Registered: Jan 2016
Location:
Posts: 628

When your hounds get to the point when they’re only physically capable of 1 or 2 hunts a week for say no more than 2-3 hours a hunt do you move them on or keep them to the end and let them live out their days under your care? Perhaps you retire them or semi-retire them and get a younger one to start or buy a started one?

I’m soft hearted (or maybe soft headed!) when it comes to this! If I’ve had a good hound that has brought me many hours of joy while hunting and in the yard I have a hard time sending them down the road!

I’ve known a few (and it seems have read about many) who consider a hound no more than a tool or a vehicle and have no attachment to the dogs they keep other than the service they provide.

What say you??

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Dan

Last edited by DL NH on 02-14-2022 at 01:32 AM

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Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Chattanooga, Tn
Posts: 22586

If I have a hunting hound that I am no longer hunting then I give or sell them to someone who will hunt them.

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Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Mercer PA
Posts: 4837

Heck 1 or 2 days for 2 or 3 hours sounds perfect to me. I wish I had a dog of that age and desire 100% of my life.

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Ron Ashbaugh
CROOKED FOOT KENNELS

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Registered: May 2016
Location: Palatka, FL
Posts: 5106

For me this is one of the sad parts of owning a coonhound. Their age can sneak up on you rather quickly. I have a man that became a friend because he was looking for a hound. I told him I had a female with some age on her. That I wasn't hunting much. He took her and gave her 3 good years of being pampered and hunted. She just passed at over 11 years of age. I have a male out back right now that is over 11. Just want what's best for him as he gave me his best. Ole Mongo was a warrior when it come to hunting hard and long. I let him exercise everyday on about 4 acres. Give him treats then put him back in his pen. Taking him hunting one night this week just to let him have some extra fun. I have a 30 year old grandson chomping at the bit for some competition action. If Ole Mongo was 5 or 6 again. We could be having some fun. For now we will find some peace in just being old and slow.

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Registered: Feb 2021
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 136

I ran into the hardest situation for me. Nicest dog I had ever had just went to not being very good. Spent all kinds of money at the vet and did all the treatments but he just got to where most nights he wouldn't hunt. Might tree a coon but nothing like he was. Twice I pulled out my pistol to leave him in the woods and just couldn't do it. At 5 I couldn't see keeping him till he died. Let a guy have him that just wanted to hunt a little.

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Tom Wood

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Registered: Feb 2005
Location:
Posts: 1745

All mines expire here ........
Even euthanasia one ....that was hard ....

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Registered: Nov 2015
Location:
Posts: 2941

Horses or hounds, they stay here. I have 2 of my horses buried in the yard and 2 dogs cremated on my nightstand. None of them passed on their own, we had to make that decision; I held the dogs and the horses' heads until they took their last breath.

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Registered: Aug 2013
Location: Seneca, Mo
Posts: 5932

When they've been with you that long there was a reason you never got rid of them before now. By this time they owe you nothing and you owe them. Let them live out what they have left as they please. For some that's the occasional hunt.
It doesn't mean when they start nearing their senior years you don't start on another one for a replacement but the old dog doesn't need put on the back burner and never turned loose. The worst thing you can do is quit hunting them when the dog is still able and still wants to go. Think of an older human that becomes stagnant. It doesn't mean they need to be out climbing mountains but exercise does the body and soul good - both man and dog. They may not be able to run the roads competition hunting and go dusk to daylight night in and night out that's what the younger ones are for.
Mafia was hunted the last time less than a month before he passed at 13yrs, he won our 4-Staters Coon hunt not long before that. Ol Red with a little help from some Remadyl was chasing deer and treeing coons almost to the bitter end he was somewhere between 14-16 years old. Our dog Spider was hunted regularly upto age 13. Let the dog tell you when he's done.
Bruce your doing right by yours; some exercise everyday, a little extra TLC, and the occasional hunt. It sounds like his loyalty to you has paid off in his yesteryears.

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Registered: Apr 2015
Location: church hill tn
Posts: 5738

quote:

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Originally posted by Redneck Mafia
When they've been with you that long there was a reason you never got rid of them before now. By this time they owe you nothing and you owe them. Let them live out what they have left as they please. For some that's the occasional hunt.
It doesn't mean when they start nearing their senior years you don't start on another one for a replacement but the old dog doesn't need put on the back burner and never turned loose. The worst thing you can do is quit hunting them when the dog is still able and still wants to go. Think of an older human that becomes stagnant. It doesn't mean they need to be out climbing mountains but exercise does the body and soul good - both man and dog. They may not be able to run the roads competition hunting and go dusk to daylight night in and night out that's what the younger ones are for.
Mafia was hunted the last time less than a month before he passed at 13yrs, he won our 4-Staters Coon hunt not long before that. Ol Red with a little help from some Remadyl was chasing deer and treeing coons almost to the bitter end he was somewhere between 14-16 years old. Our dog Spider was hunted regularly upto age 13. Let the dog tell you when he's done.
Bruce your doing right by yours; some exercise everyday, a little extra TLC, and the occasional hunt. It sounds like his loyalty to you has paid off in his yesteryears.

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