Anyone have experience with Coonhounds?

[catinthehat]

My husband and I want to get a dog for our family. Their is a dog listed online that is with a foster family right now. She looks gorgeous and the woman says she is really sweet. We have not met her yet because she is about 4 hours away. She is a treeing walker coonhound.
Does anyone have experience training these types of dogs? The woman who has her now has kind of scared me with all the things she wants us to buy for this dog. She apparently needs a little thing that beeps when she barks, she needs a special leash, and the list goes on. Is this breed too much for a first time dog owner? (I had a dog as a kid, but she was a mutt and very easy to train). She is not quite a year old, so still puppyish.
I don't want to get in over our heads here. Any thoughts?

[Oubliette8]

Scent hounds like coonhounds can be VERY difficult to train. Coonhounds are also fairly high energy, they're bred to chase raccoons all night long. They are wonderful dogs, but maybe not for the first time owner. They probably cant be trusted off leash, which might be a consideration as well. They tend to roam- once they catch a scent, they think of nothing else. I love scenthounds, but they aren't what most people expect in a dog. I'd recommend you do some reading and maybe find a coonhound board and talk to folks there about their general temperament and trainability etc. If you get him, I'd highly recommend finding a trainer to work with you. Hounds can be very intelligent, but also stubborn and easily distracted by their instincts.

[catinthehat]

Thank you! The woman who has her now agreed that we should find a trainer asap. She feels a run in the morning with my husnad and then being home with me(int the house, and going for walks with me during the day) would be enough excercise and stimulation for her. I feel conflicted.
Thanks for your input.

[Alyantavid]

We had a Blue Tick and she was a wonderful dog. But hounds are hounds, once they pick up a scent they tend to follow it. She did fine off leash in our back yard, but that was it, everywhere else she had to stay on a leash. Ours wasn't horribly high energy, she did fine with lots of playing outside, but I think that may have just been here.

I'd definitely get a trainer, but they're great dogs as long as you know what to expect.

[EVC]

Originally Posted by Alyantavid

We had a Blue Tick and she was a wonderful dog. But hounds are hounds, once they pick up a scent they tend to follow it. She did fine off leash in our back yard, but that was it, everywhere else she had to stay on a leash. Ours wasn't horribly high energy, she did fine with lots of playing outside, but I think that may have just been here.

I'd definitely get a trainer, but they're great dogs as long as you know what to expect.

We had a Blue Tick, too! Probably the most wonderful, sweet, dedicated dog we've ever owned! He was a roamer, so we had to be careful of that, but not horribly high energy (my parents now have a border collie, so maybe my perspective has been skewed ). We did have a back yard for him to run in, and sadly he occassionally brought home "gifts".

One thing that also stands out in my mind was that he was a rather sensitive creative. Due to an puppyhood situation where he had to compete with bigger dogs for food, he developed a very unhealthy food obsession and put on quite a bit of weight as soon as we got him home. Also, because of a bad puppyhood experience involving a small boy throwing rocks at him, he never liked or trusted children. And finally, we had this dog when I was in high school. When I went away to college, he fell into a deep depression, refused to move my bed, and went on a hunger strike to the point where he back malnourished.

So I think my point is to find out anything from his past which might be a "trigger" for him. He had an extremely good memory for things and that sometimes adversely affected his behavior.

But this was truly a wonderful dog and my BEST friend when I was in high school and college. I still get a little teary thinking about him

[EVC]

She apparently needs a little thing that beeps when she barks,

Ah, I almost forget, Yes, he was a barker. And a howler. We didn't get any special training device--we used a Coke can filled with pennies to shake whenever he barked and that worked surprisingly well.

[EVC]

Ah, one more thing I just remembered was that he was a CHEWER. He chewed everything he could get his mouth on. I can't tell you how many pairs of shoes he ruined! But this was only when he was fairly young--around maybe 2 years of age, it stopped. So I would put shoes on a shelf in the beginning just until you get a sense of what's safe.

[catinthehat]

Thank you,
This is helping me come up with some good questions for the foster mom when I talk to her next.

[Oubliette8]

I think its pretty normal for hounds to be food obsessed. Ours would eat anything and everything, and then stare at you with sad eyes and beg for more like she was starving. Thankfully she wasn't tall enough to reach the counters. Ours at least was very food motivated. If you asked her something, she might or might not comply, but if food was involved, she was all about it. She even had a treatball that she would carry around once it was empty, sometimes hiding it in special places, and stare at it as if it would (and should!) magically refill all on its own.

[Copper]

I have a coonhound "mix" right from the pound as a puppy. His brother looked like a full blooded black and tan....mine was orange with long hair and blue eyes and sheds terribly (husky/malamute and coon mix).

After his puppyhood (he literally chewed the limbs of small trees in my yard) ....he is a dream.

He was brought up with my daughter who was 18 months at the time he is now going on 8. People love him...everyone loves him he is very, very laid back.....he loves kids ALL KIDS. He is reserved with men (was like that from day 1 though).

He is a terrible BARKER....but is also influenced by the two yappers next door who live outside and bark continuously which encourages him. I am still, to this day working on this.

He has some arthritis....and is not terribly active anymore but loves his 2 miles walks daily. We have added two other dogs since another "pound dog" and a pug. He was slow to warm but does beautifully with everyone.

I do get the comment that "he is so laid back for a big dog". His size is intimidating to some he was bigger than a dobie I had years ago but we are used to big does so to us, he is not that big.

He does have food issues and will steal from the table, counter....wherever if given the chance. Not sure why that is he has always had food here (got him when he was 5 months old).

I would say the biggest vice may be BARKING.

Good luck!

[EFmom]

I volunteer at a rescue. We see a lot of TWCs. They bark, they run, and they are generally very high energy. Now, the ones we get at the rescue obviously tend to be the problem children, but we often get people returning them. Personally, I don't think they are easy dogs.

But they sure are beautiful. Those ears... Those eyes...

[Arduinna]

I've had a walker, along with red bones and a blue tick. I actually found the walker to be the least coondogish of the three breeds. I personally wouldn't get a bark collar, that the lady is suggesting.