fine even if they are well fed. There are lots of reasons coonhounds come into shelters emaciated—most frequently, because they have gotten lost while hunting and haven’t eaten for several days. However, many coonhounds are not allowed to hunt on a full stomach because that can result in bloat, a potentially fatal problem, and an all-day or all-night hunt can burn off five pounds from a 65-pound coonhound easily. Of course, some hunters do abuse their dogs. On the other hand, many very poor coon hunters take better care of their hounds than they do of themselves. Shelters often perpetuate a lot of myths about coonhounds and coon hunters that make it hard to find pet homes them. Coonhound Companions was formed to help correct that problem.] I decided to put the skinny Bluetick on a 24-hour hold to allow me to research the breed, since I had never even heard of coonhounds. [Coonhound Companions wishes more potential adopters would do their homework like this!] Long story short, I adopted her. If I hadn't put her on the 24-hour hold, she wouldn't have been there the next day. People at that shelter believed coonhounds to be "undesirable" and put them down faster than, say, a Lab. They warned me that they are stupid dogs that are not good for much. [For more info on the breed, see 1 ] [Ridiculous myth! No wonder that shelter’s coonhounds weren’t getting adopted!] My Sadie Mae is not stupid and has proven her intelligence over and over again to me. Sadie seemed a little bored, so I started to train her at home, in Denver, to give her something to keep her busy. [Engaging coonhounds in mental work often keeps them out of mischief. Bored coonhounds have good imaginations and can engage in naughty behavior!] Sadie was always able to pick something up after about the third time seeing it done. So, my roommates and I decided that we needed to expand her knowledge. I saw something on Animal Planet showing off dogs doing amazing things, so I decided to teach her myself. She loved to play tug, so we started off with tugging on the dishtowel and then progressed to opening the cupboard. The fridge was a greater temptation for Sadie since tasty food was so close to the front. After losing a couple of hot dogs and some chicken, we decided that the teaching her to open the fridge on her own was not the best idea! By now, Sadie May has been trained in commands for service dogs and she will open cupboards on her own when she is hungry. [Not uncommon, even for untrained coonhounds. Childproof latches may prove necessary in some cases!] She opens cupboards and the fridge with a towel. She has mastered removing socks from your feet without causing pain. She is also trained to match the speed of the person walking with her (never pulling). She will walk next to a wheelchair and match its speed. Sadie has been trained for Touch, so when I put a Post-it in front of her nose, she will touch it with her nose. I can then put the Post-it on a light switch and she will turn it off or on. She will pick some things up on command, but doesn’t like to do this with metal objects. She also knows: Back, Brace, Take It, Drop It, Leave It, Ask (she will touch you with her paw for an object instead of howling or jumping), Fix It (to get leash untangled from feet), Boundary (not allowed outside a certain area). I got most of my ideas from a website 2. She proved herself so smart at home that I decided we should train in AKC-style obedience and agility. The first class we took was Intermediate Obedience, and then we took three progressively difficult levels of Agility. The instructor, in Michigan, where we live now, runs the number one and two AKC-Agility Corgis in the U.S., and competes in everything with her dogs. She took one look at Sadie and almost died laughing. I still remember her words: "She will never live up to your expectations." [It's not just shelter people that have misconceptions about coonhounds. A lot of trainers do too!] That stung, but Sadie and I proved her wrong. Sadie was the first in her class for everything--the first with off-leash heel, the first for off-leash recall, the first coonhound to take agility training off-leash outdoors with this trainer and with the AKC club I train with. She doesn't get to open doors at our current residence out of fear she'll get a hold of the peanut butter jar. Sadie’s agility career came to an end suddenly at the age of three-and-a-half, when we learned that she suffers from a back problem, calcification of the backbones. [This is a problem common in dachshunds, bassets, and other “dwarf” breeds 3.] Our vet called it Spondylosis deformans. It is also known as “bridging” or “calcifying“ of the backbones. It may be a genetic issue, although it can also be caused by trauma. 4 It can either remain stable or it can progressively get worse. These days, Sadie is not allowed to jump anything over 16 inches and has been on joint medicine. One day she may be paralyzed from this disease, but we take it a day, week, month, and year at a time. We do x-rays every year and there hasn’t yet been any change. Hang the expense. Her well-being comes first for me. Many say that coonhounds should not be off leash. That may be true for the majority of coonhounds, but not for all. I have owned Sadie five years now and she has been off leash for three-and-a-half years and HAS NEVER, EVER run off or disobeyed a “Come” command in her life. Although she is not a hunter in the traditional manner (when she ran into a raccoon once, she ran the other way!), she has taken up hunting on her own. Her prey of choice? Mice! Sadie is stubborn when it comes to sleeping in a comfy bed and will chase off her brother the Mountain Cur (another rescue) [often used for squirrel hunting 5 ]. She wakes me up at 5 a.m. for breakfast every single day. She hates snow, rain or any other precipitation. My Sadie Mae is not overly lovey and doesn’t play much with toys. Yet she is my best friend, and my snuggle buddy whenever it’s cold. She loves to sleep, eat, and hunt mice--and not always in that order. She is the best dog I have ever owned or even known. Coonhounds see into your soul and love you with all they have. I was lucky enough to find a coonhound, my Sadie Mae. Even though I added a mountain cur to our family, I will always have at least one coonhound. I need one to complete my soul. Footnotes 1 http://www.ukcdogs.com/WebSite.nsf/Breeds/BLUETICKCOONHOUNDRevisedJanuary12011 or http://www.Bluetickbreedersofamerica.com/ 2 http://www.poodleglue.com/poodleglue/commands_for_service_dogs.html 3 http://www.dodgerslist.com/literature/CalcifiedDiscs.htm 4 http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/musculoskeletal/c_multi_spondylosis_deformans or http://www.dogstuff.info/spondylosis_deformans_lanting.html or http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/projects/saortho/chapter_61/61mast.htm 5 http://www.omcba.com/
The fox hunter's horn has echoed through the Virginia countryside since colonial days, calling together hunters on horseback and long-eared hounds in pursuit of the poultry-snatching fox. George Washington, the first President of the United States, eagerly participated in the sport, which combined horsemanship, the music of skilled dogs, and an exhilarating gallivant through miles of forest and farmland. The same sport continues to attract adherents to the present day, although in contemporary hunts, foxes are seldom harmed.
The hounds form an enthusiastic and noisy pack and love what they do. Many of today’s foxhounds trace their ancestry to the famous pack developed by President Washington. These dogs are very good at what they do in the field, but as they get older, they slow down and begin having trouble keeping up with the pack. They are still very social with other dogs and people, but they are better suited for pedestrian companionship than keeping up with horses and foxes. They prefer a life filled with praise and company to getting left behind. That makes them great potential pets.
A good hunting hound must be very social with other dogs or he couldn’t hunt in a huge, dense, excited pack. The social skills developed in the hunting pack carry over to a “family pack”, and these dogs do well with children as well as other dogs. The urge to please humans is necessary in their profession, and just as desirable in a pet. By the time they are ready to retire, the high energy level of a hound puppy has mellowed and they are just happy to be with you. Like many working breeds, foxhounds have fewer health problems than breeds bred primarily for show or to meet pet market demands, and even older dogs can have many healthy years ahead.
This situation is very similar to the plight of racing Greyhounds some years ago, and today many ex-racing Greyhounds find themselves in wonderful retirement homes with families who consider them the best couch potatoes ever. It’s time for the same to happen to hunting hounds.
You can read about successful adoptions of foxhounds from a hunt at:
http://articles.philly.com/2004-08-17/news/25392204_1_foxhounds-rescue-group-hunting-dogs To see hunting foxhounds at work, click on: http://www.klmimages.com/foxhunting
Jerry Dunham
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