My friend's field chocolate next to my black Logan, who was an inch taller than the standard, BTW.
They liked him that big up here. I've seen a lot of them.
Posted on 07/10/2006 8:41:39 AM PDT by girlangler
AKC dog registry welcoming coonhounds to purebred world
By Coke Ellington Associated Press
Raleigh | The American Kennel Club is trying to make coonhounds couth.
The nation's largest and most recognized dog registry is in the early stages of a major push to add coonhounds to its prestigious rolls, hoping both to increase its membership and to assure these sad-eyed symbols of country life stick around a while longer.
"We're interested in the registration of these dogs and their litters, but we're most interested in preserving these dogs for the future," said Steve Fielder, who moved to Raleigh in late 2004 to launch the club's coonhound initiative.
To meet its targets, the AKC has found itself negotiating with governments to assure there's ample hunting land for the dogs, setting up competitive hunts and working to enlist more of the estimated 1.2 million coonhounds in the nation.
It may seem like unlikely work for a club with headquarters on swanky Madison Avenue in New York City and more closely tied to images of pouffy poodles than howling hounds, but Fielder insists it's right in line with the club's mission.
"The AKC wants to be all things canine," said Fielder, one of about 300 people at the AKC's operations center in Raleigh.
To help with its initiative, the AKC began offering free registration last year to coonhounds already enlisted with two other national clubs. The move resulted in about 10,000 registrations, up from about 500 the previous year. The club expects to have another 10,000 registered by the end of this year, pushing the total number of AKC registered coonhounds to 22,000.
Still, coonhounds make up a tiny part of the club's registry. Labrador retrievers were the most popular breed in 2005 with nearly 138,000 registered by the AKC.
Registration costs just $15, but acceptance by the AKC is invaluable to breeders and others who need or want to prove their dogs have pure bloodlines.
For coonhounds, registering also opens the way for the dogs to compete in AKC-sanctioned hunts and competitions that offer titles, trophies and cash prizes of as much as $25,000. Just in July, the AKC is sponsoring about 70 coonhound competitions across the nation, including contests for youth, field trials, water races and night hunts.
Night hunts tie most closely to the tradition of the coonhound owners across the South who once led packs of dogs on late-night winter hunts, forcing the raccoons up trees where the hunters could get a clear shot at them. The raccoon hides fetched $20 to $30 each in the late 1970s, according to Perry Sumner, a biologist with the state Wildlife Resources Commission. With demand dwindling, a raccoon hide today is worth about $5, he said.
A good coonhound can sell for $4,000 to $5,000, with some bringing up to $100,000, said David Gardin, the president of the North Carolina Coonhunters Association..
The AKC first registered black and tan coonhounds - one of six coonhound breeds - in 1945, but during the past 60 years there had been little mingling between hound owners and the AKC. Coonhound owners were more likely to register with the Professional Kennel Club or the United Kennel Club and the AKC didn't seem to mind. Now, their interests seem to have merged.
"The coonhound has been kind of like a subculture in the world of dogs," Fielder said, "but with the AKC involved the spotlight is shining on the breeds."
My friend's field chocolate next to my black Logan, who was an inch taller than the standard, BTW.
They liked him that big up here. I've seen a lot of them.
I just took a look through the latest issue of Hunting Retriever News, the official UKC/HRC magazine, for the stud dog ads (the boys being generally larger than the girls). All these dogs are very well bred - the ancestors listed are all GHRCH, FC/AFC, grand passes, and so forth.
Chocolate dog with Way-Da-Go Rocky, Barracuda Blue, and Storm's Riptide Star (Shelley's grandfather) - 70 pounds.
Black dog with Trumarc's Zip Code, Rogue River, Rebel Ridge, and Wilshire's HonestAbe - 75 pounds.
Here's a funny one - five littermates who all made HRCH or better and all passed in the 2006 Spring Grand, the above stud dog and his brothers and sisters -- 75, 70 dogs, 60, 45, and 40 pounds for the bitches. (The littlest sister is advertised as "40 pounds of testosterone." Must be fun!)
Black dog with Ebonstar Lean Mac and Gunstock's Lethal Weapon - 65 pounds.
Chocolate dog with Candlewoods Super Tanker/Cajun Dakota breeding - 90 pounds. The only 90 pound dog I saw advertised at stud.
With the best of the best (the big UKC performers with multiple Grand passes and plenty of FC/AFC and GRHRCH back of them) it seems like 70-75 pounds is typical.
Well, that dog would have represented the fad of 17 years ago now... when he was born. Maybe they've gone back to smaller, maybe it's a regional oddity :~)
The hunt tests are now requiring HUGE distances (getting more and more like the field trials). A big dog would absolutely kill himself on a 200-plus yard triple.
They like them bigger because they can crash through heavy brush easier than a smaller dog, and swim better with a goose in a fast current, I guess.
I dunno. I've been out of it too long to know what the current fad is.
Wish you could have seen my 43-pound girl hit a stick pond for the first time. Her tactic is more "worm through" than "crash through", but she gets there FAST.
That's cool. I could lift old Jake up on a table. My lady vet was always amazed that he would tolerate this.
My point exactly. People have so many options these days, it's easy to research a breeder and pedigrees. By and large the public is more informed (I find this true of most of the people who contact me for a puppy, they have already done at least some homework and most know the basics to ask). Certainly people are free to petition the AKC to change their ways (good luck!) and if AKC sees fit to do it, I applaud (for the most part). I just have not seen a logical plan suggested, that would change the system as we have it.
Of course for field dogs you could add the requirement that they pass something like the golden retriever's WC test (not a very difficult test, I might add, I got a pass on my very first show dog with virtually no training. She had seen a duck before, and she was trained through novice obedience so she knew what sit and stay meant.) However, a basic obedience requirement such as a CD doesn't make sense, if your goal is to make sure the breed is fit for it's original purpose. Does a CD tell you if a bird dog will hunt? If a sheltie will herd? If a whippet will course? No, you would need different tests for each breed (and frankly, I don't think a lab and a golden were intended to be the same exact sort of hunting dog, just like a spinone and an English pointer hunt VERY differently, and for good reasons!). And what of the breeds that are only bred to be lap dogs?
However, it's all academic, because I doubt AKC will go that route. Their postition, I suspect is the same as mine. A conformation championship only says that a dog adheres to the standard, according to what a judge can see and feel in the show ring. If you want more titles, they are available as well.
susie
Well, I suppose they'd have to be tested for how well they sit a lap :~)
I think we tend (in most things unfortunately) to think that if something is good more of it is better. So, we get bulldogs with heads so large and hips so small that it's difficult for them to be born without a C-section. We get goldens with so much dripping coat that it is a mess in the field without alot of work.
And, I never even thought you weren't a dog lover. Frankly, anyone who doesn't love dogs is probably not this far into this thread! :)
Most people don't compete with their dogs, and that's fine. I wish more people would find something that appealed to them in that regard (actually, even therapy work, or other non-competitive things) because I think it deepens your relationship with your dog in a way that is hard to explain. BTW one of my friends actually did do novice obedience with her bull dog.
susie
I forgot to say. POST A PICTURE! ;)
susie
I probably could have done it back in the day, but heck, I'm getting up there! I keep telling my husband I need to go to a smaller breed, but I honestly can't find one I want to take the time to start over with!
susie
LOL now, that could be an interesting competition!
susie
That could be as funny as Cat Agility.
My dog would probably interpret it as a Lap Dancing Competition . . . which would be interesting too. (She has occasional bursts of wanting to be a lap dog - but 43 pounds of wriggling energy doesn't work too well.)
For that matter, why have conformation competitions for lap dogs? Why bother to evaluate their structure at all, I mean, what difference does it really make if a Pekinese even has legs, let alone good legs? Why not just judge the hair and be done with it? :~)
< . . . ducking . . . > . . . but I really have no use for little yappy dogs that don't DO anything. Thank goodness the fashion for carrying them around in those elaborate shoulder bags seems to have passed.
. . . although I must say that I've met a number of Pugs at agility competitions, and they seem to be not only pretty good at agility, but also very smart and personable dogs.
They're just pets, like a cat is. Surely you can relate to that.
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