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"Lotsa Talent" ... What does that mean?

6/12/2011

10 Comments

 
Picture
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

10 Comments
Angela Faeth
6/21/2011 12:27:17 pm

I love the photo of Blaze! Good job, I wish my Olivia could do that. She's just a little (a lot) too timid.

Reply
Kate
9/26/2012 04:16:13 am

This is so good to read. I have a mutt, who we were told by the rescue was Alaskan Husky/Hound mix. We think (based on the knowledge of a friend familiar with hunting dogs) that her hound part is treeing walker coonhound. She is 9 months old now, and I get so frustrated with her sometimes...one minute she behaves like the Angel she is, the next she completely ignors me! But sounds like you are having a similar experience :) I'm thinking about taking up skijoring, and maybe some Agility. We taught her a little bit about going through a hoola hoop the other night and it went well.

Reply
Jerry Dunham
6/21/2011 12:27:50 pm

I've trained both Great Danes and coonhounds (all of them rescues) to compete in AKC Obedience and Rally, plus some dabbling in Agility. I can tell you that any dog, of any breed, is capable of remarkable things with a dedicated handler. I can also tell you that the bond between dog and handler is greatly enhanced by the experience.

For anyone wanting to try these nontraditional forms of competition with their coonhounds, I'd first suggest getting into formal training classes that are oriented toward competition. You can train everything a dog needs to know all on your own, but the dog needs to learn to work around other people and dogs, and that's difficult on your own.

Second, remember these three things:

* Patience
* Consistency
* Persistence

and you'll go a long way.

Third, remember to have fun. If you're not having fun, your dog probably isn't, either.

--
Jerry Dunham
Tejas Coonhound Rescue

Reply
Crystal McClaran
6/11/2012 01:34:06 pm

Hello,
I have a Walker Hound/Great Dane mix named Bo. I am a professional trainer and Bo has been the most amazing dog I have ever trained. He is currently competing in Dock Diving jumping 23-25 feet. He also is doing well in agility. I have considered breeding this and making a new breed of dog..lol. His athletic ability of the walker mixed with the Dane has made the most amazing athletic dog with a brain.

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Penni Lowery
6/21/2011 12:28:51 pm

How exciting it was to read this post. I am considering training Fincastle, my TWC, in agility. He has his AKC Good Citizen designation and showed some promise in his first Agility Fundamentals class. I must say, at times he seems brilliant and at other times, he's just a goof. Through it all, he always makes me smile.

Mary Beth - your descriptions and training tips are so valuable. I would love to see you compete with your TWC. I live in southern Ohio. Do you ever show in the Columbus area?

Angela - I have a very, very shy dog (Browni Ann) that had been abused. When I got her, she would shut down even if she heard a loud noise or if you moved too quickly around her. I started taking her to classes at a dog club to see if I could get her to come out of her shell. We started with a general beginning obedience class and have worked our way up to competing in CPE Agility! She is very acurate and when she is competing, she is very fast...though during training she is slow but sure. It has been an incredible bonding journey for the two of us. Many of the club members who have known Browni from the beginning of her training can't believe it's the same dog. She is still cautiously shy, but she has gained confidence like you wouldn't believe. Maybe Olivia and you could have a similar experience!

Jerry - I loved your tips. You are so right with your three tips.... especially patience, when it comes to Coonhounds.

Reply
Mary Beth Hall
6/21/2011 12:29:22 pm

Hi Penni! I'm in Delaware, Ohio just north of Columbus. I often compete at Clermont County, Queen City and Gem City clubs.

I haven't tried CPE yet, but I've thought about it. The Flashpoint trials are very close. Hopefully I"ll get to meet you soon at a trial!!

Reply
Penni Lowery
6/21/2011 12:29:50 pm

Mary Beth - Thanks so much for the reply. I'm a member of Clermont County Dog Training Club, though it is an hour away. If you don't mind, please email me when you will be showing in the area, no matter which club. I'm so happy that you come down this way. I left my email on this reply's form but if you can't access it, let me know.
One of our members is actually related to the original "Walker" for whom the breed was named. When I first walked into the club with my TWC, her jaw dropped. She said she hadn't seen a Walker since she was a child.

Reply
Lady Ashmire link
10/19/2013 05:01:20 pm

This site gives me some hope. I find coonhounds oddly fascinating( along with Catahoulas. I *think* my current dog is actually heeler/catahoula but can't rule out some Bluetick in her, and it was one of the first breeds I started researching for advice when this "Aussie Shepherd mix" from the shelter started baying operatically and acting very un-sheepdog-ish). Point is, I am looking into possibilities for a prosopagnosia service dog, and I have personal reasons why I'm just not interested in having a retriever( besides the fact that the successful prosopagnosia dogs I've heard of so far have been non-traditional service dog breeds). In some ways this job would be similar to a tracking dog, but would need to have polite public manners and good obedience skills. SO, it is good to hear stories that they can indeed be trained and I needn't cross them off my list entirely.

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Emily link
10/20/2013 03:09:00 am

Interesting. First, it sounds like your dog might be an American Leopard Hound, a.k.a. leopard cur. These have a little catahoula in their ancestry, but are basically hounds. Send us pix at "info@coonhoundcompanions.com" and we'll give your our best guess.
A hound might be very good at translating face recognition for someone with face recognition problems. Hounds have a much greater vocabulary than your average dog, and are bred to "speak" to their handlers from a distance, letting the handler know what they are chasing from a considerable distance. I can tell what kind of animal my hounds are chasing just by their vocalizations. They also have special greetings for some of our more frequent visitors--the U.P.S. guy, our neighbor Gladys, etc. I don't need to look to know who is at the gate. While hound dogs are generally distinguishing individuals and species more by scent than by sight, and we are generally "blind" to the scents they are sensitive to, taking on a hound as a hunting partner is almost like gaining a new sense. They might make excellent candidates for that kind of work. If you try, please let us know how it works out for you.
While it takes some effort to get hounds to mind their manners in public, and even more to get them to listen when they are in hunting mode, it can be done. Mine were very well-behaved when we lived in Brooklyn NY part time--except when they got a whiff of alley cat. And I do know some experienced hunters who never need to put their hounds on a lead and whose dogs behave exactly as they are expected to. Most of these guys have years of experience handling hounds, but some just seem to have special insight into the way the hound brain works. And, as Mary Beth said in her blog post, one woman in Idaho, a dog trainer by profession and a member of a search and rescue squad, took her two blueticks to the top of the all-breed obedience world.
Good luck!

Reply
Lisa domeck
12/19/2014 08:24:03 am

I loved you posting about the coonhounds. This is my fourth Redbone Coonhound. I have a 7 yr old and a 1 yr old Redbone Coonhound. Ella just got ranked #1 Redbone Coonhound in Agility. We will be competing in Orlando,FL 2015 at the agility invitational. We do some rally also. I love my redbones

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