Crossing with a bloodhound

[nevadalionhunter]

I was just wondering how many of you guys are running bloodhound cross dogs and what your thoughts are on them i have been thinking about trying this cross but have never personaly hunted with any so i just wondered about the pros and cons of a blood hound cross.

[BARTAMENKO]

a dog jock named frank weiss from northern ca. was playing with that cross and sold alot of dogs called them majestic before you start crossing this to that make sure you know what your looking for or what you want. i'm sure it has been tried before.

[Benny G]

The best dog I ever had was from a line a ranching family had in Az. They kept about 1/8 bloodhound in their dogs.

[pegleg]

it's been hashed out over and over with a lot of poor results. why do people still do it? because occasionally one cross would work and the pups would turn out as good as could be expected some are really out standing! but there's faults more often. I think the main problem is people want the blood hounds historic nose and none of the baggage. they're like any other breed and have different strains. some are so full of flaws I cannot believe they're still alive. those I truly believe have some french basset blood crossed into them some where. I have seen some other strains that I really liked. some english strains are still real nice and maybe the very best source for a cross. however the guys in the majestic breed are doing the home work and if it was me I'd just hang on their shirt tails and use that route. I think it's steve marrow

[sourdough]

I am not sure why anyone would won’t to try to recreate what is already out there. We are stepping forward every single day in the hound world, they may be small steps but they are steps none the less. If you look at the competition coon dog back east they are not the same as those of the past. They run to catch and pass those tracks up that the hound of thirty years ago would of ran and got hook up. The goal of the hunter in that setting is the same, but the need to do it faster to win, caused them to breed dogs that would not have the desire to run a colder track. Although that’s the way of the hound in competition, not all breeders have gone that way and there are some pleasure dogs still back east. In the west where we do not have the numbers of raccoons as they do in the east we tend to hunt the bigger game species bear, cougar, and bobcat in order to have success we have to have a hound that can cold trail in order to catch. I do believe the blood hound to have an incredible indisputable nose. I feel there is no need to breed them to, today’s big game hounds as the western bred big game hounds of today have plenty of nose as well as speed to over take every game species out here. You just have to find the person that has what you desire and get it.

sourdough

[Brent Sinclair]

Some of the hounds we are using in Africa for the leopard hunts have bloodhound in them, they work real well.
This B&T Bloodhound cross is about 1/8 just enough to give him some real good cold trailing ability..some of the better leopard outfitters always have one or two of these hounds in their kennel to help work those hard to catch cats where they may find an older track and need that type of hound to get it started...

[Roy Sparks]

While agree about reinventing the wheel theory , from my perspective having only tried this twice it produced some very interesting and satisfactory results.

I aquired a Black and Tan Bloodhound male x whose sire was a Bluetick the dam was pure B&T bloodhound from the forensics department of our police force. This was taking a flying chance.

Instead of watering down my South Western bloodline which I believe will be difficult to improve on , I chose an outstanding English Fellhound bitch to cross to this Bloodhound x male.With much trepidation I watched the pups grow. They were all beautiful looking hounds, length of ear was there and most came out black and white while two were B&T. I palmed off a bunch and kept 3 back, 2 B&W bitches and a B&T male. If I could have predicted the outcome I would have kept all those pups.The owners who got the others can't stop singing praises.

There first season as young hounds having only a bit of homework on lynx and jackal here at home they were then thrown in the deep end.We took them on our leopard hunting season in Namibia. They worked those desert conditions right alongside our proven strain. They were in on all 19 leopard we took last year.

It's to early to be sure if this will prove to be a generally worthwhile practice to continue. I have made a cross to this B&T sire to an outstanding Redtick bitch of mine and the pups look beautiful. They came out looking like Blue Ticks and Redticks while one looks like a Redbone in colour. They are very busy pups at the age of seven months and when let out of the runs to explore the yard they have there heads down searching the whole time. We will be doing some basic introductory work with them soon.

Will let you know how they turn out. While I can't be absolutely sure I remain quietly confident.

Roy Sparks.

[Big Mike]

A good buddy of mine had some blood hound crosses. He said when he got them down to 1/4 blood hound made the best cross and were as good of dry ground lion dogs as he ever had.

I know of another guy who tried it with 0 results.

The blood hounds are extremely slow starters so if a guy was going to try this he would need lots of patience.

I think the key to success IMO would be to get a good smaller bloodhound female from a prison system where they are still actively hunting people with them and have good programs.

Bloodhounds such a big heavy dog, just not a good build for the counrty I hunt.

But hell its only time and money give it a try and let us know in about three years!!

[Mike Leonard]

I have hunted with a lot of bloodhound crosses. From 3/4 blood down to 1/8 blood. It seems finding that right dog to cross on is very difficult. Most bloodhound have been bred for show these days and they are far to heavy and sluggish to make a good dry ground lion dog. After all that is what we are talking about not many other forms of hunting take the added nose the blood pooch may bring.Finding a smaller working style Talbot or St. Hubert is very difficult but if you do and make a cross on them there are other factors to consider. Any more that 3/8 bloodhound you stand to lose tree and locate power, and handling ability. Bloodhounds are not as stupid as some say but they do not handle for the most part like full tree hounds. The are very stubborn and independant, they can become very and I mean VERY MEAN if mis-handled. They have to be dominated by and alph trainer early in their life or they can go renegade very quick.
It is true that many of the best old strain southwest hounds did have some bloodhound in their background but it took years of trial and error and hard culling to get the wrinkles iron out(no pun intended). LOL!

If you have lots of time and money as Big Mike said and want to fool around with it go ahead you may hit the jackpot. But then again you may not....


I think it is interesting that most of the Majestic hound breeders and majestics are part bloodhound , are located in states where mountain lions were wiped out over 100 years ago.

Ponder that?????

[nevadalionhunter]

Guys
thanks for everyones input so far. you guys have just confirmed my own thoughts on the matter. the main reason i havent tryed it yet was because of the time factor and not knowing how many litters of pups a guy would go through to get a couple good ones. it sounds like it does work if a person goes about it the right way, but i think i will probably let somone else do the foot work. truth be told i will probably stick with the plain old hounds but i sure do like the looks of those long eared blood hound cross dogs, I catch alot of lions in the dirt but there is always that track that the dogs wont be able to work out that makes me think, i wonder if i just had a little more nose if they could have put that one up a tree. i may try to buy one that is already hunting and see how that turns out but it wont be for a few years i have plenty of dogs right now any way.
thanks again
Ryan

[shoot4fur]

Have you ever thought about just trying or crossing with a Bavarian Mountain hound? Not sure if it would work, but from what i have read it sounds like it might make a great hound for cats due to its cold nose. when i get a little more $$ i might just give it a try. they seem to be the perpect size, not near as big as the blood hound. It also seems that they have not been bred for looks at all just for the hunt.

[Mike Leonard]

SCIENTISTS AND LIONTRACKERS It's Easter and we are all praying for you. Possibly a rebirth of what real lion hunters and scent trackers need. I was so mixed up in my youth, I went to places like Arizona to look for lion hounds, and now the truth comes out, it has been France and Bavaria all along. I never was too smart when I heard that I was allways thinking ice cream or pastires. Oh well live and learn......

[houndnem]

never crossed blood hound into mine, but here is my problem with cold cold cold nosed dogs that I have had. I ride horses and dry cast dogs alot, those real cold nosed dogs would strike two or more day old tracks and beat them for two days never to catch up with them. I want a dirt track that my least cold nosed dog will smell. thats the one that will be fun to chase and catch. if you are hunting snow, you'll definately never need a nose like that.

[Benny G]

Mr. Leonard -- IF I were to get hold of one of those exotic type hound dogs from far off, would you consider a trade with me? PLEASE? I LOVE ice cream!!!!!
Happy Easter! Benny

[Ike]

sounds like the old silver bullet syndrome again..........