The real story of the American English Coonhound is that the breed represents the new direction of the AKC.
Coonhounds have their own events and their own department. They are not a significant part of dog show culture. The owners are generally men who train their own hunting dogs.
Coon hunts take place at night and the rules are mostly a mystery to AKC show exhibitors; for instance, points are given for “striking” the trail, when the owner notifies the judge when his dog strikes because in the coonhound world, every owner knows his own dog’s voice.Reverend Richard Moore brought his American English Coonhound, Game Changer, to the news conference given by the Westminster Kennel Club to introduce the new AKC breeds to the public. Game is a beautiful red and white dog with an outgoing, friendly personality. He was happy to give a slurpy kiss to every reporter who offered a hand.
Reverend Moore turned out to be a friendly, easygoing guy who fit in smoothly with the other new breed owners.
Reverend Moore paid $25,000 for Game Changer’s dam, thousands of dollars above what show people pay each other for their dogs. “Is Game Changer excited about the show?” asked one gorgeously coiffed blond reporter.
“He’s not excited because he’s not in the show,” Rev. Moore answered.
“But will he get more excited as the date gets closer?”
Reverend Moore exchanged a quizzical glance with me. I was also fielding questions from the press in my capacity as David Frei’s assistant. “He tends to get excited about going out to hunt,” the Reverend answered.
“Is this is his first time at Westminster?”
At this point, a less polite person might have shouted, “He is not IN Westminster! He is not entered! He is a hunting dog!” But Reverend Moore is very patient. “It’s his first time here,” he said, making a gesture to include the Affinia Hotel and Madison Square Garden. “He’s taking it pretty well. He’s a pretty laidback dog. I think he’s wondering when the hunt is going to start.”
“Bravo,” I whispered to Rev. Moore. He had handled that beautifully.
Another reporter stepped up. “I heard you say he’s a hunting dog,” she said.
Reverend Moore brightened. “Yes, that’s right. He hunts raccoons. Some people use them to hunt bear and mountain lion. He just hunts raccoons.”
“Does he hunt birds?”
Rev. Moore shook his head no. I jumped in. “The Sporting dogs hunt birds,” I told her, trying to be helpful. “The pointers, retrievers, spaniels; those dogs. The hounds hunt four-legged prey.”
She gave me a perfunctory nod and turned back to Rev. Moore. “Does he hunt pheasant?” she asked.
The look he gave me was, She’s joking, right?
“He doesn’t hunt birds,” I hissed. “Pheasants are birds.”
She looked from me to Game Changer with an air of incomprehension. “What about pigeons?”
Rev. Moore just smiled. I clenched my fists. It seemed redundant to say, “Pigeons are birds!” again.
Coon hunts are rare in the northeastern United States, but wildly popular in the southern and Midwest states.
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