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American Foxhound |
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Because America was a great melting pot for immigrants, it was also a large mixing cauldron for dogs as well. Immigrants from all over the world, if they could afford the passage, brought their dogs with them. Colonial America was a vast wilderness in which hunting was not only a hobby but often a necessity. Hounds from many countries proved most useful in this young land and, in the spirit of democracy, little worry was wasted about pedigree and purity as long as the dogs were good hunters. Thus, the exact development of the American hounds is only generally known with much overlap, conflict and even fabrication of history. Since so many
of the settlers on American shores were British, it is only logical that
the majority of the hounds came with them. English Foxhounds formed the
general basis for the American version, but there were Irish, French and
other additions as well.
One of the first
packs was brought to America in 1650 by Robert Brooke of Maryland. They
were black and tan and did well on the slower gray fox which went to ground
sooner. Often recorded as English
hounds, these dogs now are felt by many to be of the Irish Kerry Beagle
type because of their color, size and style of working. With the introduction
of the speedy English red fox to America in the 1700s, hunters soon wanted
a hotter nosed animal with more speed, so dogs with more of an English
type were used. Brooke's line became the basis for the Black and Tan Coonhound,
which would be developed later.
George Washington
was a dedicated fox hunter and maintained a choice breeding program and
good records. French hounds given to him by Lafayette were used for their
abilities and their beautiful voices. Many other breeders developed their
own strains and types over the years, based on how the hounds were to
be used.
Pioneers often
hunted the fox with an American Foxhound and a gun, requiring a methodical
dog with great nose and persistence. This type of hound was more akin
to the French hounds or the German schweisshunds and was often used later
for bigger game such as wild cats, boar, coyote and bear. Others pursued
the fox, or renard, in a group with a pack of hounds. For the formal
style of group hunting, many clubs did (and still do) use purebred English
Foxhounds. But others, especially those who liked informal group night
hunts, developed their own strains of rangier, leggier foxhounds.
These pack hounds
are the closest to what is known by ARC as the American Foxhound. They
are taller, a bit lighter boned, and longer eared than their English ancestors,
but are close enough to often be mistaken for one another. Other hound
fanciers favored competitive events with both night field trials and drag
trials being developed. This necessitated the use of hounds that were
not only faster and hotter nosed, but were more individualistic and competitive
than those who happily cooperated in a pack.
For decades,
this whole gamut of early "foxhounds" slowly separated into
a variety of breeds and types. Hounds of the slower, individually hunting
type developed into the cold-nosed American breeds such as the Black
and Tan, the American Blue Gascon and the Majestic
Tree Hound, as well as the Plott Hound. From the speedier, competitive
dogs came the faster, treeing breeds like the Treeing Walker and the
Redbone
Coonhound. And from the middle ground, there remained a wide divergence
of true Foxhounds.
Various strains
of American Foxhounds have persisted over the years. Famous lines
such as the Henry Birdsong and July hounds date from the early 1800s,
as do the Walker strains from which the Coonhound of that name later
developed. Any mixed breed hound that bears the solid tan color is
often called a "July." The July-type American Foxhound,
often of a solid red or tan color, is still used throughout the country
for hunting coyote and other game. Colonel Haiden Trigg of Kentucky
developed a renowned strain of blueticked, white-collared hounds in
the late 1800s based on Walker, Birdsong and July dogs. The Trigg
hound is often erroneously referred to as a separate breed. Modern
hunts have developed their own strains, such as the currently well-known
black/tan Perm Merrydales.
The AKC
American Foxhounds is very small in actual registration numbers, even
though the various strains, not registered with any formal body, represent
a large population of American practical hunting hounds.
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