This sounds like a thread for RonE. He has a plotthound...Oh Ron...

 

This could very well be a wonderful dog (I like big hounds) but would need a great deal of training to be trusted off-leash. Even then, it could be dicey.

This is also a dog that will need a lot of exercise. Without it, you will have a hellhound on your hands.

 

The training is no problem, I plan on finding a class/school in my area as soon as possible. I have looked into it a little already.

I live across the road from a lake, and there are many parks in the area, so we would have places to get out, walk, and play. My main concern is any time the girl would be left in the house. According to her current owner she is well-behaved, but I don't know how she'd fare on her own.

 

I knew you wouldn't disappoint me Ron!

 

Do the current owners leave her alone in the house? You could try making sure she couldn't get to certain rooms...have no idea how your house is set up. Sounds like she is a dog you really want...but I'm glad you really thinking about it. I, unfortunately, tend act on impulse. Trying not to do that again, although Butch has been my best impulse rescue in a very long time!

 

I wish I knew. I have been trying to contact him today, but have had no luck so far. It's a somewhat impulsive decision, though have been thinking about a dog on and off for quite awhile now. I hadn't reached a conclusion until a friend sent me the info on this girl. It's love! Haha.

 

The training is no problem

You may be underestimating this dog's desire to see the world. My hound has slipped out of the yard and appeared, 60 minutes later, five miles away and on the other side of a good-sized river.

She will be better left alone if she is very well exercised. Even then, you're probably going to want to restrict her to areas of the house with less potential for mass destruction.

I don't want to discourage you, so I won't post the photos of the sofa my dog ate.

 

Lol! I didn't mean to imply it would be easy. Just that access to training classes isn't a problem.

Dually noted. I'm going to have to think about it and figure out which rooms would be dog-friendly.

I've seen my uncle's dog attack an armchair, so I can imagine.

 

I'm not sure what "mostly fenced" means. If it means there are openings, then you'll have to remedy that. And a 4 ft. high fence is not a fence.

When I lived in Brooklyn, there were a couple of families that had coonhounds of different breeds. This was an urban neighborhood with attached brownstones and apartment houses, but the owners got the dogs as running companions. Serious runners. They did well in that environment. They are normally very sweet dogs. I guess the neighbors were pretty tolerant of being serenaded 'cause none I met had been "debarked".

 

I'm not sure what "mostly fenced" means. If it means there are openings, then you'll have to remedy that. And a 4 ft. high fence is not a fence..

Lacking a gate on one side, but the rest is enclosed with high wooden fencing. That's why I wouldn't be able to let her out alone. I'm home for a large portion of the day though, and would be able to run with her, take her for walks, and play with her often.

 

If you can take her to training classes, and do a lot outside and have the time to exercise her, I don't see why it would be a problem. You could dog proof a room for her when you're gone, or get a tall expen or larger than she needs crate to keep her in for the few hours you're gone if she can't be trusted with free roam.

 

I was thinking something along those lines, but wasn't sure, so I thought I'd ask for some more opinions.

Thanks for the input, everyone!

 

I love hounds, and especially the big ones, but they are not for everybody. For instance, they are not for me. After a couple of months with your new girl, you may better understand the meaning of "not for everybody".

What most people consider behavior problems have been bred into hounds on purpose. They generally do not do well with small furry things--unless you consider killing small furry things to be doing well. They like to explore wherever their noses take them, and can cover impressive distances. They have voices and are not afraid to use them. And other stuff....

In spite of it all, it is very hard to not love a hound.

 

When we talk about the wanderlust of hounds, people sometimes ask, "Well, if they don't come back, how is it possible to hunt with them?"

Good question (even though it wasn't asked here.)

My own experience, with a rabbit-hunting beagle, is that he tended to keep track of us in the woods because there was always a chance that we would shoot something interesting. In fact, if he happened to take after a deer, the only reliable way we could get him back was to fire a shotgun into the air.

Unlike deer, a rabbit tends to run in a very big circle so, if you stay put in the spot where the dog originally starting tracking, the rabbit, and the dog, will eventually come past you again. In the meantime, you can track the dog's progress by listening to him howl.

It's great fun, but I quickly lost interest in shooting rabbits.

That same beagle, if he happened to escape the yard, would NEVER come back on his own. When I was a teen, if I was out walking with friends, I became accustomed to seeing my beagle go past in the back of a squad car. Usually, they would just bring him home. (A perk of living in a small town.)

I used to say that, if that beagle were bigger, he would be the Hound from Hell. Esther is like a big, more assertive beagle.

Esther has reached a point in her life where she WILL come home on her own if she gets out of the yard, but we have not yet reached the point where she just won't leave if she has the opportunity.

People love hounds, particularly big hounds, despite their shortcomings - not because of them. And people who hunt with them think those of us who keep them, and don't hunt, are insane.

They may be right.

 

When we talk about the wanderlust of hounds, people sometimes ask, "Well, if they don't come back, how is it possible to hunt with them?"

It's quite possible to train a good recall into a hound, but if you are not there to call her back, she'll just keep going. Coonhounds will trail a '**** all night until it is treed. They'll bay at the base of the tree until the '**** escapes, or comes down, or the hunter gets there to dispatch the critter, whichever happens first.

 

Is the dog crate trained? I prefer to crate my dog days or times when I am not home.

Of course, a Plott Hound could make a conventional $150 crate little more than a mass of twisted wire if she elected to...

A crate keeps the dog in one place and out of things like electrical cords (or outlets if you have a wall board eating variety of hound).

I agree that hounds are not for everyone. I have seen some amazing well trained hounds though so you just never know.

Good Luck with whatever you decide!

 

RonE.. I think you and I had the same Beagle growing up.....

 

Then you understand perfectly and probably miss that dog every day of your life. The memory tends to blot out unpleasant experiences and retain the good ones.

Esther spent her nights in a crate for the first year we had her. Eventually, she indicated that she no longer needed it by breaking out of it three times in 15 minutes. But without that crate, she would not have survived that first year.

Come to think of it, I used to spend a good chunk of every summer with an aunt and uncle and a bunch of cousins at their country home in Iowa. They has about 20 acres of land with dogs and horse and all sorts of wild game and no fence. Charlie Beagle never showed any interest in leaving. Why would he? If he happened wander across the road to the cornfield (which was always full of pheasants) there was almost no traffic on that road.

 

Ok - I'm new here and am getting quite worried about the black and tan **** that we just rescued from a shelter near danbury, Ct. She is a mix with lab - or so we were told. At 12 weeks she is trying, but we have had MUCH more success with our English lab at this age. Talk about the deafness when she gets a peanut sent.I do have more questions about this breed that I can't find in books. Where should I post those?

Thanks for any advice.
This is a great web site