# Advice about our English (red tick) Coonhound



## PrincessFerf (Apr 25, 2008)

Chloe, our almost 4-year old English Coonhound is..... well.... naughty.

I don't believe that she's malicious, she's just.... determined.

We adopted her when she was only 9 weeks old. Two days after we picked her up from the rescue, she tested positive for Parvo. We treated her aggressively and she responded well. When she came home she was the size of my cat.

At the time, we didn't know what her breed was. The rescue told us she was 12 weeks old and was "probably a Beagle mixed with some other type of hound". WRONG.

As she grew and grew and grew and we knew this gal "wasn't no Beagle". But we really love this dog.

She is very intelligent and regularly "tricks" our Black Lab and St. Bernard out of rawhide chews. (its hilarious to watch her in action) The counters must be COMPLETELY clean or she will "surf" for people food. She was able to open up a lower cupboard, but wasn't impressed with the marshmallows she found. My husband is convinced that she will soon be able to open the fridge on her own. The garbage in the kitchen is now in a drawer in the island because Chloe thought it was a second food dish.

We live in the country and our land is too large to fence for a dog. She is on a LONG leash outside and we go "running" when the snow isn't too deep. When the weather is nice, I take her into the fields for her "sniff fix". She loves it.

The biggest problem is when she gets off leash. If we make one small mistake... POOF she's off running. She comes home on her own, either when she's tired or cold. But I really worry about her getting to the highway or into other trouble. We have taken her to obedience training... or as I called it "when Chloe wants to training". She learns well, but only obeys if she feels like it.

Long story short... to all of you other hound owners out there... what can I do to make this better for everyone involved?

We really love this dog, but this is our first true hound and we struggle with her running. 

P.S. I've even started training her to walk on a treadmill.... not sure if she will ever get it.


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## jen74145 (Oct 31, 2006)

BAH. As labs are stupid, hounds are stubborn. The stories I could tell about a certain male beagle... but anyway.
For him, it took two years of constant puppyness and trying to get it through his hard head that if he would just LISTEN, life would be so much more pleasant for everyone. He settled down around age three. 

I would fence at least part of your property if possible... people out here with a large piece of land do it all the time, just a dog yard up by the house. A bored, smart dog is trouble. A bored dumb dog is an annoyance.


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## PrincessFerf (Apr 25, 2008)

She's definitely a bored, smart dog. I have bought several dog "puzzles" for her that give her treat rewards. She masters those like nothing. Maybe I'll send her to school to become an accountant. 

Ya know... its funny when you say that he "settled down" around age 3. I kept waiting for Chloe to settle down and become one of those "lazy hounds" who sleep on porches in the sun. Maybe when she's too old to run? LOL

Fencing part of our yard will be a challenge, since the Yahoos who designed/built our property put the septic system in the worst place and fencing in the "best places" would interfere with the septic mound. I think we'll need a 6ft high fence for her, too. She's been able to get over 4ft fencing.


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## JasoninMN (Feb 24, 2006)

I would get an e-collar. Its the only way you will ever have complete control over a hound off leash. Make sure to get one with a long range on it because I am sure, as you already know, they can cover a lot of ground in a few seconds. Before letting her go free put her on a long line and take her for walks with the collar on and work on the come command on lead. She needs to know what "come" means before you start reinforcing the command with the collar. Don't be surprised how fast she will learn that you can't get her when the collars not on so she will most likely need to wear it anytime you let her loose.


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## Cashs Cowgirl (Jan 26, 2006)

JasoninMN said:


> I would get an e-collar. Its the only way you will ever have complete control over a hound off leash. Make sure to get one with a long range on it because I am sure, as you already know, they can cover a lot of ground in a few seconds. Before letting her go free put her on a long line and take her for walks with the collar on and work on the come command on lead. She needs to know what "come" means before you start reinforcing the command with the collar. Don't be surprised how fast she will learn that you can't get her when the collars not on so she will most likely need to wear it anytime you let her loose.


I second this advice. My GSD uses one. MOst of the time now, I just use the beep on it as a warning. If he turns back towards me he knows he's good. If not...well, he figures sometimes it might be worth it to ignore me...then he realizes it's not...


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## Willowynd (Mar 27, 2005)

I second the fenced in area. Use it for times when you cannot watch her. I have kennel runs with an attached exercise area/catch basin for my dogs- plus a fenced area against the house for those nasty days and for pups and I have 4 acres. Even all that is not enough when you have escape artists that have learned to take off fence ties from the gates. So I do daily checks of the fence and hope to get electric fencing for the perimeter of my property. I also live near a highway, and have lost several smart dogs because of it (opening windows, taking off fence ties at the gates, knocking over puppy pens- they do not make the heavy ones any longer)- so your fear is founded. When she is not fenced in an area, you can use a 20 ft or longer training lead- but dogs as this ALWAYS need to be secured until they have an excellent recall....and you always have to correct and back up to securing the dog constantly if you find they break or hesitate on the recall even once- no matter the reason.


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## Mrrsteelers (Sep 21, 2008)

My first dog was a Beagle, Blue Tick mix. He was a lot like you describe your dog. Mine would hit the garbage anytime there was food in it. He knew how to be very sneaky. By far the smartest dog I ever had.


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## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

She wants to work for a living. Try **** huntin'. Best thing you've ever had and she'll be much more relaxed when she gets home. Still will have to get a fenced yard...no kennels. Hounds are bred to hunt and they honestly do not have a radar so they often get lost. Lots of **** hound hunters use GPS tracking on their dogs now days.


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## cur huntin' kid (Apr 15, 2007)

Get an e-collar and teach her what it means and also get a garmin astro that way you always know where she is. I would also try hunting her but Im a **** hunter so of course I would.


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## PrincessFerf (Apr 25, 2008)

Unfortunately we don't hunt ****.  But we do use an electric shock collar on her. That has worked most of the time, but she learned quickly that it has a limited range... so she would just yelp and run "ragged" until she was out of range of the shock. We don't keep it on her all of the time, and its those times when she runs. (She's a big baby about it, too. As soon as we put the shock collar on her she gives us such a huge pout.)

We first tried an electric fence, but she would walk the edges and test the boundaries. She found two small dead zones and would escape through it. Not long after she learned that even if she ran through the boundary, she would only get shocked for a short time. /huge sigh

I like the ideas of using a shock collar/long lead combination. Good advice!

She works better with me than with my husband, probably because I took her to training and spend more time working with her in the field.

Even with all of the challenges she gives us, we have really grown to love having a hound. She has such an expressive face, and those big, floppy, velvety ears are fun to play with!


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## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

I think Wisconsin allows bear hunting and I hear they now have feral hogs. Worth a try if you're into hunting.


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## DW (May 10, 2002)

and dad had **** hounds...sounds just like them. Even when the beagle was very old...leave the gate open and good-bye BUT she always came back.


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## PrincessFerf (Apr 25, 2008)

Well this morning my daughter didn't pull the back door closed tight enough. Its windy and the door pushed open just enough so that Chloe got out... and my St. Bernard was happy to join her. We had an ice storm last night and I was worried that if Chloe was running on the roads that a car might not be able to stop. 

The St. Bernard only went to the next farm and quickly hopped into our truck. But Chloe took this as her opportunity to "have a smell and run". I followed her for 30 minutes before I was finally able to get her collar and back into the car. She went to a neighbor's farm and when she discovered their sheep and donkeys, stood there and barked at them.

I don't hit her or yell when I get her back, because I don't want her to fear coming to me. I want her to OBEY and realize that listening to me is in her best interest.

I'm thinking about putting the shock collar on her all the time.

My husband is ready to get rid of her in favor of a dog who's more likely to listen. 

/sigh


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## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

Two things: that's why you see people chaining their hounds because they roam, you don't have a fence and say you can't fence it because it's too big. I think you can but can't afford or don't want to spend $ on a fence. Just need to fence in land close to the house...don't need a huge fence. Just enough to keep her occupied. You can try to buy a chain link kennel but with a top and see if you can sink in the concrete on the bottom so she won't dig out. They're famous for doing that.


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## PrincessFerf (Apr 25, 2008)

I think we'll need to invest in a kennel. We were hoping not to have to spend the money on it.

When she runs, its because she took advantage of a mistake made (a door not closed tightly enough, for example). She's run 3 times now this winter... and before that it was 9 months ago.

Its good to hear from others who have/had hounds... sometimes I feel like we're the only one with this challenge.


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