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Besides hunting

How many people actually do much with their hounds beside hunt them. Do you think how much a hound likes you will influence how hard it hunts for you?

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Bayou Creek Black and Tan’s

Nathan Phenix
417-255-5697

My 2 hounds are my only dogs. They are very opposite. One was a hunting machine her whole life, lived to tree coons. A wild child as a youngster and could never be loose if she wasn't hunting. Nice dog, but I prefer the other I can let loose around the house for a bit and not worry it's going to be a mile away. I can hunt it a couple hours a week and it's not going bananas in the pen or chain.

I guess I just like a dog I can treat like a dog, not just a hunting tool.

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The fun is over once you pull the trigger

Ron Ashbaugh
CROOKED FOOT KENNELS

Do you think how much a hound likes you will influence how hard it hunts for you?

I have a dog right now that will definitely hunt better for the partner he likes over the partner that doesn’t see eye to eye with the dog.

I always felt like my hounds hunted because they wanted to. They just needed me for a ride to the woods. Some were a little quirky and operated better with someone familiar, but it seemed like their desire was to hunt, not necessarily to please.
The curs I squirrel hunt are completely different. They posess the desire to hunt, but they hunt for and with me. They want to be your buddy, get their feelings hurt easier than a hound, and are way, way more person-specific than almost any hound is.

I don't really think the way a hound hunts is effected that much by wether it likes you or not. That being said, you can definitely see the effects on a hound that has been either abused or handeled by someone with a heavy hand when the dog is around the handler/owner. That being said, I know that many hounds will take while to adjust to a different owner/handler. It seems to take some awhile to establish a confidence in someone different. Every hound is different just like people are.

From my perspective those who can only enjoy a good hound when it's being hunted miss out on easily 65% of the joy in having a hound or more than one hound. My wife will often ask me on weekends or time off from work how many trips I made to the dog pens that day. I just really enjoy caring for them, patting them up, checking them over for health issues, just sitting in the dog yard, etc. I have a camp near the Canadian border and when I'm up there if I've not run them they get walked twice a day for 30-40 mins. At home I have a good sized exercise yard so they get let out twice a day for at least 20 mins. each time.

Many I think view their hunting dogs as they would a gun or a hammer or a wrench, just another tool to get a job done. Mine are part of the family. They do have to perform in the woods though. If they don't I find a place for them where I'm confident they'll be taken care of and not be abused.

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Dan

Well my/our hounds are family

We make over them several times a day. Grandkids play with them when here. They are outside most of the time. But sure like to stretch out in the house for a nap or dog chew. Don't know if this makes them hunt harder, but it sure makes them handle better. Not sure I really want them to hunt any harder. We have a good time when we go to the woods. They will get out 300 to 600 yds. If nothings moving (doesn't happen very often) they circle back to find me. To get petted and we head for road. Depends on our location if a leash is needed. If granddaughter is along a lot smaller circles unless running track. And yes they tree coon.
Yep I know several of you would not have this type of hound. But I/we have so much fun coon hunting. It's called pleasure hunting for a reason.
Guess you might say I/we hunt our companions.
Randi

We don't hunt much anymore. We go to bench shows, field trials and water races. I usually take one with me when I go horse riding.

Mine grew up in the house with me as a pet. He's outside now except for extreme weather. But I take him on walks around town. Kids and I spend a bit of time with him most every day. He's not just a hunting dog. Bring him up to the yard with us when we're outside playing till dark. They are social animals, they love to be around people. He loves to sit and watch the kids play, or he's just waiting for them to bring him next biscuit.

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Lone Pine North

There was a fellow back in the sixties, nineteen not eighteen, that pulled a dog sled with treeing Walkers. I think his name was Doggett. He had a nite champion named Tennessee Ernie.

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Donald Bergeron