Coonhound...work outs???

[Tammylyn]

Good afternoon all,

I have a slightly, or maybe even really wierd question...bare with me please!LOL:o

We adopted a approx 3 month old Black and Tan Coonhound, we have always had Rhodesian Ridgebacks, never used them in hunting though...Just LOVE the hound breed. Socrates, the Coonhound is a doll and already shows great potential by treeing every living thing he can...has a wonderful, but still a little squeaky hound bellar. He is very smart...not shocked at that at all. Question is this...I have begun to wonder if it would not be best for him to get him involved in some kind of hunting...even if, forgive me, it was not serious on our parts....but to have him trained, take him out camping and let him loose to tree whatever he wants...just not come through on our end and kill his capture? I just want him to be satisfied and happy in his life...even thinking of like lure coarses or some form of activity for him. I have hunted deer before...never shot one..just tracked and watched...but we love to hike and camp...what do you guys think? Does anyone have any ideas who to even contact in KY or OH valley area?? Thanks guys!! Have a good one!

Tammy

[Kags]

Hi Tammy,

I have two hunting breeds, a weim and a Saluki. The Saluki particularly has a very strong hunting instinct. I don't work either of my dogs but would consider them to be satisfied pets. I cycle with them to run off some of thier energy and we also do some clicker training to work on thier mental stimulation. I play a lot of games with my dogs, involving scent for the weim he likes to hunt out hidden treats in the garden.

Hound breeds can be difficult to cope with as they need that bit more stimulation in my experience ( I have now had 5 hounds), but there are heaps of activities you can do with them without necessarily working them and I don't feel by not working them you are doing them any injustice provided you are stretching them mentally and physically.

Agility is a great activity and the dogs love it. Mine love to run with the bike, I am not able to get much off lead exercise done here unless we go out into the desert but there are only a few months of the year that it is feasable to go into the desert as it gets extremely hot (I live In Saudi Arabia). Moving here was a real challenge in terms of stretching my dogs but I think we have found a happy balance.

I also take my dogs hashing weather permitting, the hashers are crazy here and go all year round. I don't take my dogs out into the desert unless the weather is reasonably cool (Nov - Feb). This is also a fun activity.

[Tammylyn]

Thank you sooo much for your time and response!

I am glad for the reassurance of not depriving Socrates...he is sooo much fun! Like I said we have always had Rhodesian Ridgebacks, and they did fine not hunting! Only one time, our large male Bruno was laying on the couch with me and we were watching the animal planet, as usual, and a mountain lion came on tv and growled, Bruno out of a dead sleep jumped up and ran over to the tv and sniffed and bellared and sat glued to the thing for hours, only time he ever showed and interest. We used to play hide and seek, fetch, chase, and even hide the "woobie"...he loved it. I guess I knew that you could do other activities to keep them happy, but never had a hound that seemed to have sooo much hunting instinct at so young! I had Bruno from 6 months old up until he died @ just over 12 yrs old...very special guy to us...our "Noble Beast"....best protector, but lover too, great with kids and cats and all, he used to scare the crap out of people that didn't know he was a gentle giant....most people just plain didn't know what the hell he was!

Thanks for all the advice and the time you took to post it, take care and your babies are gorgeous!

Tammy:D

[Kags]

Hey Tammy,

Thank you for the compliment on the dogs.

I have the same problem with Eric as he is a very large weim but a real softie, he is such a lovely natured boy and so easy going. People do tend to take one look at him though and run for the hills as he is a big guy. I had cats with him and rabbits. Stella my Saluki has also lived along side cats. Her cats were ok but any other outside is fair game to her! She is slowly learning just as Eric did they are to be left alone. I think it is important with hounds to teach a strong Leave command. ;)

Bruno sounds a great boy. I am sure you will have fun with your coon hound too. There are some great sites with games on, just bear in mind that when they are young they can only take short periods of mental stimulation before they tire of become bored with it.

http://www.wagntrain.com/Games.htm

http://dogplay.com/Activities/games.html

Have fun with him. :D

[Tammylyn]

Thanks again for your time and response!

It is funny sometimes when you have these gentle giants and people perceive them as fierce and scarry! When Bruno was about 8 months old and about 85 pounds he got by me and through the front door, there was a kid about 16 or so walking down the street with a big bag of potatoe chips and Bruno just raced over, jumped up and put his front legs on the guys shoulder and dunked his head in the potatoe chips...the kid is still running to this day! He was freaked out! Poor kid must have had to have rung out his shorts and like I said is still probably running for his life! Poor Bruno he had no mean intentions at all....just a typical RR and food hound! He just wanted the chips....we laughed soooo hard for days!

Thanks again and have a great one!
Tammy:D

[Kags]

:DI can just picture that hahahahahaha poor kid! That is too funny!