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Question on dew claws...

I've been told that becuz my dog has dew claws she isnt a pure bred Plott. BUT i've seen Plotts and other hounds WITH dew claws.

Now i could care less if she is or isnt but i'd like to get her an LP reg.

What is the story with dew claws???

I am not sure what the story is on Plotts with Dew Claws but most all the Mtn. Curs i raise are bron with dew claws. I know of some English dogs that have been born woth Dew Claws as well. Hope this helps, Trott.

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Thanks Tommy Trott
Noble, Ok.
405-872-8654
405-830-9125

If your talking about front legs most dogs have them. I have
seen dew claws on rear legs of one english dog. Also raised
a litter of Mountain Curs that half of the litter had rear dew claws.

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Go Team BLUE Wolf River-Thunder Blue Kennels

Yes i'm talking about front dew claws. I know some people have them removed when the pups are only a couple days old.

I've never heard of anyone removing them on hounds. Alot
of bird dog people do it because they say they are always
tearing them up while hunting. I would think hounds would
have more trouble with that than bird dogs. I figure they
must be there for a reason and didn't take them off the
Chesapeakes I've raised.

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Go Team BLUE Wolf River-Thunder Blue Kennels

All dogs have dew claws as far as I know. There are strains of MT Cur that are born with rear dew claws pretty often. There's a well reproducing Black and Tan stud around some where, named Five Toe Tommy Joe (I think) that has at least 1 rear dew claw. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see this trait in a few plotts...just more traction as far as I'm concerned.

Re: Question on dew claws...

quote:

---

Originally posted by Plottluvr
I've been told that becuz my dog has dew claws she isnt a pure bred Plott. BUT i've seen Plotts and other hounds WITH dew claws.

Now i could care less if she is or isnt but i'd like to get her an LP reg.

What is the story with dew claws???

---

The dew claws in dogs are the equivalent of thumbs in humans. All dogs are born with them and removed after birth if desired by the owners. The rear dew claws (big toe) have almost been bred out of canines with some expections. Some breeds actually need the claws, and is shown that in an all out run sometimes these claws are used to keep balance and have traction in an slant motion. How anyone can say that a dog is not pure bred because of these claws is beyond me, maybe that person has never raised a litter of pups. It is extremely common to remove these claws but who would remove them on a working dog....especially a treeing dog...I've seen it where that is the only claw our dogs have on the tree....lol.

Kristi Landry

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Patrick & Kristi Landry
Landry's Atchafalaya Bluetick Kennels

I Hunt and Recommend Cajun Lights

Even though it was stated that they were talking about front dew claws, I beleive there must be some confusion. Almost all if not all breeds of hounds have front dew claws unless they were surgically removed. Most breed standards state you are not allowed to surgically alter the dog therefore this would be grounds for disqualification. Some breed standards do not adress rear dew claws while others do. It is my opinion if the breed standard states no rear dew claws that should be upheld by the judge. The Walker breed standard does not adress this. I had a UKC liscensed judge tell me it stated it was grounds for disqualification and I asked him to show me. After looking for it he realized it did not state anything about rear dew claws and stated "Even though it dont say it you will not win under me showing a dog with rear dew claws" I felt this was wrong but since he was the judge that day I just kept my entry fee and did not show. As a matter of fact I have never shown that dog and probably never will since this is in fact the way a lot of judges and breeders feel about rear dew claws. I know a lot of the walker dogs that go back to ole Stylish Queen have rear dew claws.

I have heard a few Mtn Cur breeders also mention that the older "pure" mtn curs also have "useable" rear dewclaws.
I think Townsend Dunleavy mentioned it in one of his articles.

I had a mountain cur with rear dew claws. He about tore one off one night. Ended up putting him down because he was to mean.

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River Bottom Blue Kennel.

I always heard that they should be removed on the rear legs and also heard most of the walker breeds that have them are the "Stylish" hounds

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if you're gonna do it, do it in style!
If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS.

mr kincaid you are on the money
ive bred hounds for years and have come to find out that heavy old queen bred hounds come with the occasional rear dew claw
and maybe a blue eye here or there
but i did not know that it was okay to show these hounds with the rear dew claws
thank you for the input
that will come in handy!!

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Instant Coondogs : Just Add Woods!!!
(606)-510-4630
U.K.C. World Ch. Finalist GrCh.GrNiteCh Kings' Mtn. Stylish Nut
N.K.C. Reserve World Ch. Ch.NiteCh Salyers SamHale

I would have reported that judge

to UKC. He needs a written reprimend from them.

Cripple Creek, when you are showing a dog you are basically asking the judge for his opinion of which dog is best on that day. There were no witnesses to this and if I would have went ahead and entered he would have stated that he picked the other dog for reasons other than dew claws. There will never be any way to prove otherwise. Therefore I just will not donate my money to UKC, I will just wait till dark and compete in the hunt. A lot of the judges and breeders feel this way about dew claws. They feel it is a sign of impurity in the dog. Yet this dogs papers show otherwise.

wicks banjo

I just got done reading walk w/ wick 2 and he has 1/2 a chapter describing that blue eye and rear dew claws. i think i might try a pup w/ those features.

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Ben Stewart
517-525-3051
NITECH PR. HARDWOOD FANG
PR. STEWART'S MOLLY *RIP*

We just raised a litter of pups out of my male and a Abbots Bawling rebel female. Had seven pups, only two did not have rear dew claws. The pup are 9mos old and all running and treeing except one that the coyotes killed and one other that is treeing on house cats, just has not had as much oppurtunity as the others. As long as they continue to perform like this I could care less about the rear dew claws. My vet said if I would have brought them to him when they were really young he would have removed them for 5 dollars a piece. He said now it would cost about 50 and they would be laid up for a couple of weeks. I think I will just let my two pups keep em.

Most of the Hounds back in the 40's & 50's,

were born with rear DEW CLAWS, in the area that I was raised in. Now these were Hounds bred to Hounds for more then a couple of generations. When a litter of pups was born on our place, my dad would cut them off, within two day's. He would use either a pair of wire cutters or his pocket knife, but they had to be cut off close to the LEG BONE. It didn't matter if they were Coonhounds, Foxhounds, or Field Trial dog's, they came off. The reason they were cut off, was because if a dog was run alot in brush & limbs or on crusty snow that was several inch's deep, those dew claws would start bleeding, & in some cases would be limping. I have seen a few cases where the little spur bone that would grow with age, in the dew claw, would be broken off, then they would carry that back leg. So to me it would be better on the dog, to remove the dew claws, as quick as possible after birth. If it is done at birth, you can't tell that they had dew claws to start with.

Another thing that my dad would do to the pups while removing the dew claws, was to snip about an 1/8 of an inch of their tail off, so they wouldn't have that SCREW TAILED LOOK. Also if this was done at birth you could not tell that it had been snipped off.

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John

CUTLER, AMERICA

Good judgement, is something that you get from using bad judgement.--Will Rogers