I believe my rescue dog has a fair amount of foxhound in her. (The other part is Lab–dogs I already understand! Her Lab characteristics are so easy–loves everybody, swims happily)
Tell me about the foxhound personality and how to train them–not for hunting but for well-behaved companionship.
Is independence one of their things?
FYI, an American foxhound took best in show at the National Dog Show this
weekend. Did a quick scan of this forum and didn’t see anything. If already
mentioned, sorry. Good looking, happy dog!
Beautiful dogs. They may be noisy. They are more trainable than, say, a Coonhound — foxhounds do work better with humans than Coonies because they don’t hunt totally independently. I’d love to have one — they are sweethearts.
Some reading; http://animalsplatform.org/assets/library/442_s935.pdf
May not directly answer the OP’s question but, goodness, what an interesting article! Anthropology and hunting, a perfect combination.
I had a nice long response typed up on my iPad last night, and somehow it disappeared! So I’ll try again.
Several years ago I fostered a young hound bitch who was more than likely a foxhound. She was very good natured. She was gentle and easy going with people and exceptionally good with children. She was very non-confrontational with other dogs, even with my other foster at the time, who was an uber-alpha bitch. She loved being with other dogs, I don’t think she would have been happy as an only dog.
She was probably a kennel raised dog, so she had a couple of house training accidents early on, but then she was fine. We had no problem with leaving her loose in the house, but she would sometimes counter surf. She was very stubborn about her comforts, it was almost impossible to get her to move off of our bed at bedtime.
She was very food-motivated and especially liked Cheetos, so they were good for training tools.
She did not tolerate the cold as well as a Lab, she needed a sweater. And she LOVED her sweater, she would dive right through the neck hole every morning.
The one thing that I found difficult about having a hound as a house dog is that she could never, ever, be off lead, and when she was on lead, she pulled, hard. We tried every training tool possible, harnesses, haltis, etc. The only thing that worked, somewhat, was to run the leash from her collar down her back, around her waist, then loop it through and out to me, so that when she pulled it would tighten around her waist. Or I would use a 30’ lead and just tie it around my waist to save my shoulders.
She was adopted by two women who had a very large (almost 1 acre) fenced yard with two other dogs. Last I heard she was very happy there and had helped them “raise” their new Great Dane puppy.
fascinating
[QUOTE=gingerbread;7287912]
Tell me about the foxhound personality and how to train them–not for hunting but for well-behaved companionship.
Is independence one of their things?[/QUOTE]
They are sweet, loving cuddle bugs, adore people, love to claim the couch and will spend hours sleeping on any available soft surface, beautiful, elegant, athletic, smart, friendly to everyone (and generally most other dogs), with gorgeous voices that just send chills up your spine when heard echoing over the frosty fields in the early morning hours of late fall.
They are VERY trainable, very tractable, and biddable. Otherwise how do you think a hunt would be able to get a whole pack working together, paying attention to staff, the huntsman, etc from the kennel to the field?
They are bred to hunt, and can do so independently as well as part of a pack, but transition perfectly to a house pet. Many hunts will place retired hounds, and hounds that don’t want to hunt, with families and members as companion dogs, and I’ve never met anyone that didn’t adore to death their foxhound/family pet. 
A passing thought, on an interesting thread.
I have read, and don’t know how true it may be, that American foxhounds are generally more biddable and less independent than the European version. Different requirements when hunting I presume.
I have only ever met two pet foxhounds in the UK and the MFHA don’t encourage the practice. Subsequent to the UK ban on hunting with hounds, the breed is creeping into the show ring. So they must be able to make the transition to pet.
Cuddly but can be shy
I walked out two hound puppies this summer. I absolutely adored them both, but each had a notable personality trait that would be trying for a house dog: Dexter was noisy, barky. He still is, in the kennel–and sometimes babbles out hunting. And Duke was an escape artist. Although he never strayed very far, he could somehow slip under the gate and go walkabout. A few times I found him on the other side of the fence, just sitting there, resting (he is mellower than Dexter, but also bolder–Dexter was high-energy but shy about certain things).
In fact, some foxhounds (Penn-Marydels, in particular) tend to be quite shy and may take a while to warm up to new humans outside the pack environment. They are not Golden Retrievers.
That said, they were the cuddliest, happiest doggies, always looking for a snuggle. I’d happily take them both back if they don’t hunt (they are integrating well and learning their jobs, so it doesn’t look like they’ll come back until they retire).
Oh, and one more thing, since OP asked about training: Both puppies were very trainable! Within a few days of coming here they could sit and stay. Within a month or two they understood “come” (very important), and both learned quickly to follow me on my mountain bike and then on horseback with the “come along” command. I did not house break them because they lived in the barn, but they were very responsive to about seven different commands when they left here: “Come along” “Off” (for jumping Dexter), sit, stay, “kennel up!” “come” and “leave it” (that was a work in progress).
We had a farm dog that was a Fox Hound mix. He was by far, one of the nicest dogs I’ve ever known. Lived to 15 and we still miss him.
Gingerbread, DH and I have a foxhound mix too! DH thinks her other half is Lab (webbed feet), but I think it might be pit bull (her snout is short and her eyes sort of slanty). But she’s a beautiful tri-color with adorable freckles on her legs and nose.
Our dog Gabby (short for Gabrielle, what they called her in the shelter) is a very quiet dog. We never heard her make a sound when we visited her in the shelter or when we got her home, until she got comfortable enough with our other dog to start playing. Now when they play, Gabby will make short, sharp little barks, but I’ve never heard her howl. She is a lovebug, wants to please, and is proving easy to train on things like sit, down, etc.
Back on my family’s farm, we have a redbone coonhound who had been dumped…we cannot fathom why, because she is stunning, a fantastic hunter, and sweet as the day is long. She, however, has the true hound voice! It’s beautiful to hear it ring through the woods. We don’t coon hunt, but have observed her treeing and baying at coons many times. She came to us bone-thin and peppered with birdshot. Like I said, I’ve never met a sweeter dog, and I’m glad she landed with us!
Would love to see pics of your new addition! I’ll try to throw a few of mine on Photobucket and link it here.
We had a farm dog that was a Fox Hound mix. He was by far, one of the nicest dogs I’ve ever known. Lived to 15 and we still miss him.
I had a fox hound, he showed up as an adult stray. He was definitely a fox hound, not a deer hound,if you saw a picture of a fox hound it looked just like Jimmy. He had a wonderful way of moving, it was a joy to watch him.
He was obviously from a hunting kennel and not very social to humans, he showed up one cold night on deaths door, I believe the only thing that forced him out of the woods was a last attempt to liveI found him in my hay barn trying to keep warm. It took 6 months to get him in the house, another year maybe before he got the pet idea but once he did, he was my boy. He sat on the couch like a man would, upright with his front feet on the floor. He slept in the bed, he counter surfed and you could not have a bbq without someone yelling “jmmy get away from the meat” He liked to roll on his back and pretend he was a baby. I’ve had dozens of dogs, he was one of the smartest. Difficult to train I think because he was at least 4 years old when he showed up but very smart, he also was a dogs dog, had a great sense of play with the other dogs. Great with cats as well. Once he got the pet idea going, he was the king of pets, never had much of an urge to hunt again but thoroughly enjoyed a hike in the woods.
I’ve had a couple of dogs I can say I felt a stronger connection to but jimmy was the dog with the biggest personality of any dog I’ve had. I miss him terribly, I had him 5 years but the damage he suffered from neglect took him too soon.
I knew an English foxhound who had been bottle raised as a house dog and lived to the grand old age of 14. There are stories about what a hellion she was as a young dog - never quite got the idea that “come” meant “drop everything and come NOW” as opposed to “some human wants you to show up someplace else some day.” There are stories about how she would take off for hours and reappear with a big grin on her face, but nobody ever saw where she went - it was as if she teleported away and back. BUT, she was the sweetest dog, was great with other dogs and horses, put up with all sorts of crazy human adventures, dressed up in silly costumes for Christmas cards, and in the end, gracefully handled diabetes management and the effects of old age. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime dog.
“In fact, some foxhounds (Penn-Marydels, in particular) tend to be quite shy and may take a while to warm up to new humans outside the pack environment.”
this above
they warm up to you and not the other way around…
you won’t bribe them or cajole, they appreciate the smallest of movements as cues…almost like giant barking cats…
once you are “in” it’s gold, but many a “dog person” has gotten their feelings hurt in the kennel thinking “dogs love me”…
well baby, dogs might, but PMD’s hounds don’t 
tamara
[QUOTE=Tamara in TN;7295057]
“In fact, some foxhounds (Penn-Marydels, in particular) tend to be quite shy and may take a while to warm up to new humans outside the pack environment.”
this above
they warm up to you and not the other way around…
you won’t bribe them or cajole, they appreciate the smallest of movements as cues…almost like giant barking cats…
once you are “in” it’s gold, but many a “dog person” has gotten their feelings hurt in the kennel thinking “dogs love me”…
well baby, dogs might, but PMD’s hounds don’t
tamara[/QUOTE]
This is interesting to me. I wonder if Tamara from TN and I were associated with the same pack of hounds- Bart Mueller’s beautiful
Penn-Marydels that he cultivated for more than sixty years for the Longreen hunt. Their huge bell- like voices in full cry were a thing of beauty- unforgettable. The same personality traits that Tamara wrote about were a big warning to people who wanted to adopt puppies or older dogs. They weren’t considered to be good for pet dogs at all. Sigh, I miss my days of hunting with those hounds.
[QUOTE=BasqueMom;7288353]
FYI, an American foxhound took best in show at the National Dog Show this
weekend. Did a quick scan of this forum and didn’t see anything. If already
mentioned, sorry. Good looking, happy dog![/QUOTE]
Yes, Jewel is one of the top show dogs in the country. She is indeed beautiful, huge congrats to her connections!
Although some years ago some of the Penn-Marydels in the our hunt could be a bit timid around unfamiliar people, I am happy to say that many of them in the pack now are relaxed, confident and outgoing around people, temperaments that anyone would be proud of. At Opening Meet, in fact, one of them was working the crowd like a rockstar, soliciting petting and attention from adults and children alike!
I am sure it is a combination of selection for that temperament, and the amount of time and care taken to socialize them, especially as puppies.
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