A few days ago, on a beautiful spring day here in Portland, Maine, we went into town with Olivia. [Olivia is the Black & Tan seen with her "dad" Steve on our home page.] Our car needed work, so Steve left Olivia and me off at a town park. The car place is a short walk across a busy intersection. There are crosswalks, but the roads are both two-lane highways.
Steve decided to walk from the car place back to the park.  He called me my on my cell and suggested that he lay a track for us.    

It's a big park. I couldn't see him. Olivia and I were checking out the ducks and squirrels.   

Steve and I discussed in general where he would walk. He left a map that he had in his pocket as our start article. I hung out with Olivia to let the scent age for 25 minutes, then walked Olivia over to his starting place.    

Olivia spotted the map and looked around for him. I picked up the map and  gave her the commands "Find it." ... "Where's Steve?" 

She was off like a shot – BACK towards the car place over the road! [Note: Olivia has her 30 foot tracking leash and harness on. She is not loose near the busy road.]   

I get her back in the direction that I knew Steve had traveled and she puts her head down, tail up, and starts off looking for him. Yeah!  I haven't tracked with her all winter. But she will do anything to find Steve!   

Steve has left a Kleenex half way up a hill for her to find. I see a Kleenex that    looks like it's in the path. Olivia blows by it – no indication (not a good thing in AKC tracking, but maybe its someone else's Kleenex). 

I begin to wonder if we are really on his track. Olivia is still head down. She only looked up once – to check out some kids. (Kids can't be trusted in Olivia's book of rules). I tell her  "Find it" again, and re-scent her with the map. You are allowed to re-scent your dog in AKC. 

We are heading up a hill. There's more Kleenex to choose from in our path. Olivia circles in on one and gets back to business. At this time I am reminded of   the advice my tracking friends gave me, "Trust your dog."    

I follow Olivia to an open field and see Steve sitting under a tree in the distance. She keeps her head down until we are close enough that she begins to air scent him. That makes her raise her head and she spots him. She takes off at a full run towards him, while I do my best to keep up with her. 

The end to a good tracking day… Or is it?   

Steve heads back to get the car and I walk in the opposite direction back to the ducks. Our plan is for him to drive over and pick us up so we can spend more time in the park. 

Eventually, Olivia and I head back to where he had crossed the road.  Olivia picks up his scent again. I just stand there waiting. No way I'm going to cross a busy road with her, and anyway, tracking on hot pavement is very advanced – Olivia is strictly recreational when it comes to tracking.    

The more I hold her back, the more she starts chopping and pulling. 

So, what the hey!   

I head out the way I think he would go towards the road, but Olivia takes a turn    on the sidewalk, towards a crosswalk that I didn't know was there. Okay, I'm good with that. We cross the road and she turns again, away from the car place. Oh well, she had a good run. I let her go to explore it. After a few feet she turns back in the right direction. I notice that the wind has picked up and that it's blowing in the direction that would have carried his scent away from the car place. But when she lost the air scent, she went back to head down, following his footsteps in the right direction again.    

At this point we are about to cross the busy road. She is hot to find Steve. I have to hold her back until there is a break in the traffic. Then we shoot across the road.    

Okay – fun and games are over.  Let's just walk directly to the car place. No way that Olivia could still be tracking Steve – it's not the direction that I would have walked.

I let her take me around the building to yet another sidewalk I didn't know was there. BINGO! We are now in front of the car place and Steve.      

Olivia will never pass an AKC test – her fears get in the way; but when her heart is in it, she truly does have coonhound that coonhound nose.     

Angela Faeth   
Portland, Maine   

We are very excited to launch a new poster on Coonhound Companions!  (See our Posters & More page.) The new "Soulmates" poster focuses on the incredible bond between hounds and their owners.   As soon as I saw the pictures on the poster, it brought back memories of my soulmate who died just a few years ago.

Montgomery (left), my black and tan, was truly my once in a lifetime dog, yet I didn't know it till he was gone.  He was never the star, never at the forefront, and never my first pick to take anywhere or do anything.  He was my soulmate.  I talk to his grave, cry when I hear his recordings, and miss him every day.  When I brought him home as a clutzy pup, he didn't cling to me or follow me around.  He sat in the adjoining room and stared at me.  Yet, he grew in to my steady eddie, my rock, my buddy. 

The Weimaraners always stole the show.  Their ribbon box was overflowing.  But, when called upon, Montgomery would put on a solid performance, especially if it was necessary and not superfluous.

The Labs were the party all the time dogs out in the yard.  Yet, Montgomery ruled the yard.  With a glance, he could keep order in the pack and make sure all was okay.

I wonder that hounds don't get passed over at shelters because they don't automatically leap in to your arms and hand over their heart.  Just like my young pup staring at me and evaluating me, I think they hold off for a bit, but oh, when they give in and lean softly against you and gaze deeply in to your eyes with those beautiful hound eyes, its all over! When they decide that you are their "people," they will be your faithful defender, your soulmate, your best buddy, and hands down the best dog you've ever owned.  They will steal your heart and wrap you around their little toe without you ever realizing it.   

They won't necessarily put on a big show or do a victory dance the day they steal your heart.  It'll just simply happen.  You'll see a certain wiseness in their steady gaze.  

Hounds do put on shows, but not over the deep, intense bond they'll share with you.  They aren't the ones bringing big bouquets of flowers and screaming "I love you" a hundred times a day.  They are the steady, reliable beloved companions for us every day of their lives.  The goofy shows they will do for everyone when they feel like pulling a joke or being silly.  A hound in his element can make even the most dour laugh!

I think I need to go give the love of my life a hug.  The big goofy spotted thing has been waiting gently at my side for his turn for attention!

~Mary Beth Hall

Really, a coonhound?  As a performance dog?  Aren’t they solely hunting dogs?  Aren’t they stinky, stubborn, untrainable and have only one thing on their minds (finding raccoons)?

I’m here to tell you that that just ain’t so!  While all breeds were bred with certain characteristics and traits in mind, most breeds can serve many different purposes.  This idea has gotten so popular that many national breed clubs offer versatility awards to showcase the wide variety of talents of their breed.  As society changes, our beloved companions adapt and change alongside us.  The only trait that doesn’t change is the love of a dog for its owner.

What I will share with you is a not a secret and not magic.  If you want to compete in any event with a “different” breed of dog, you need to learn what’s typical for that dog and learn how to adapt your training to the type of dog you’re running.  Just like people, dogs do not all learn new things by one cookie-cutter secret training method.  Some people are right-brained, some left-brained, some detail oriented, some instinctive.  Some dogs are keenly intelligent, some dumber than a box of rocks, some anxious, some bold, some like ten million repetitions, others like to be shown once then they’ve “got it” so don’t drill it.

I’ve trained 3 coonhounds to be therapy dogs, compete in agility, obedience and tracking.  I’ve entered treeing contests and shows, watched a couple hunts, and thought about trying dock jumping with a coonhound just for a lark.

The most important part of competing with a dog is to remember that training and competing is essentially about building a bond between you and your dog.  The dog doesn't understand the rules of competition.  What they do love is the time spent with you training and succeeding at whatever you choose to try.

My Treeing Walker Coonhound is willing to try anything for me.  He desperately does not like to be corrected, but he’s full of mischief and joy when he’s right.  He cannot take any pressure, so I have to be very conscious of my nervous Nellie actions at competition.  He’s also maturing very slowly.  While friends are hopping in to the competition ring with young pups, I’m finding that at 2½ years of age, he’s barely ready to keep up that level of focus long enough to compete.  I’m positive he’s got a bright future ahead of him as long as I’m patient with his training.

And I’m not alone.  Look to the American Kennel Club performance records and you’ll find Redbone Coonhounds with their Master Agility Championships.  You’ll also find a pair of Bluetick Coonhounds who have earned their Obedience Trial Championships including perfect scores of 200 out of 200 and High in Trial wins over all the other breeds competing.  
Coonhounds just wanna have fun and they’re willing to try just about anything!  Keep your training sessions short and fair to the dog.  Keep distractions to a minimum when teaching a new skill.  And pick something you’ll both enjoy, and I can guarantee they’ll make you laugh and smile.

My big ole hound dog has ears the size of Texas and a melody to his music that makes my heart sing.  He’s my lap dog at night.  My faithful protector at my side.  And my buddy during our fun weekends in the competition ring.  As of April 2011, he now has earned his Canine Good Citizen, his Therapy Dog, one leg of three needed towards an American Kennel Club Novice Fast Agility title and one leg of three needed towards an American Kennel Club Novice Obedience title.  I hope you’ll be there to cheer us on when we compete again!

~Mary Beth Hall