Coonhound & Foxhound Companions
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Our Dream
    • Why Donate
    • Contact Us
  • All About Hounds >
    • Why Adopt Coonhounds & Foxhounds
    • Adopting Senior Coonhounds & Foxhounds
  • Long Ears Alive! >
    • About the Long Ears Alive fund
    • Donate to Long Ears Alive fund to help homeless hounds
    • Happy tails from the Long Ears Alive fund
  • Resources >
    • Poster Downloads
    • Long Ear League
    • Promotional Kit
    • Links > >
      • Rescue Links
      • Useful Links
      • Fun and Games
  • Long Ears Blog
  • Online Store

Why doesn’t my newly adopted hound bark?

5/30/2018

0 Comments

 
Q from Nancy

I recently adopted a coonhound, possibly a mix. The shelter he came from  said that Lucas is about a year-and-a-half-old, although my vet thought he was closer to three-and-a-half.  The shelter said he is “quiet.” He has only barked 3 times in 3 weeks.

Why doesn’t he bark?


A from Emmy Sue

It is not unusual for a newly adopted adult  hound to be dead silent for a couple of weeks in a new home.  My first hound was silent until he went to the vet for the first time and decided to hunt the resident cat. Scent hounds are at their most talkative when they get a whiff of  something that smells exciting.  Once your hound is more comfortable and secure in his new environment, and he knows which smells go with good things, he will probably be more verbal.  Once he decides to chime in, he will be loud, often to the point that you will be nostalgic about his initial silence.

Hounds are bred to hunt out of sight of their handlers,  so a "loud mouth" is a desirable trait in a working hound.  Accordingly, they are bred to be very loud, so loud that other dog breeds sometimes take offense.  If you take your hound to a busy dog park, all hound breeds will be fine with its voice, even dachshunds, but other breeds, such as terriers, may shun him. Some other breeds act like boisterous hound voices are plain rude.  

My speculative theory about this initial silence is that hounds know their loud mouths can give offense, so keep quiet until they are sure their new owners are hooked.  This may be pure fairy tale, but I'm sticking to it.

Most hounds are capable of a large range  of vocalizations.  In hunting contexts, the two most often remarked on are a “chop” and a “bawl.”  A “chop” is a rapid fire short bark, typically heard when the hound has found it’s quarry and is at its most excited.  A “bawl” is the stereotypical hound dog song that is often used when the hound is trailing on a scent, or when the hound finally catches up to his quarry and is telling his handler he has “located” it.

However, hunting hounds are trained to be quiet when they are not "on a scent."  No one wants a noisy “kennel barker.”  At competitive hunting events, barking for no reason or the wrong reason can cause a hound to lose points, an offense called "babbling."  Even barking on the scent of the wrong kind of animal (an opossum rather than a raccoon, for instance) is considered problematic. Hounds that have been "pleasure" hunted--rather than entered in the competition events--are usually trained to open (vocalize) only when "on scent."  A well-trained hunting hound will only bark on the desired game, and will learn to ignore off game.

Nonetheless, most hounds do bark some when they are excited for other reasons, they just make (sometimes subtly) different kinds of noises, ranging from whimpering and whistling to soulful moans to operatic arias.  As you get to know each other better you can figure out what each variant means.  Hounds are bred to give each individual a distinctive voice so that the handlers can tell what each one is up to when out of sight at night (when raccoon hunting is done) with other hounds. Because these sounds are particular to each hound, I can't tell you exactly what yours will talk about how, `but typically, a whiff of the desired scent will result first in whimpering and whistling, then a steady bark or bawl, then a "locate" (indicating that the game has been sighted or is very close) then a "tree bark" --a steady short chop to indicate where the game has been sent up a tree and held. But some hounds have their own idea of what sound goes with what, and some have voices that defy description. I knew one guy who had a hound that sounded like a fog horn and made everyone crack up laughing every time it opened its mouth.

In a pet environment, the hound will eventually start responding to its new handlers' expectations. Mine make a heartbreaking noise whenever I leave them at home to go out.  It only lasts until my car engine is out of hearing, but is very effective at making me think twice before leaving them at home! My husband tells me they can hear me returning long before he can, and begin to sing excitedly.  I had one hound that had a special bark for the UPS guy.  Most hounds will bark to greet guests or intruders, but some have been taught not to sound off for visitors.  Mine have different barks for different kinds of game.  I can tell whether mine are barking at a bear or raccoon or cat just by the sounds they make.  One of mine had a special bark to warn me about snakes.  Since snakes don’t have ears, I find that fascinating.  It probably isn’t effective to warn off the snakes, although I’m sure the snakes can feel the vibrations.


Some hounds will bark at food scents. Most will get excited as you are putting food in their bowl and yowl in anticipation, especially if you are later than usual. If you don't discourage it, yours may holler at you when you are cooking or eating human food. I have one who can disrupt any dinner table conversation. A squirt bottle can help dampen that kind of vocalization if you don’t find it charming.


If you want to hear your hound's voice sooner, you can purchase a bottle of training scent. This is a concentrate in a medicine-sized bottle, which you dilute with water.  It mostly smells like raccoon (it also comes in bear, bobcat or lion) urine and glandular secretions, so you only want to use it outside. It is not appealing to humans.  Lay a trail by dipping a rag in a dilute solution of it.  If you spill it on yourself, your hound won’t leave you alone for days, no matter how you scrub!  You can buy this stuff at hound supply stores, Amazon or even WalMart.  Some of the bigger hound supply stores online: Valley Creek Hunting Supply, F&T Fur Harvesters, Gun Dog Supply, and Lion Country Supply. Or Google "raccoon training scent."  One reliable brand is Pete Rickard’s.  He sells his brand on his website.


Most hounds do not sing to fire engines and other sirens, as they do in cartoons, although a few will. Some also like to sing along with yodeling--try Hank Williams singing Lonesome Blues to see if yours will.
0 Comments

Why does my hound flip his food bowl?  Why doesn’t he play with toys?

5/30/2018

0 Comments

 
Q From Nancy
My newly adopted hound dumps his food bowl out and eats off the floor. Perhaps he was a kennel dog? He likes squeaky toys, but seems indifferent to most toys.

A From Emmy Sue
Hounds are rarely picky eaters, so I doubt that he would bother to flip his bowl just because he was used to eating off the ground. Most hounds will eat anything anywhere until taught not to, including goose poop from the ground and human food from your kitchen counters. Of course, it’s easier to take all the food away when it’s contained in a bowl, so perhaps he was used to competition for it.
As for toys and flipping food bowls, these may be  related. Hunting hounds are working dogs, so are rarely given toys to play with. They are often tied or kenneled out of reach of their fellow hounds, so they learn to amuse themselves with what they have at hand. That can be a bone or a stick, but typically, their food bowl may be the only thing they have to toss around, so they toss it when feeling playful or excited or just exuberant and wanting attention. Feeding time is often pretty exciting.


If you are feeding yours indoors, which you probably should so you don't attract vermin, use one of those hard-to-flip dog bowls, and pick it up when the hound is done eating. He may flip it around anyway, before or after eating.  I use a silicone placemat under my hounds' bowls to facilitate cleanup, although newspaper or cardboard should work just as well. Dry kibble is easier to clean up than wet food or table scraps, but mine usually get some table scraps and have been known to smear greasy stuff around. For water, a bigger bucket is harder to flip, so use a 2 1/2 gallon bucket if he’s inclined to flip his water bowl. Or just leave the toilet seat up and let him drink from that. Most dogs are perfectly happy with toilet water and it doesn’t seem to make them sick. Of course you can’t use those in-the-tank bowl cleaners then; they’re caustic..
​


Most hounds take to manufactured toys pretty quickly once they are offered, but don't always know what to do with them, and may get bored just as quickly. The example of another dog that likes toys may speed up the learning process. Hounds do shred soft toys, and may eat the stuffing of stuffed animals or chunks of sponge toys, which can cause intestinal blockages, so I recommend sturdy toys like Kongs or Nylabones. One hound I know of took to swallowing washcloths. The vet pulled out 16! when the dopey dog finally needed surgery for an intestinal blockage. Most hounds enjoy squeaky toys, but frequently extract the squeaker, so keep an eye out to make sure he doesn't eat the mechanism. In a dog park, hounds tend to play keep-away with a ball or Frisbee, which can annoy the heck out of retrievers. And hounds can turn just about anything stinky into a toy. Mine will steal socks or underwear from the dirty laundry, usually when humorless company is around. I had another who helped himself to the smaller pieces of firewood from the woodpile. He liked to shred them on the couch. Be firm about what he is allowed to play with and what he isn't. Many hounds will gleefully shred anything they can (cardboard, plastic, feather pillows, dirty Kleenex, etc.) into mulch.  

0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Blueticks
    Chasing
    Coexisting With Cats
    Eating Behavior
    Exercise
    Geese
    Hound Voices
    Howling
    Limber Tail
    Noise Problems
    Off-lead Safety
    Swimming
    Toys
    Veterinary Issues

    Author

    Emmy Sue answers questions about coonhound behavior,  including explanations of hunting behavior in pet situations, training tips, and anecdotes about odd coonhound and foxhound personality quirks.  Readers are encouraged to contribute their own comments and suggestions. 

      Write to Emmy Sue

      [object Object]
    Submit

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018

Home
Our Dream
About Us
Donate
Contact Us