The Vale of Lune Harriers and The Three Counties Bloodhounds

“We must not take away the hound’s birthright.”

“Hound shows do have a big bearing on hound breeding. But showing unentered hounds is detrimental to the breed. If an unentered hound wins a lot of the big shows, the temptation is to keep that hound - even when it has continually refused to take its place with the pack. I do know of two very illustrious packs where this has happened.

“Very often such a hound wins the pack’s annual puppy show, then goes on to clean up at other shows. But come September, that hound may refuse to enter the fray of autumn hunting and subsequently become useless.

“Yet it would take a very brave huntsman or master to do what he should do at the end of the season, and that is put the hound down. In some cases, a hound like that has even been bred from in later years, and that’s not right.

“Harriers are always flashing (over-running the line) - it can take a Harrier pack half a field to turn when the line quickly alters direction. They don’t have the nose of a Beagle, and they’re buggers for getting excited and flying on. But then they have the speed to be able to cast themselves quickly, regain the line and get away with it.

“Certainly while teaching my young Bloodhounds, they so obviously have excellent nose, even on the clean boot. And when Phillip (who lays the line) turned, they were flashing over the line and consequently losing the time it took to correct themselves. But I think that’s no bad thing. It teaches them to put their noses down and hunt as hounds should. And all this changing of direction adds extra thrills for the mounted followers.

“I know if I put a stronger scent down they would turn better on the line, but if you make it too easy for them, you take away the whole point - which is watching hounds work and use their natural ability to do things humans could never do.

“What worries me about fox based scent is that it can be too strong. I’ve used Olbas Oil, and the hounds absolutely screamed along on it. We ran the line through a woodland and the the echo of their cry was just amazing; it literally brought the hairs up on the back of my neck. It’s far too strong.

“The smell is rank, even when sitting high above the ground on your horse, and thats no good, because when you come to downgrade the hounds on a less powerful scent, they quickly and consistently lose the line.

“A hound’s natural ability is to use its nose, and we must remember that when we are breeding, as taking away this, their natural birthright, is not on.”

As told to Horse and Hound, 26th October 2006.