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Black and Tan Coonhound

When the night hounds bell.

Black and Tan Coonhound. c1940

  On arriving in the American colonies British settlers naturally took dogs with them to aid in the endless search for food.  In the early part of the seventeenth century the colony in Virginia was ravaged by disease, drought and starvation, not to mention hostile Algonquian Indians.  Much of the food they hunted and vermin they attempted to eradicate took to the trees, whereas in Europe they might be more likely to go to ground.  North America even has a species of fox with semi-retractile claws, Urocyon cinereoargenteus, which can climb trees!

Old Virginia Foxhound. c1930.

   First imported into the Virginia colony in 1650, hounds at the time were used in vermin control rather than for organised, mounted hunts. The settlers hunted on foot and dogs introduced into this environment would invariably tree their quarry and then promptly lose interest should the hunter not be immediately available with his gun.  Over the succeeding decades the settlers gradually developed suitable hounds, from a blend of English foxhounds and other European breeds, that lingered, barking at the foot of trees containing prey.  These hounds bayed on the trail and then barked when they’d successfully treed.  For food the colonists hunted possum and squirrel, which were common, and raccoon, which seemed all too plentiful if you kept poultry.  Indeed, Oscar Wilde’s famous fox-hunting quote about “The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable” doesn’t apply to coon hunting as, over the centuries, numerous Americans have eaten raccoons with some gusto: apparently they taste rather like chicken.  The dogs standardised into a half-dozen or so breeds known collectively as fox-and-coonhounds, or simply coonhounds, these breed types were slightly different in type from the sundry variations of the foxhound also developed on the east coast.  There are many other, smaller, breeds that do the same, or similar, job known as curs and still smaller breeds that hunt in a similar fashion known as feists, but these breeds are very unstandardised and, generally speaking, are far removed from the foxhound type.
  Raccoons are nocturnal.  Any hunting of raccoons, or cooning, usually takes place at night with the hunter following his dog’s distinctive voice.  The various types of coonhound are also used to hunt other ‘game’ such as bear, deer, cougar, bobcat and feral pig.  Individual Treeing Walker coonhounds and American English coonhounds may even develop the ability to climb trees.  During the frequent coonhound trials dogs follow an artificial scent trail that leads to a home tree.  The first dog to cross the finish line is declared the ‘line winner’ and the first dog to bark up the correct tree is the ‘tree winner’.  
  Attempts to obtain AKC recognition for the coonhound breeds failed as they were generally too similar to the foxhound type, but in 1945 the Black and Tan Coonhound was finally admitted.  For decades the Black and Tan breeders had kept careful records and in-depth pedigrees, and had embarked on breeding programmes for the continued improvement of the breed.  Breeders of other coonhounds had not kept such stringent records and, like most hound enthusiasts, they had not regarded colour as particularly important.
  The Black-and-Tan hunts with his nose close to the ground.  They trail raccoons through woods and swamps, either dark nights or moonlit.  Either singly, in pairs or as part of a small group, baying all the way until the quarry is treed, when they emit their tree bark.  Sometimes the treeing of the game is considered the sport and then the hunters cast about for other prey to chase.  On other occasions the raccoon lying along its branch will be spotlighted and shot.  Some hunters prefer dark, moonless nights as they feel the glare from the moon in some instances may impede their targeting of a raccoon on the higher branches.

Kerry Beagles.  Thomas, 1928

  Generations of cooners have preferred the Black and Tan, which is a slower hunter than other coonhounds.  The bloodhound's superficial similarity to the Black and Tan is unmistakable and it’s generally assumed it was a progenitor of the breed but the bloodhound has much more loose skin.  They may have inherited their colouring from the Kerry beagle or a colour variant of the now-extinct Old Virginia foxhound (fig. 2), but the Black and Tan coonhound, with minimal tan, is much more ‘blacker’ than the former and the coat pattern has a striking resemblance to the latter.

Doodle of a Talbot hound supplied by Lacock unlocked.

  Coon hunters have always maintained that the medieval Talbot hound is an ancestor of the Black and Tan.  Not entirely impossible given the breed's appearance.  There are references to Talbots and St Huberts (probable ancestors of the Talbot) having a black colour variant, and both breeds were heavily built, slow hunters and, like the Black and Tan, their melodious voices whilst on the trail were described as a deep bass. "The general consensus holds that the black-and-tan evolved from the Talbot hound, an ancient breed, now extinct, that was brought from England into Virginia by some of that state's first settlers." Falk, 1971. "A predominantly black-and-tan strain that sprang from the Talbot stock was dubbed the 'Virginia black-and-tan.' Almost from the beginning, the black-and-tan was prized not only as a coonhound but for the more aristocratic sport of fox hunting, and the breed also contributed to the development of the Chesapeake Bay retriever..." Elman, 1977. It’s difficult to obtain any image of the Talbot but there is a doodle from Lacock Unlocked dated 1774 or 1775.  Although there is scant information available about the Talbot this doodle does at least show us that someone in England was familiar with the breed over a century and a half after the first colonists went to Virginia, so the Talbot could have made it to North America at that time.  Perhaps because of the Talbot’s representation in heraldry we expect the breed to be white, but as mentioned earlier they could be found in darker colours. It's distinctly possible that the Black and Tan coonhound is the closest breed we have to the Talbot of old, but simply an unexpected colouring?

Talbot from the Shrewsbury M.S. British museum.

Hat tip to Jack Vance for the sub-heading.

Hounds and Hunting Through the Ages. 1928

Joseph B. Thomas M.F.H. The Derrydale Press.

The Practical Hunter's Log Book. John R. Falk.

New York : Winchester Press. 1971.

Atlantic Flyway. Robert Elman. 1977.

New York : Winchester Press.

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