Redbone Coonhound

The breed traces to red foxhounds brought to Georgia by Scottish immigrants in the early nineteenth century, with red Irish foxhound blood added from the 1840s. A measure of Bloodhound was introduced to deepen the nose and improve cold trailing. The name comes from Peter Redbone, a Tennessee breeder whose dogs were influential, though much of the early work was done in Georgia, where the breeder George F. L. Birdsong assembled and promoted the type.

Early Redbones were saddlebacks - red dogs with a black saddle across the back. Through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries breeders selected deliberately for a uniform red coat, partly for the look and partly because a solid red dog was easier to see and identify in low light. By the 1920s the modern colour was fixed.

The United Kennel Club, which has always served the American hunting hound community, recognised the Redbone in 1902. The American Kennel Club was far slower, admitting the breed to the Hound Group in 2009, with full competition eligibility from 2010. Unusually among coonhounds, the Redbone was selected for a good working shape and a pleasant temperament from the start rather than for the ring, and most Redbones today still come from hunting lines.

The breed reached a wider audience through Wilson Rawls' 1961 novel Where the Red Fern Grows, whose two hounds are Redbones, and which is responsible for a good deal of the breed's affection in American memory.

A Redbone is a substantial but athletic hound. Males stand roughly twenty-two to twenty-seven inches at the shoulder and females twenty-one to twenty-six, with weight generally between forty-five and seventy pounds. Working breeders favour the leaner end of that range; a Redbone should look built for a long night's work, not heavy.

The coat is short, smooth and dense - enough to shrug off briars and cold water without needing any real maintenance. The colour is a rich solid red. Small white markings on the chest and feet are permitted, and a dark or black mask over the muzzle and around the eyes is common and much admired. The eyes are dark brown to hazel with a characteristically soft, pleading expression.

Long, low-set ears hang in graceful folds and reach nearly to the end of the nose when drawn forward, sweeping scent upward as the dog works. The feet are cat-like and well padded, the gait is a smooth, effortless trot, and the whole dog is designed to cover rough ground at night for hours without breaking down.

In the house the Redbone is one of the most equable hounds you can own. It is affectionate with its family, patient with children, generally happy in the company of other dogs after a lifetime of pack hunting, and prone to long luxurious naps. It is not a nervy or a snappy breed.

Outdoors, the nose takes over. A Redbone on a scent is genuinely deaf to you, and that is not disobedience - it is the trait the breed was made for. Off-lead freedom in unfenced country is realistically not on the table for most Redbones, however much recall work you put in.

The voice deserves its own warning. Coonhounds bay, and a Redbone's bay is loud, musical and designed to be heard a mile away. Housed in a terraced street or a flat with thin walls, this will become your neighbours' problem as well as yours. Redbones also do poorly on their own for long stretches and can become vocal and destructive when bored or lonely.

With strangers they are typically friendly and unbothered. They make reasonable alarm dogs simply because they announce everything, but they are not guard dogs and are not suspicious by nature.

The Redbone was and is a treeing hound. It trails raccoon and opossum through swamp, water and rough hill country, and larger game including bear, cougar and deer, then bays at the tree until the hunter comes up. It is prized among hound men for being a good all-round performer on varied terrain, comfortable in water, and steady rather than frantic.

Beyond hunting, Redbones do well in tracking and scentwork trials, and their stamina makes them fine companions for long-distance hikers and runners once mature. Their handler focus is modest, so competitive obedience is an uphill task, but nose-driven sports suit them perfectly. They are increasingly used as trailing and search dogs where a long, patient nose matters more than speed.