BLUETICK COONHOUND

My good friend Jim J from Daytona Beach writes:

Sean,

You have the MOST AMAZING STORIES ! ! !

I had a Bluetick named Max.

Max was the official mascot (by default) of the school, Fairview Junior High. I believe he got that distinction because he used to go to school every day to beg for food. The school was one block from my house.


(The email chain continued throughout the day . . .)

Hahahaha! Check this out! I did a search on the Internet for my old dog and look what I got:

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Facebook
To: Jim J_____
Subject: Katie P_____ sent you a message on Facebook

Katie sent you a message.

Re: Fairview mascot image

"Hi! In the '76 yearbook I found a photo of a real dog and in my handwriting it says "Max" right on it. I didn't even remember there being a Max until I saw the photo. Would you like me to scan a photo and email it to you? Or, I can post it on the Fairview page."





Jim continues:

You can tell Max was kind if a hippie. After all it was California in the 70's!
He looks a little burned out because he maybe smoked a little too much stuff.

Max was a purebred Bluetick Coonhound. I never really knew what I had at the time though. Maybe we all smoked a little too much!

I could edit out the "Max" . . . but I think it adds character. Let's leave it like that. It gives it more meaning.

I attended Fairview in 68-71, Max stayed behind for many years! I went on to Del Valle. He pretty much ran the neighborhood, did whatever he wanted to do. Those were the days eh?

Max was a purebred Bluetick Coonhound:

The Bluetick Coonhound is the state dog of Tennessee where it is said to have originated. Selective breeding in Louisiana of Foxhounds, Curs, French Hounds and English Coonhounds produced the Bluetick Coonhound. In 2008 the Bluetick Coonhound was recognized by the AKC in the Miscellaneous Class.

Coonhounds have a tendency to follow their noses, and if they catch wind of a scent, they may wander off for hours following it.

The name comes from the black tick marks on the while background that appears to give a blue tint.

Famous Bluetick Coonhounds:

A Bluetick Coonhound named "Smokey" is the official athletic mascot of the University of Tennessee.

A Bluetick Coonhound named Tet was the companion of Stringfellow Hawke, the main character of popular 1980s television show Airwolf.

Neil Young has stated that his song "Old King" is a tribute to a deceased Bluetick Coonhound he once owned.

An unnamed Bluetick Coonhound is featured in Blake Shelton's hit single, "Ol' Red". The song relates an escape plan of a man convicted of a crime of passion when he murdered his wife and her lover. He devises a plan to have a female Bluetick lure the prison's male Bloodhound Ol' Red away from Shelton instead of tracking him as he heads in the opposite direction. The closing lines of the song are:

"Now there's red-haired Blueticks all in the South, / Love got me in there and love got me out."

Bluetick Coonhounds are featured in the book Where the Red Fern Grows. However, the two main dogs are Redbone Coonhounds.

Emmylou Harris sings about her friend Lillian's "Bluetick hound dog, Gideon" in her song Red Dirt Girl.

Charlie Daniels mentions that he's "kinda like my old Bluetick hound / I like to lay around in the shade" in his song "Long Haired Country Boy."

David Allan Coe mentions a Bluetick hound in his song "Cum Stains on the Pillow."

A Bluetick was featured in a Miracle Whip television commercial. After making a sandwich, the dog discovers the owner is out of Miracle Whip. (Jeff Gorman Films - Man's Best Friend Makes a Sandwich; Animal Makers animation)

Ken Kesey, in his novel, "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest", used a Bluetick Coonhound as a symbol for his main character Chief Bromden.

In Savage Sam, the sequel to Old Yeller, the title character is a Bluetick Coonhound. He is meant to be the son of Old Yeller, despite Old Yeller having been a Carolina Dog.

Here on Blog STORMBRINGER we like to celebrate the things of the Great American Southland: God, Guns, Guts, Elvis, the Blues, Barbecue, Moonshine Sippin' Whiskey, NASCAR, and now BlueTick and RedBone CoonHounds . . . . . . . S.L.

DAWGS

I HAD to post this article because the last time I made it home the kids surprised me with a puppy - our Bella-boo is one of those Redbone's. Now I've got a new dawg to train - it only took me the better part of two years to sort out my Tiny Tiger, the Jack Russel from Hell. At least Bella is a little more steady in the nerves than my Tiny; she'll make a fine tracking dog, she's got the super-dooper sniffer nose for it . . . . . . S.L.


From the





Three New AKC-Recognized Dog Breeds: Bluetick Coonhound, Boykin Spaniel and Redbone Coonhound

by Lindsay Barnett


The American Kennel Club has announced that three new dog breeds -- the bluetick coonhound, the Boykin spaniel and the redbone coonhound -- will be eligible for AKC conformation competition beginning Dec. 30. The new breeds will bring the total number of breeds recognized by the AKC to 164.

The bluetick coonhound (left) is believed to be descended from the French staghound and English foxhound, and blueticks were originally classified as members of the English foxhound breed.

Blueticks and English foxhounds went their separate ways in 1945 because, according to the AKC, bluetick breeders "didn't want to follow the trend toward producing a hot-nosed, faster hunter. Proud of their larger, cold-nosed and resolute, if slower hounds, they named their breed and maintained their own hunting style."

As a result of these breeding practices, blueticks are known for their endurance in addition to their signature coloring, for which they're named. A bluetick named Smokey is the mascot for the University of Tennessee.


The Boykin spaniel (right) -- named for the breed's originator, L. Whitaker Boykin -- hails from South Carolina and is that state's official dog. (This fun fact got us wondering whether California has an official state dog; it doesn't. But a number of other U.S. states do; for instance, the American foxhound is the state dog of Virginia and the Louisiana Catahoula leopard dog is the state dog of Louisiana. For reasons unclear to us, the Great Dane is the official dog of Pennsylvania.)


According to legend, the Boykin breed got its start in the humblest of manners: the breed's forerunner, a sturdy little stray who was given the name Dumpy (no joke), was found wandering near a church in Spartanburg, S.C., in the early 1900s. One of the parishioners, Alexander White, took Dumpy home. After spending some time with Dumpy, White thought his personality lended itself to hunting; it just so happened that White's hunting partner was Boykin, a skilled dog trainer. Boykin took over Dumpy's training and soon discovered the dog was a natural at hunting wild turkeys; soon, a breed was born. Although the original Boykin spaniels were wild-turkey hunters, the majority of those used in the field today hunt ducks and other water birds.

Young-adult literature fans may remember the redbone coonhound (left) from Wilson Rawls' novel "Where the Red Fern Grows," which made us weep in our youth and, even now, causes us to well up a bit thinking about it. Redbones are descended from red foxhounds brought to the U.S. from Scotland and Ireland in the 1700s and 1800s, and they're known for their speed, agility and prowess at treeing game.

Both the bluetick coonhound and redbone coonhound will join the Hound group, naturally; the Boykin spaniel will become the newest member of the Sporting group. The new breeds are the first to receive official recognition from the AKC since the Irish red-and-white setter, the Pyrenean shepherd and the Norwegian buhund were admitted to the exclusive purebreds-only club in January.

Top photo: A bluetick coonhound. Credit: Diane Lewis / American Kennel Club

Middle photo: A Boykin spaniel. Credit: Bill Simmons

Bottom photo: A redbone coonhound. Credit: Christine Smith