AKC dog registry welcoming coonhounds to purebred world

Wilmington Star News ^ | 7/10/06 | Coke Ellington

[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."

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We have plenty of both here in Mid-Missouri. My uncle in S Iowa introduced me to coon hunting at an early age back in the 1960s. He liked the black and tan variety but owned a very nice BT at one point. Someone stole this dog and he vowed not to own so valuable a dog again...

[the OlLine Rebel]

I have to admit it looks like the AKC is improving its scope, however.

When I "left" the dog world by 1990, there was only Conformation, Obedience, Tracking, and some hunting competitions. The former 2 being the prominent competitions.

Now, I come back and find all this bewildering stuff....."agility", "flyball", other forms of obedience (all of which I sort of see as obedience), herding tests of various levels.

And just very, very recently, AKC FINALLY approved "working-dog sport", basically another phrase for SCHUTZHUND.

My only problem with AKC is they are not REQUIRING any of these non-conformation events to qualify as a conformation champion. Which is probably what they should do.

[AnAmericanMother]

UKC will do provisional registration in the absence of papers . . . I know that for performance events AKC will actually do it too (although it's harder to get.)

My dog was not originally UKC registered, I had to send four photographs to the Registration Committee. I guess she looked enough like a Lab to suit them . . .

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Beautiful !

[Marius3188]

Summary:
AKC has B&T Coons. Now they want to also reg. Blue Ticks, Red Ticks, Tenn. Walker, Red Bones, and Plotts as well.

There has been a debate about this for a while in Fully Cry and American Cooner.

[RepoGirl]

Hey, for someone who knows dogs better than I do -- what exactly classifies a dog as a hound. Are they just scent-tracking hunting dogs, as opposed to the retrieving kind, etc.

I think Bassett Hounds are strangely cute. Coonhounds are just out and out pretty.

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, AKC has certainly expanded their offerings in the performance dog area.

I think you've hit on the key, though. Until a conformation dog is required to get a working certificate in whatever the breed's skill is (as they do with Labrador Retrievers in England), it isn't going to really have an effect.

I will say that the Agility offerings in AKC are pretty lame compared to those in USDAA and NADAC . . . of course AKC does it all and the latter organizations are exclusively agility. But AKC only offers two classes -- standard and jumpers -- and it's kind of annoying to hang about all day just to run a 60-second course twice. In USDAA they offer six or seven different classes in a typical two-day show, most of them twice. Standard, Jumpers, Gamblers, Snooker, Pairs Relay, Speed Jumping, Steeplechase . . . you and your dog can be busy for hours! It's very hard to get a title though, you have to have 3 standard qualifying scores and one each of all the others!

[dawn53]

That's it, it was Jerry Clower.

Thanks...I just found it on iTunes and downloaded it. It's a 7 1/2 minute sketch, pretty funny.

[panthermom]

Yes the AKC has working tests, but it is mainly a beauty contest. If you look at Labs, an actual working "field Lab", looks nothing like the Labs you see in the show ring. Same with Goldens. In defense of the AKC, my Bulldog is AKC and has the confirmation of the Bulldog standard. I hate seeing Bulldogs with long legs, narrow head and chest and protruding nose, to me it's not a Bulldog. With a Bulldog you breed for health and looks. A walk to the mailbox is about all they're gonna do, they get the rest of their exercise going from one napping area to another.

[bandleader]

My thoughts,EXACTLY!Ole Jessie and"Sharpie Sharpton"will find a way to turn this into the DREADED"R-WORD"!!I will NEVER forget what these A**HOLES did to the word"NIGGARDLY"!!!

[brytlea]

She looks like a lab to me. I personally don't care for the sausage on legs look of the conformation labs, but that's just me (and one reason I don't have labs--the other being I'm too lazy!)
I have done field work/conformation/obedience with the same dog. I believe in multi purpose dogs. I have issues with the show world, however I probably have issues with all competetive venues as well. I breed what I like and as I interpret the standard. And of course, I attempt to breed only healthy dogs (sometimes that's not as easy as it sounds as some problems don't turn up until the dog is older).
But, I do put the blame on the breeders. On the other hand, I think it's not such a bad thing to have diversity between the gene pools as it gives some place to go bring in traits (or even health) that you lose.
I had a friend in goldens whose first show dog was by a conformation champion and out of a field bitch. He not only went on the finish his CH and become a BIS winner he also was a CDX, JH and outstanding sire. Not bad. I think it's important. I also don't think that only conformation champions should be bred.
susie

[panthermom]

People I know that hunt have said that if you want a good hunting dog look for UKC regstration.

[AnAmericanMother]

Ain't she a cutie? (I post pics at the slightest provocation.) But she only weighs 42 pounds, which is over 10 pounds under the standard for bitches . . . she is also really too short, depending on who was measuring her that day . . . her ears are too big and her nose too long.

But she is a hybrid type -- her father is a conformation champion, and her mom is a very well bred field trial dog. She is about midway between the two, her litter of nine ran the gamut from pure conformation to pure field. . . . I've met one of her full brothers, and he looks exactly like a conformation Lab - big heavy dog with a head like a brick. He's quite a good hunter though.

For comparison purposes - here's a pic of her daddy, and one of a field Lab . . . my dog's good friend Tori the Black Lab, who has her HRCh title in UKC (and that is not easy to get!)

You can see that the types have diverged!

[brytlea]

Why would you require anything else to become a conformation champion? Shall they also then require some sort of conformation title in order to qualify as a field champion? Many of the parent clubs have versatility titles, which the dog acquires by titling (or pointing) in various venues.

A conformation champion means simply what it says it says.

susie

[brytlea]

There are also sight hounds.
susie

[Varda]

You're really mixing apples and oranges comparing show cats to coonhounds. Comparing show cats to Pekingese makes sense though. After all is there any other competition that might alter breeding goals for a show cat? Mouse catching competition??? Does anyone in show cats care about mouse catching?

AKC Coonhounds I think may be more similar to AKC Foxhounds. The AKC has registered them for more than a hundred years (English since 1890) and they are still pack animals used in hunts. Its that way because breeders choose it that way.

[AnAmericanMother]

The conformation Labs have gotten too heavy to work. Of course, some of it is "show fat" and comes right off. When we got our dog, she was a roly-poly puppy, because she was "boss dog" of her litter and got more than her fair share of the food! Our vet runs her dogs in agility, and she read us the riot act and we got the weight off her ASAP. She goes up and down 2-3 pounds depending on how many trials we go to and how well she can beg from unsuspecting passersby, but she's pretty much maintained her weight around 42-43 pounds since she finished growing.

I'm glad to hear that the Goldens are still multi-purpose. It seems like the breed organization is strongly encouraging performance (judging from the specialty reports in Golden Retriever News, which I subscribe to because I think it's the best all-purpose retriever mag going). We have a couple of conformation dogs in the hunting club that do very well in both venues.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Goldens seem to be bred, more often than not, for color and big, big size. We had a large male, Prior Lake Jake, when we lived in Minnesota and he was a pretty fare duck dog but was almost too big to get in the boat. At 95 pounds, his leap would almost pitch us into the drink, which is the last place to be on a cold Minnesota duck blind morning. One of my friends nicknamed him "Lard-a**."

[brytlea]

I used to work for a vet who bred bulldogs, you don't want to know my opinion of the breed. Anyway, you said this: Yes the AKC has working tests, but it is mainly a beauty contest.

What do you mean? AKC field trials are a beauty contest?

susie

[the OlLine Rebel]

"About ten years ago the AKC picked up on the black and tan."


Uh, no. As mentioned at the end, B&Ts have been fully recognized for some 50 years (I know in the '80s, since I was somewhat involved in AKC dog stuff then).