Thoughts IhadDrivingHome fromtheDogShow CAROLINECOILE What's a Hound? Once upon a time the AKC had only two groups: Sporting Dogs (consisting of Pointers, Setters, Spaniels, Foxhounds and Beagles) and Non-Sporting Dogs (all the others!). As the number of breeds grew it became evident more groups were needed, and in 1924 Terriers were split from the Sporting group and Toys and Working from the Non-Sporting group. In 1930 another split was made: Group 1 (Sporting Dogs) was split to create a new Group 2 (Sporting Dogs (Hounds))---shortened to just "Hounds" in 1937. In contrast to the Gundogs, the Hounds hunted mammals and often ran them down or trailed them until the prey took refuge in a den or tree. Hounds hunt independently as opposed to following directions from a handler.
The AKC Hound group presently has 30 breeds. One of those breeds (Beagles) has two varieties and another (Dachshund) has three, making for 33 repre- sentatives in a full Hound group. Of these, 14 are designated as sighthounds and 19 as scenthounds (although I am not really sure Norwegian Elkhounds are actually called scenthounds). The following breeds currently in Miscellaneous are also designated as Hounds: • Azawakh---sight • Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen---scent • Norrbottenspets---sight • Peruvian Inca Orchid---sight • Portuguese Podengo---sight Once fully recognized, that will bring the group count up to 38 (18 sighthounds and 20 scenthounds). Even more designated Hounds await in the Foundation Stock Service: • American Leopard Hound---scent • Basset Fauve de Bretagne---scent • Drever---scent • Hamiltonstovare---scent • Slovensky Kopov---scent • Thai Ridgeback---sight • Transylvanian Hound---scent • Tennessee Treeing Brindle---scent If they join the regular ranks, that would bring the group count up to 46 (19 sighthounds and 27 scen- thounds). We all know there have been several attempts to realign the groups, and each has failed to be adopted for various reasons, including practical concerns such as hardship on clubs having to purchase more group prizes, increased time to run a show with more
groups as each group exit and entrance takes time; but mostly, the fact that with our declining entries many breeds fail to be represented at our smaller shows, meaning that some groups at these shows could have fewer than 10 dogs in them. Then of course is the problem that there are always breeds that don't quite fit when groups are realigned. It's easy to suggest splitting the Hound group into sight and scent, and for the most part, no problem. You have the prototypical sighthounds such as the Greyhound, Whippet, Saluki, Afghan Hound and the prototypical scenthounds such as the Beagle, Foxhounds, Coonhounds and Basset Hound. Back in 2011 it seems that realigning the groups was a done deed. The committee's proposed group realignment for Hounds seemed reasonable. It placed the Beagles and Foxhounds and Coonhounds along with the Dachshund and Portuguese Podengo Pequeno in the Scenthound group. It moved the Norwegian Elkhound to a Northern Breeds group. It placed the Greyhounds and Salukis and other obvi- ous sighthounds as well as the Basenji and Ridgeback in the Sighthound group. If you're new to hounds you may not know the latter decision was not without controversy. Basenjis and Ridgebacks are two breeds that aren't easily classified. They both saw considerable pushback from traditionalist sighthounders when they were first designated as sighthounds and allowed to enter lure-coursing trials over a decade ago. These breeds are not built like sighthounds nor is their galloping style particularly sighthoundish. But proponents argued that they did chase game by sight in their native lands, and they were certainly
214 • S how S ight M agazine , J uly 2017
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