{Battle with my youngest Son}
Three weeks ago I posted a picture of my retired hound on our Instagram account, and one Gal’s comment stopped me in my tracks. She commented “Didn’t think that was allowed” what, didn’t think that was allowed??? It occurred to us that we needed to make a little Public Service Announcement. Most hunts have hounds that have worked hard and are looking for a soft place to land in their retirement.
{Battle with his cat}
Our hunt gives our puppies to folks to keep at home when they are babies so they can be socialized and loved. We think that’s what makes them into such good candidates to become House Hounds. It’s tough to watch a hound that was once at the front of the pack, get slow and tired. We will all get old and tired and hope that in our retirement we will be comfortable. We think as Foxhunters it’s our responsibility to do the same for these loyal animals that have given us such good sport.
Battle shown here on the left, back in his hunting days.
was lucky enough to be able to offer this beautiful Penn-Marydel Myopia hound named Battle a soft place to land. My youngest son and Battle are the best of friends; they are always together. He is more my Son’s hound than anyone else in the house. (Except the cat, I catch them sleeping together when no one is home.) When he goes to school, Battle mopes around until he comes home.
If you’ve ever thought about giving a retired hound a new lease on life, please do so. The first place to start is by getting in touch with your Huntsman. They will let you know if they have any hounds that are ready to leave the pack. Not every hound will be able to transition easily into your home, but there are plenty that will, and your hunt staff would know who they are.
We want to know, do you have a house hound?
Hounds Please!
We walk couples of puppies every year but I’ve never considered taking on a retired hound.
Nico, If you had a retired hound you’d start a trend!
I would urge you to partner with rescues (I live in Virginia) that get inundated with hounds that have been dumped after hunting season. They are beautiful, wonderful dogs.
Nice gesture Sissie…and I have those same hunt prints on my wall…must be Topsfield thing?
We are on our third retired fox hound. They are the sweetest dogs! They love to lay by the fire and be lazy. When we brought out latest home he didn’t want to leave the house once he found out he got his own bed. Haha they just want to snuggle and be loved all the time!
Hi,I think it’s a great idea to give a hound a home but here in the uk it doesn’t really happen.There may be exceptions but it’s believed they don’t make pets after they have been hunt hounds.The ironic thing is they start life puppy walking and living with a family for several weeks.I would give a hound a home tomorrow.
As you can see, even hounds that have hunted make wonderful additions to the family. When I took Battle home our Huntsman was from Ireland and he happily matched folks up with hounds. We also had two British Huntsman before him and they did the same. You should talk to your Huntsman, you never know:)
Our hound Fillet was the best dog we could ever imagine, she was well tempered, sweet and loved being loved. I could not imagine a better fit for our growing family and hope to adopt another one soon. We took her in during her later years and it was the best experience I could imagine for our family. We had a 1 yo and she would wonderful with him allowing him to crawl and share her bed with him. It was a short relationship but it left a very deep impression on us. (she had cancer after 3 yrs with us) She was so quite and always wanted to be close to us. I think of her all the time.
I have 10 hounds total, 9 pennmarydels! one german shorthair pointer ( but hes mainly a companion puppy) 8 of our hounds has been raised puppy up, we have even taken part in helping momma bottle feed! I am actually looking for a pennmarydel puppy now if anyone knows of anyone with a litter, please contact me! Reason I am writing though is I love this idea! four of my dogs now are 7 and they are just used to teach the others. They don’t chase long, and they spend much of their time on the couch! I love this Idea as these dogs are truly great companions and have the biggest of hearts!
Do they require a farm? We fostered puppies back when my kids were little and we had horses. Now we live at the beach with no real yard to speak of. There would be plenty of love, walks, and beach time … but no “acreage”.
No acreage required! They are done running unless something is chasing them. Our hound is on an invisible fence he does not have run of the farm and does great. Please get in touch with your local hunt and see what they have available.
XO
Sissi