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."
I didn't call you an idiot!
You just wanted to call me on the carpet for using hyperbole (as you said, "generalizations") when of course, nothing is 1s and 0s.
You are not an idiot (as proven by you're calling it a generalization in the 1st place, which it is). I am sorry if it came out as an insult.
I think we both know our positions by now. Sorry if you tire of it; most often, I'm a "pit bull" so yes, I have a hard time letting it go!
We just had to put a 15 year old Siamese cat down due to cancer. He fought valiantly, but it was just too much for him.
Our vet pointed out that we take such good care of our pets health-wise these days, that the cancer gets them because the distemper, rabies, parvo, getting hit by cars, etc. don't get them earlier.
LOL
Anyone who likes dogs as much as you must can't be all bad!
I'll accept that you didn't call me an idiot (and I got your point, but I had to press you on something!)
This is probably one of those intransigent points, we can bat back and forth all day. I would LOVE to see ways to draw everyone (and yes, I mean everyone!) into performance events. They're fun, and heaven knows they benefit the dog (even tho they also have a certain artificiality to them).
Anyway, you should hear me get into with people who think that only tight linebreeding is the way to go! I'm a heretic!
Let's shake paws. Friends?
susie
Oh, heartbreak! Cancer is a scourge....
susie
Of course I'll "shake" (my dog shakes her body, though, when I tell her that - baths). VERY LONG mail to you.
Sometimes I think the writing-kind of discussion just is too hard to handle! At least for me, who is a "pit bull" on minutia as well as generalities, and doesn't effectively communicate concisely.
We'd probably all understand each other better in "real life"! (And the discussion would end faster!)
We probably would enjoy a cup of coffee and talk about race horses and old cars!
susie
BTTT!
It is the same permissive society that has lowered its standards on everything. Don't get me started...
Heh...yeah, that little one in front is a tiny terror! Every time I take her out, she barks her head off at each and every person that walks by us. Which, in turn, makes them laugh when they see this itty-bitty ferocious creature on the attack :) She's also my 'home security system'--my friends find it funny when they visit and she's barking her head off, and I have to find a way to "turn off the alarm"!
Thanks for the info! I may have to try that. Not that I plan to ever show/breed her, but it would be cool to be able to do it on her part (so to speak). She's only got three legs (due to an injury before I adopted her) and with that, plus her hard life of being dumped and rescued, it'd be nice to "put a feather in her cap".
Most of the associations won't allow a three-legged dog to compete, but I THINK that one of the other associations allows them to compete in the Tunnelers class. Not sure which one - I've only competed in AKC and USDAA, and neither one allows dogs that are lame or have a deformity.
If you Google dog agility and disabled or handicapped, something ought to come up.
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