Bluetick Coonhound

History

The Bluetick Coonhound traces its roots to Louisiana, with ancestors including the Grand Bleu de Gascogne from southwestern France, the English Foxhound, the cur dog, the American Foxhound, and the Black and Tan Virginia Foxhound. This breed was first listed with the United Kennel Club under the English Foxhound and Coonhound categories, gaining separate recognition in 1946. It is also acknowledged by the Australian National Kennel Council and the New Zealand Kennel Club.

The American Kennel Club admitted the breed in April 2009, allowing it to compete in AKC coonhound events by December of that year. A larger, heavier, and more traditionally hound-like subgroup, called the American Blue Gascon Hound, is sometimes known as an old-fashioned Bluetick. This type is noted for its colder nose and slower tracking style compared to modern coonhounds.

Description

The Bluetick Coonhound has a muscular and speedy build, with the head carried up and the tail carried over the back without signs of fear or nervousness. Its coat is moderately coarse and glossy. The blue coloring comes from black ticking on a white background, creating a navy blue impression; this ticking covers the body and may be interspersed with black spots on the back, ears, and sides. More blue than black is preferred on the body, while black should predominate on the head and ears.

Individuals may have brown markings above the eyes, along the muzzle, on the chest, and down the legs, or they may be only black and white. A ticked blaze typically runs up the face. Height ranges from 21 to 27 inches at the shoulder; males weigh 55 to 80 pounds, females 45 to 65 pounds. Feet are cat-like, rounded with well-arched toes, and larger than those of nearly all other breeds.

Rear legs have a moderate bend at the hocks, and all legs are straight from body to ground when viewed from front or rear. Gascon blues, a larger subgroup, have males with a minimum of 27 inches and a maximum of 30 inches per the American Blue Gascon Hound Association's breed standard. Bred as hunting dogs, they are athletic, hardy, and require a full-time job or activity such as hunting, obedience, or agility. They can be challenging to train and should be monitored around cats or other small animals.

They are intelligent and skilled at problem-solving. Once trained, they are mindful of their owner. They are highly vocal due to being bred to bay while hunting, and voice-training can be a daunting task for first-time owners. With proper socialization from a young age, they can be family pets.

Famous Bluetick Coonhounds

The University of Tennessee’s mascot, Smokey, is a Bluetick Coonhound. On the 1980s show Airwolf, the main character’s dog Tet was one. The 1960 film Wild River featured a Bluetick named Old Blue, and the same name belonged to the Pritchard boys’ dog in the novel Where the Red Fern Grows. In Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco, the character Bando was played by a Bluetick.

Huckleberry Hound is also a Bluetick, and Savage Sam, the sequel to Old Yeller, centers on one. A female Bluetick appears in the George Jones song “Ol’ Red,” later covered by Blake Shelton. The breed shows up in several other songs: Emmylou Harris’s “Red Dirt Girl” mentions Lillian’s dog Gideon; Charlie Daniels’s “Long Haired Country Boy” references one; Carrie Underwood’s “Church Bells” does too; Wade Bowen’s “Sun Shines on a Dreamer” names a Bluetick called Nash; Hardy’s “Rednecker” and Florida Georgia Line’s “I Love My Country” each mention the breed.

In Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, a Bluetick named Boone was elected dog mayor in November 2024. Finally, in Diana Gabaldon’s ninth Outlander novel, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, a Bluetick Coonhound named Bluebell joins the Fraser family.