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Why do people say that to have a good hunting hound you need to keep it out side what's the difference between keeping it out side to inside?

It's the difference between a construction worker that has been working in the heat and elements for a living and comes home to mow lawn , cut firewood and other chores .... and an office worker that has been inside all day , cranks up the a/c on the way home to sit in an apartment and watch TV .... hard men are made from hard living , no other way to get there.

Justin Ryder wrote:It's the difference between a construction worker that has been working in the heat and elements for a living and comes home to mow lawn , cut firewood and other chores .... and an office worker that has been inside all day , cranks up the a/c on the way home to sit in an apartment and watch TV .... hard men are made from hard living , no other way to get there.

Good Answer

hounds that are kept outside still need proper food water and housing to get the most out of them especially in extreme weather.hounds that are kept inside usually have a better repore with the hunter that is almost human like.a hound that is inside must be conditioned for performance to produce game just like an outside hound.a good hound is a good hound though wether it is kept outside or in.the hard part is finding a hound that is a good hunter that makes a good house pet too. they can be a nuisance inside.

This is contrary, but: The Miller Brother training school did a study of all the "once in a lifetime" type coon hounds they knew of in their part of the country. They themselves trained hundreds of young dogs, but they also traveled around to dogs they had not trained but kept hearing about. They were looking for things that all the most outstanding dogs had in common. They had absolutely nothing in common except one thing: they all were raised in the house and treated like family. They had a couple books out in the 70's that stated this.

I have heard this same thing about keeping dogs outside, and even to never pet a hunting dog. As I think about it though, most of it I have heard about bird dogs. I think every full blooded hound I have known is just naturally extremely driven and naturally very tough of heart and mind. I myself think it is impossible to handle a full blooded hound too much. There are dogs of other breeds that I would not probably make that statement about, as they can become too attached to their owner and not want to leave his side.

their are housedogs and kids that live inside but don't really benefit from it .. and hounds tied up to trees that are involved with their owner day and night .... it's ok for your dogs to love you , as long as they fear you just a little bit more.

I raise my puppies indoor mostly. Once they are outside then. They only get in if they do really well as a reward. I agree with they need to be toughened for the conditions!

Think about it, is a dog who slept in by a warm fire all night going to have more energy than one who slept out in a cold dog house in freezing temperatures? I sure believe so, dogs have to use lots of energy staying warm at night in cold freezing weather. Sleeping indoors is not going to harm a good hard going hound, quite the opposite, those dogs are going to have more energy to exert in the field. My dogs never get to sleep inside, all dogs have a very unpleasant odor when kept indoors. I have been known to provide my old dogs with hound dog heaters for there house in the winter months. Al

A dog's body temp is much higher than a persons .. anyone who has every stuck their head in a dog barrel in the winter out of curiosity knows that any barrel or doghouse where the wind is blocked is warm ! Sled dogs are under ten times the demand for endurance of any other working dog and they curl up in the snow in the harshest conditions imagineable .... it's one thing to have a theory ... another to have experience.

But , with that said .. if you are a fair weather hunt then you only need a fair weather dog and maybe indoors with you is a good fit ... but a hard hunter knows that dogs that are too well pampered just don't go hard in bad weather or night after night ... it's not possible .... physics and the laws of the universe pierce even the coonhunting bubble .

The greatest minds , greatest legends of men and beast come from the greatest generation of those born around the great depression or even before .... but really , to each his own as long as we stick to reality ... house or chain is fine , but be honest about the reasons .... you never have to justify what or how you feed to anyone but yourself.

Justin, good posting. But...how many times have you stuck your head in a dog house when wind chills are negative 70 degrees? I know of more than one dog that has frozen to death in his house. Comparing a southern bred hound to an Alaskan Husky takes a little of the authority out of your post. I don't keep my dogs inside personally, but some of the toughest dogs I have ever known or heard of were raised inside up to six or eight months old

"It's one thing to have a theory. It is another thing to have experience". A famous quote

when it's -70 .... my whole body is in that dog house snuggled up !

Ahhahaha... Ya and you are grabbing as many dogs as you can fit in there with you!!! Haha ... I gotta work out in that weather. I need to find me some dogs to wear on my hands...

Rule of thumb is anything -50 or below is a Three Dog Night

A dog may get a rude shock to its system if its kept inside every night and then has to stay on a mountain one cold winter night.

However, the more I experience it, the more a guy handles his hounds, the better they are in the field. So if a guy has them constantly around them in a house, I can not see that hurting the talent of that hound. Plus they are just easier to handle in the field, like calling off a bad track etc.

I keep mine outside (If it gets super cold I bring them in), but I try to keep 'em as warm as possible in the winter (insulated houses etc.). Its rough out there some nights and like someone said, it takes a lot of energy to stay warm at night and then energy to hunt hard that day. A dog only has so much.

My hounds aren't that great. I gotta give them any advantage they can get!


Good topic to discuss.