American English Coonhound
Recent publications
Find friends for your furry companion
Join our community of dog lovers to create profiles, share moments, and find friends for your furry companion.
Join our community of dog lovers to create profiles, share moments, and find friends for your furry companion.
in
23-26 in
45-65 pounds
11-12 years
The American English Coonhound is a racy, deep-chested scenthound from the American South, bred to run a night trail at speed and then bay at the base of the tree until the hunter arrives. Redtick is the pattern most people picture, but blueticks, tricolours and red-and-white or black-and-white dogs are all correct.
At home he is an easygoing, sociable dog who gets on with almost everyone, human and canine. He is also loud, powered by his nose, and built for hours of running, which makes him a poor fit for a quiet flat and an excellent one for an active rural or suburban household.
Friendliness
More Reserved
Social Butterfly
Playfulness
More Restrained
Perpetual Puppy
Energy Level
Low Energy
High Energy
The breed descends from English foxhounds brought to the American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Imports associated with Robert Brooke, Thomas Walker and George Washington fed into the so-called Virginia Hounds, which were then adapted by hunters in the southern uplands for very different country and very different quarry.
American hunters wanted a hound that could handle rough, humid, wooded terrain and, critically, that would tree its quarry rather than run it to ground. Selection over generations produced a faster, harder-driving hound with a distinctive voice and the treeing instinct that defines the coonhound group.
The United Kennel Club registered the breed as early as 1905, originally under the English Fox and Coonhound name, and over time the various coonhound strains separated into distinct breeds. The American Kennel Club gave the American English Coonhound full recognition in 2011, placing it in the Hound Group, though the breed remains far more common in the hunting field than in the show ring.
Males stand roughly 24 to 26 inches at the withers and females about 23 to 25 inches, weighing somewhere in the fifties to seventies of pounds, with weight expected to be in proportion to height rather than fixed. The build is athletic and slightly rangy: a deep chest with well-sprung ribs, a moderately long neck, straight strong legs and a tail carried up with a slight forward curve.
The coat is short, hard and protective without being coarse enough to be uncomfortable to the touch. Colours include redtick, bluetick, tricolour with ticking, red and white, and white and black; ticking gives many dogs a speckled appearance that varies dramatically even within a single litter. The head is broad with a domed skull, low-set hanging ears that reach towards the nose, and dark, wide-set eyes with a soft, houndy expression.
These are famously good-natured dogs. The breed was developed to hunt in packs and travel in company, and that shows in an easy tolerance of other dogs and an open, friendly attitude to people, including strangers. Most are patient and affectionate with children, though a hound at full tilt can knock a toddler over without meaning any harm.
The voice is a genuine consideration. A coonhound's bawl and chop carry for a long way and were selected for exactly that reason, so this is not a discreet dog. Neighbours in close quarters will notice, and no amount of training removes the instinct entirely, although exercise and company reduce the boredom barking on top of it.
The nose rules. A coonhound who picks up a trail becomes single-minded and functionally deaf, which is why so many of them are lost from unfenced gardens. He is not stubborn in a defiant sense; he is simply doing the job his ancestors were built for. Plan for secure fencing and lead walks in open country.
The classic job is night hunting for raccoon, working ahead of the hunter, opening on the trail and then treeing and holding the quarry until the handler catches up. Historically the same dogs were used on red fox by day, and they are still worked on raccoon, opossum, bobcat, bear and cougar depending on region and law.
Away from hunting, the breed's stamina and nose suit it to competitive coonhound field trials and nite hunts run by the UKC, to tracking and scent work, and to long-distance running or hiking with a fit owner. Search work and detection are within their range too. A coonhound with no outlet for his nose will find something to trail in your garden and it will usually involve digging.
This is a low-maintenance dog in the grooming sense and a high-maintenance one in the exercise and containment sense. A short coat, a weekly brush and a good fence covers most of it, provided the fence is genuinely good and the exercise is genuinely daily.
The American English Coonhound is generally a hardy, functional breed with few widespread problems. Concerns associated with it include hip dysplasia, eye conditions, and, as with other deep-chested hounds, gastric dilatation and volvulus. The long pendulous ears trap moisture and are a common site of infection, particularly in dogs that work in wet country.
Breeders following parent club recommendations screen for hip and eye problems and can show you the certificates. At home, dry and check the ears after swimming or wet work, keep the dog lean, protect against ticks and other parasites given the amount of time these dogs spend in cover, and watch for overheating in humid weather. Discuss anything specific with your vet.
Choose this breed if you have space, fencing, tolerance for noise, and hours to spend outdoors. In return you get an affectionate, uncomplicated, sociable dog who is rarely aggressive, gets on with other dogs and asks very little in grooming. Choose something else if your priority is a quiet dog with an off-lead recall in open country.
If the type appeals but you want a slightly steadier or more laid-back version, look at the Black and Tan Coonhound, or at the English Foxhound, the pack hound the American English descends from.