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English Foxhound

Good points

  • First-rate hunter
  • Lively

Take heed

  • Noisy
  • Does not make a suitable pet

The Foxhound is not suitable as a household pet. It is almost always confined to a foxhunting pack. Hunt supporters often take on the role of puppy walker, in order to accustom a young hound to road hazards and livestock before returning it to its pack. Hounds are attractive, vivacious pups, but they are far too active and destructive for the average household. It is not possible in the United Kingdom to purchase a Foxhound as a pet.

Hounds are always counted by the pack in couples: the huntsman will talk of having 30 couples of hounds

Size

Height: dog 23in (58.5cm); bitch just a little less.

Exercise

Vigorous exercise IS necessary. Foxhounds should have the stamina to spend all day running foxes with the hunt.

Grooming

Use a hound glove.

Feeding

Foxhounds are not fed as household pets, pack members being rencher-fed with horse flesh and an oatmeal mash called a ‘pudding’. The leaner hounds are led to the trough first, so that they may eat their fill, and then the remainder are led in. They are not fed the day before a hunt.

Origin and history

The Foxhound is descended from the heavier St Hubert Hounds, brought to England by the Norman Invaders, and from the now extinct Talbot Hounds. The Ardennes Hounds derived their name of Hubertus Hounds from the Bishop of Liege who later became St Hubert, patron saint of all hunters. The Foxhound is never exhibited at ordinary dog shows but has its own events under the auspices, in the United Kingdom, of the Association of Masters of Foxhounds.

SHOW STANDARD

Colour. The Masters of Foxhounds declare that no hound can be a bad colour

Head and skull. Skull broad.

Feet. The toes of the feet should be close together and not open.

Tail. Should be well put on at the end of good quarters, and these quarters should in no way end I abruptly and be of the type that hound-men term ‘chopped off behind’. A curly stern, although unsightly, will not be detrimental to the hound’s hunting qualities.