Following her visit to Almost Home Pet Adoption Center, Rita Mae Brown, New York Times Best Selling Author shared some information about hounds, since there are many
Hound mixes at Almost Home.

If you like music, you’ll like hounds. They are the opera singers of the canine world, belting out their arias when they pick up the scent of their quarry. The rest of the time they save their voices. While hounds are not yappy they will warn you of intruders and are good guard dogs.

Most of the hounds you will see at Almost Home or other shelters are mixes. To help you determine more or less what you have, I will cite the following most popular large scent hounds. A scent hound follows the odor of its quarry until that line disappears. They possess a fantastic work ethic and will persist until the fox, raccoon, coyote, bobcat, bear go to ground, find safety or the scent fades. Some hunters may use scent hounds to chase deer but most of us wish they did not. If you want to chase deer use a scottish deerhound. (One woman’s opinion.)

Before describing the most common large hounds consider the qualities they share.
Hounds are problem solvers. Whether they work in a pack, as a brace (a pair) or alone, they are bred to work out scent puzzles. Therefore they are highly intelligent. It’s a purposeful mind. You could train a hound to go to obedience trials but it would question why you want it to run through a tube or take a jump. Where’s the scent?

Hounds are easily house broken. Adults I have rescued have never taken more than two weeks but I am with them. They aren’t left in the house alone.

A hound can run up to sixty miles a day. Its powers of endurance are legendary. But if you aren’t hunting the hound and I doubt you will, give the animal proper exercise. They like running or walking with you and they love running with horses. No exercise means you adoptee will become fat as a tick.

Hounds are fanatically clean. Dirt offends them. A hound can come in, mud-caked, and be as clean as a whistle in an hour. If you enjoy bathing your hound, make it fun, he/she will enjoy it, too. You’ve saved the animal lots of grooming and who doesn’t like a massage when getting washed?

Unless a hound or any dog has been on its own for months, they usually get along with cats, chickens, cows, etc. If you adopt a hound, ask if it’s been living with cats. Almost Home has cats so often the canines learn to get along with them. The best teacher for an adult hound is a really mean cat.

Puppies, living with cats, learn to love them. My cats sleep on my hounds. But do make sure of what you need to do here in terms of other animals.

Hounds almost always get along with other dogs, being accustomed to working closely with them. If you have an adult dog in the house, it will take them time to become acquainted, establish boundaries. That’s true for any canine.

Hounds are not extroverted dogs. They express affection but are generally calm. Terriers dazzle. Hounds just get the job done, keep their own counsel.

If you want to watch your hound work, lay down scent. Obviously, this does not apply to a true hunting individual but so few people have country ways now. However, anyone can lay down scent (use a soaked handkerchief tied to a rope) then release your hound and follow. The benefit to doing this is you will see your pal work and he/she will feel quite accomplished.

But if you spend time with your hound, take walks, runs and those valuable rides in the truck or car next to you, you’ll have a happy friend.

Hounds live to twelve and beyond. I’ve had some live to eighteen but around twelve I often see the slowing down.

Given as many of you live in the suburbs you’ll want invisible fencing. You’d want this for any dog since it’s all too easy for a rabbit to show up, run across the road, hound/dog in pursuit and before you know it, hit by a car. All dogs benefit from invisible fencing or fencing.

Following are the most common large hounds here in Virginia:

The REDBONE HOUND

A sleeker hound often than the Black and Tan although the old style can be boxier. They’ve come into fashion and been “beautified’. Americans always lighten a dog. If you go to Germany and see Schnauzers, German Shepards (called Alsatians there) you immediately see what we’ve done.

The Redbone will track coon and whatever else you train it to track if that is your pleasure. Their coat is astonishing beautiful, a blood bay if you think in terms of horses. When the sunlight shines on it the bright highlights jump out at you.

The Redbone likes your company, likes a task but mostly wants to hang out with you. They are very sweet. I have one abandoned and abused who found me at four months. It took him a year to trust again but he was polite during that year just very distant. He’s become a good companion, a happy dog although very watchful of strangers. Again, they aren’t aggressive but the Redbone knows who belongs on your property and who doesn’t.

They can withstand all kinds of weather and like being outdoors but appreciate that warm bed at night.

The BLOODHOUND

Genesis, Chapter I, Verse 1. This is the best nose of all dogs. It is also a large hound, reaching up to one hundred and ten pounds.

The coat is a lovely tan, the eyes large. While ponderous, the animal moves well and is often used in rescue work. They are sensitive to correction and do best with a positive person.

You will rarely find one in a shelter. First off, they are quite expensive. They aren’t bred in large numbers and the people who own them won’t let them go. Their followers are almost fanatical about the breed.

They have lovely voices.

The PLOTT HOUND

In some ways this animal appears to be a somewhat smaller and lighter version of the Bloodhound. It’s still a big hound with a brown or tan coat with black tips.

Used to hunt bear, you find more of them now than say, thirty years ago. They are gaining in popularity because they are so good at what they do and one can follow on foot.

Their voices are deep, occasionally a light rasp will get in there almost like the hound has been smoking cigarettes.

They are fearless, but amazingly gentle with humans and like children. Most hounds do.

I did not grow up with Plotts whereas I grew up with the other types of large scent hounds as well as the smaller scent hounds. One found me years ago. Starved, not yet a year old (you can usually tell by the teeth). I restored him and whether I wanted to or not, I began bear hunting because once he picked up the line he would not relinquish it.

I became careful about where we walked. By the time he was four he understood I might run behind him for three hours but then I was done.

He also chased thunderstorms. I have no idea why. He’d stop when the storm moved out.

A Plott possesses a noble bearing but has his/her goofy moments. It’s endearing.

My fellow, Punch, lived to thirteen years. He was so gentle, so profoundly loving that when he passed even the cats mourned him, looking for him for weeks. That was seven years ago and I still miss him.

The Four Types of FOXHOUNDS

English, Crossbred, American, Penn-marydel

The ENGLISH

You’ve seen countless representations of this tri-color hound in old hunting prints, many from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.

They stand about at your knee, can be seventy to eighty pounds, have good bone, short ears compared to Black and Tans, etc. The skull is broader than the American Foxhound. Their nose is not as good as American Foxhounds because scent in England is so much better. It’s a moist place. I think of England as an aquarium. Nor do they have the cry because as cultivation progressed from the time of the Roman Conquest, the land became more and more open. You can see a pack of English Foxhounds, you don’t need to hear them. In America, younger, less cultivated, deep hickory and oak forests on the East Coast, you may see your hound or hounds but you’ve got to hear them.

The records for this prized breed go back centuries in England. The Irish and Scots (Breeders of the Dumfrieshire Hound, a black and tan foxhound) all have fabulous records.

For us, that begins in 1742. Thomas Walker brought over some English Foxhounds. Lord Fairfax predated Mr. Walker (I mention Walker first because he lived at Castle Hill in Albemarle County) by shipping over quite a few in 1728. De La Brooke of Maryland was even ahead of them. (It’s so hard for a Virginian to give a Marylander credit.)

The English hound has all the virtues of hounds but my experience has been if scent is bad they won’t try as hard as American hounds. I have only hunted behind two packs of English Foxhounds so take this for what it is. But the animal has been bred for better conditions than our own.

It’s an uncommonly handsome animal, very eye-catching and easy to get along with.

The CROSSBRED

A cross between the English and the American their idea was to blend the best of both. Since American hounds can sometimes be weedy this improved the bone.

While this has been going on in a desultory way since after the Revolutionary War the improvements really hit their stride in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century reaching a high degree of success in the last quarter. Deep Run, Farmington, Genesee Valley and many more have wonderful packs of Crossbreds. Indeed, more foxhunting clubs have this fine animal that the true American hound.

They are a bit lighter, still quite an impressive, clean-cut animal with better voice and better nose than the English.

Again, so easy to live with and play with.

The AMERICAN

To be honest, this is my hound, the one I grew up with, the one I hunt. My pack is about 75% American and 25% Crossbred for ballast.

They are sleeker, lighter, the skull is narrower. The eyes are large and emotive, usually rich brown although some can be light. There is a strain of blue eyes which show up occasionally. They are gorgeous.

The ear is not long, the feet can be smaller and ‘up”. When a hound’s feet, particularly the American, begin to let down, flatten, the hound is usually showing age.

Breeding a good foot on a hound, like breeding a good nose, takes study.

The movement of this animal is fluid, appears effortless.

They are sensitive. I think of them as the Thoroughbreds of the hound world. I do not allow harsh correction with my hounds nor people with loud voices. They aren’t scardy-cats but they remember who they don’t like and they literally will not work for them. I have seen some people bully these animals, they will hunt but ultimately they run off or develop nervous conditions.

The nose is very, very good and the cry is lovely.

My house is full of retirees and we go riding or walking together with all the other rescues. They love the cats, watch the chickens.

I find them so easy to work with but then, I repeat, this is the hound I grew up with. I know them like I know my family.

Your love and kindness is repaid tenfold by this animal.

The PENN-MARYDEL

Oh, what beautiful, deep voices they have and such good noses. They have what we call cold noses which means they can follow an old line. So many hunters like this. I don’t but that’s me. I want a fresh line.

Often black and tan, in weight a bit more like the Crossbred. They are more square than the American but not as square as the English.

If you don’t know hounds, seeing the coloring you might think it’s a coonhound but once you know the difference you will never mistake the two.

Lately, some huntsman have been crossing them to the American hound. Personally, I am wary of anything that might diminish those magical voices.

Another solid citizen, you can’t help but like the Penn-marydel.

COLOR CODING

Often hounds are described by coat especially among the night hunters. You’ll hear about Walker hounds, Trigg hounds, Birdsong, July and Maupin which are night hunter foxhounds but all would come under the American banner.

Their skulls might be broader than what mounted foxhunters see in their American packs but the night hunter hounds all have phenomenal drive.

The BLUE TICK

A white coat with blue ticks or small blue spots. It’s flashy and very easy to see in the field which is an advantage.

All blue tick hounds descend from the pack Lafayette sent General Washington in 1785. The General was considered the best horseman of his day, his rival in this being Light Horse Harry Lee. Mrs. Washington loved hunting with her husband and he was very proud of her turnout. They loved one another, their hounds and their horses; happy lives even with their heavy burdens.

The RED TICK

Same as the blue only the color is red or chestnut. You might also find some lemon ticking.

While the following colors don’t seem to be used as names for hounds you do see them. A totally red coat with a white ring-neck. These come from the Orange County Hounds, are American. First bred by a fellow in Snickersville they are fast, fast, fast and glorious to watch. Very smart.

White coats with chestnut spots.

White coats with lemon spots.

This may be more than you wanted to know.

While someone like myself studies bloodlines, observes hounds, any hounds, whenever possible, I’ve tried to stay away from most of that and give you the broad outlines.

After all, you’re looking to find a dear friend who is predominately a hound. You will at Almost Home.

Please restore an animal’s faith in humans. The love which you will get back once that is accomplished is pure. A hound’s love is forever.