Other articles with keyword "DOGGIEPING" since 12/29/04
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."
For instance, Coon Dog Day in Saluda N.C., and the National Coon Dog Cemetary in Alabama.
We love our hounds.
Somebody is going to pay bigtime Reparations for this!
Some PC group is sure to object and lobby for a name change.
Ping
Full Cry !
How 'bout them Redbones?
You know the rules. PICTURES!!
Is my memory that faulty? Anyone else recall regsitering breeds like "Walker" ?
I read Full Cry.
Here in Tennessee, the state wildlife management agency issued a report in the 1970s attributing the abundance of exceptionally good 'coonhound blood as one of the factors contributing to the decline in raccoon populations then.
Of course the 'coons bounced back. Hunters now mostly tree them, as opposed to killing them. Wouldn't want to have a shortage of dog training oportunities.
And remember, Tennessee Lead, the hound stolen from here and taken to Kentucky in the 1800s was the sire of all modern day American hounds.
I say they can only add the coon hound if they agree to eliminate three toy breeds.
The Border Collie folks (for example) have resisted AKC reg, because pure conformation judging tends to distort the working characteristics of the breed in favor of good looks.
You see it in my breed - Labrador Retrievers - the show dogs have diverged so much from the field dogs that they look like two different kinds of dog. Also, many of the show dogs can't find a bird in a phone booth, and that's not good for a breed that's supposed to be a Bird Dog.
Hope in 20 years we don't see an AKC coonhound come up to a raccoon and give it that "Huh?" look that you sometimes see when a show Lab encounters a duck.
My dog is cross-registered in AKC and UKC.
No, the AKC only covered Black and Tan's.
UKC, Red Bone, Tenn. Walker, Plott, Blue tick, Red Ticks, Bridle, and others.
http://www.akc.org/breeds/hound_group.cfm
That is the list of current AKC recognised hounds.
susie
I have a bulldog and you can immediately tell the difference between and AKC bully and the ones registered through CKC. They really try to keep the confirmation correct, which in the case of a bulldog, thats really all you can do with the breed. They are not athletic and they are truly companion dogs. On the other hand, when you have a working/hunting dog, they tend to focus too much on looks and not enough on ablility. When you breed AKC that championship bloodline is what sells, you can have the best hunting dog but if his nose or tail is too long or his coloring isn't right he's not show or breeder quality.
Just my opinion, I absolutely LOVE dogs, I could not imagine life without them, so I think its great they're getting the recognition.
Anybody know the old joke (and I mean old) about some city guy who goes racoon hunting with a monkey and challenges the locals to match their coonhounds to his monkey, as far as racoon hunting skill.
I can still remember the punchline, but can't recall all the details of the joke:
The punchline: Yeah, the monkey hates coons, but the one thing he hates worse than coons is a lying coonhound.
AKC actually has many working tests for various breeds. I see this same opinion all of the time. If a breed loses the traits that allow it to do whatever it was intended for, that is not the fault of the registering body. It is the fault of breeders.
susie
My pap-paw raised coonhounds. I still have found memories, when I was 5 or 6, of running after my Dad and my Pap-paw through the briar patches in the middle of the night just trying to keep up with the flashing of their coalmining hats bobbing ahead of me.
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