Good points
- First-rate hunter
- Lively
Take heed
- Noisy
- Does not make a suitable pet
The American Foxhound is a lighter, racier-looking dog that the English Foxhound. It is exhibited in the show ring in the United States.
Size
Height: dogs should not be under 22in (56cm) nor over 25in (63.5cm); bitches should not be under 21in (53cm) nor over 24in (61cm). Measurements made across the back at the point of the withers, the hound standing In a natural position with its feet well under it.
Exercise
Needs plenty of vigorous exercise.
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 American Foxhound may have been derived from a pack of English Foxhounds taken from Britain to America by Robert Brooke in 1650, but some authorities say that the first mention of hound Importations to America appears in the diary of one of De Soto’s men. They are very fast, their quarry – the American red fox – being a speedier prey than its English counterpart. In about 1770, George Washington also imported English Foxhounds from Great Britain and received a gift from Lafayette of some excellent French specimens In 1785. The French and British breeds were crossbred, producing the Virginia Hounds, which have developed to form today’s American Foxhound.
SHOW STANDARD
Colour. Any colour is acceptable.
Head and skull. The skull should be fairly long, slightly domed at occiput with cranium broad and full. Ears set on moderately low, long, reaching when drawn out nearly, if not quite, to the tip of the nose; fine In texture, fairly broad, with almost entire absence of erectile power – setting close to the head with the forward edge slightly turning to the cheek – round at tip.
Feet. Fox-like. Pad full and hard. Well-arched toes. Strong nails.
Tail. Set on moderately high and carried gaily but not turned forward over the back; slight curve and very slight brush.