Working bloodhound?

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bigmark45

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Is there any such thing as a working bloodhound anymore? Or even a bloodhound hybrid that's from working lines, not show?
I have a great tracking bitch and would like to breed her to something with bloodhound blood. I'm in Ireland, so any info relevant north or south would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Mark
 
There are a few bloodhound packs being used for trail hunting. Looks much like fox hunting but the quarry/runner gets licked at the end apparently. Don't know if they would let one of their hounds be put to yours?
 
I know some were used for hunting the clean boot, but more regularly crossed with foxhounds to improve the health issues and put speed into the bloodhounds. I haven't seen or heard of any for some time.
 
bigmark45 said:
Is there any such thing as a working bloodhound anymore?
Click to expand...
There definitely was a few years ago. I had the absolute pleasure of watching Holmes and Watson at work, two bloodhounds brought in by the local police force from if I remember correctly Kent police. They were brought in two or three days after a murder in one part of the city and followed a cold trail almost a mile straight to the door of the perpetrators. I've seen police dogs work before but nothing anywhere near as impressive as that pair, they literally dragged their handlers racing down the street and across open ground absolutely locked onto the scent. Pure magic to watch and bloody big dogs too, I don't doubt that they would track a wounded deer but they would take up an awful lot of room in the back of the car.
 
My father used to keep Bassets and Bloodhounds.
The last he had was a Bloodhound bitch called Phoebe who had a fantastic nose, she was a large old fashioned type, and properly hound headstrong.
I can remember being out with her about three miles from home when she picked up a scent and absolutely flew off with the most fantastic deep voice, she went through a large forest singing her deep song, me struggling to keep up with her. We ended up back at home. So I asked my mother if she'd been down in the forest recently. Oh yes she said, I walked to the village through the forest about two weeks ago.
Serious ability. Once she was locked on to a trail you'd best keep clear cos she never looked up and often would knock people over who stood in the way.
 
Thanks for your reply. From yours and the previous one, it would seem bloodhounds do seem to have superior tracking ability than other breeds (at least as far as tracking people are concerned). It would also appear that working lines in these dogs are few and far between at the present time. The show bloodhounds are a disgrace, red sore looking eyes, many health problems, exceptionally slow and a life expectancy of around 8 years.
I know some working types were bred to dumfriesshire foxhounds in the 80s and 90s with great success.
Were the working bassets any good?

I'd imagine these are also thin on the ground nowadays.

Regards
Mark
 
The Bassets had no interest whatsoever in following people, but hares and rabbits were basically a full day job. We were under strict instructions not to let them off the lead unless we intended to let them hunt.
The Bloodhounds we had I can never remember them wanting to hunt anything other than people. We used to go to a local beach with huge sand dunes and a forest behind it, dad would give us a lead of 30 or 40 minutes and loose a Bloodhound after rubbing their nose with whoever's scent it was following, normally done with a sock. No matter how many times you double back or go through water they'd always find you, and always you'd know they were coming with their deep hound music.
 
I'm sure the last bitch came from a guy called Peter Boddy in North Notts, we had lived near Newark before. He certainly worked them. This would be mid 80s
 
It's a shame so many working types are dying out. It would appear the bloodhound has no equal when it comes to tracking people. The problem with all hunting dogs is the propensity to track something else more interesting!
I have 2 dogs that track and there's not much between them. The bavarian Springer already mentioned tracks extremely close and literally in the footsteps of whoever she's tracking and I've tracked her over a fair distance in tracks about half a day old. I've a working collie that also tracks well, but doesn't track as close and her style is more trailing. She also uses air scenting as much as track scent. Her style isnt as pure as the other bitch, but she gets there just the same. Sometimes, she figures out where she's going or expects the person or article to be and can be quicker than the other dog, but in a strictly tracking sense the springer works the track route the better.
 
I love to see them working out where to go, particularly when they momentarily stray off line or overshoot a turn then you see them hunting for it and picking it up strongly again. It's a great past time that might also prove useful.
 
You could try the Hamilton Bloodhounds in Easton Suffolk. I was absolutely gutted when the Easton Harriers disbanded as it was the local pack of my childhood. The antis finally got to the hare hounds!! They now have a bloodhound pack in the kennels - the 'Hamilton' name comes from the original founder of the Harrier pack.

www.hamiltonbloodhounds.co.uk

The Hamilton Bloodhounds

www.hamiltonbloodhounds.co.uk www.hamiltonbloodhounds.co.uk
 
There's a Facebook page for Down bloodhounds, as in county Down, but don't think it's still active. Looking at their profile picture the dog's look like bloodhound/foxhound hybrids, which would be fine.
 
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