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."
A friend of mine (on the N.C./Tennessee border) raises Plotts, from the original George Plott line. These are some fine hounds, and she sells/ships them worldwide.
I know others that swear by black and tans, and a Walker enthusiast cannot be swayed.
My friends hunt both bear and 'coons with their hounds.
I have a great photo of some hounds running halfway up a tree after a coon in a field trial. If someone can tell me how I'll post these.
My brother had a black and tan coonhound--goofiest,dumbest dog ever..but lovable nontheless.Definitely have 'rabbit in his blood'-always getting loose and roaming.
TREEING WALKER HOUND
When I was growing up in the rural south their were only four groups of registered dogs; pointers, setters, beagles and coon-hounds. At the time coon-hounds were only recognized by the National Coon-hound association. About ten years ago the AKC picked up on the black and tan.
Ah!!! UKC.... makes all the difference in the world. Are they still around I wonder?
When I was young we had to drive over to Big Black Bottom the coon hunt and now I live in Memphis and I could hunt in my own neighbor hood.
I run my dog in UKC Hunt Tests rather than AKC field trials. (AKC is now running Hunt Tests, and I'll probably take her over to get her JH and maybe SH, just for fun.)
The breeders breed what the judges pin. When the breeders focus exclusively on what the judges pin, they lose other important characteristics (especially working ability).
I used to breed Siamese cats, and we saw it there too. When the judges started rewarding the extreme, long headed, very fragile body type, the big breeders bred exclusively for that, to heck with temperament, health, etc.
That's why a couple of breakaway organizations are now breeding the "apple head" Siamese. My cats were never apple heads, but they weren't the extreme elongated type either. I took my best boy to Champion, but he would never have gotten any further than that, no matter how often I showed him. And the person who is in it seriously (I was just a hobby breeder) is going to breed what the judges like as quickly as they can.
>We love our hounds.<
AKC loves the money associated with Coon Hounds. They are horning in unceremoniously on the action.
They've recognised the Black and Tan Coonhound for decades.
I think you and I have had this discussion before. I'm going to leave it here, because, I like you, and we probably both have points (and I don't mean elongated heads). ;)
susie
Jesse Jagmo will go apoplectic over that name. It gives the mental image of a dog that is bread to chase down / hunt ... well.. 'coons'. And as we know the word 'coon' will undoubtedly cause someone, somewhere to be offended. And we can't have that, now can we.
Indeed, sir!
This is the kind of discussion that makes me proud to be a FReeper! The DU-type sites wouldn't know a bluetick from a wood tick...
Ha, I was going to ping you on this thread but had the wrong name, had typed it in as Beagle8.
Sad, sad, sad news for the breed. They've ruined many a breed by selecting for appearance over ability.
A number of GREAT breeds have escaped this destruction (which is the antithesis of how working breeds were created)- for example (and say this quietly) the American Bulldog. May it be overlooked for decades yet.
ampu
The story as I heard it was by Jerry Clower and could probably be found on one of his old recordings. It involved giving the monkey a revolver and a flashlight, allowing it to climb the tree, find the coon, and shoot it.
It seems that the dogs indicated they had a coon up a tree, the monkey was sent up with light and revolver, looked all over for the coon, and upon not finding the coon, descended the tree and shot the "lying coon hound."
Are we talking just about Black & Tan Coonhounds, which the AKC has registered for ages (as mentioned)?
Or talking ANY coonhound, or some other non-B&T like Bluetick, or etc?
I'm confused.
(My little skinny undersized and long-nosed Lab couldn't get anywhere in conformation in any event . . . I mean, just look at her!)
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