Do they Bark? When running >

Nope. Notta peep. Not real vocal period.

What about greyhounds...

if ya bet on him guaranteed to stop and take a dump!

My friend Pete is big into race dogs. It's supposed to technically be a race to tree a coon, but the dogs are almost 100% greyhound and don't use their noses. Dogs get points for stepping into the ring around the coon tree and touching the tree. The dogs are almost entirely quiet while running. They are incredibly fast. The bigger ones would make good coyote dogs. They are pretty gritty.

Keith

If they get loose they are hard to get back.

None of that makes sense as coons are hunted by scent and no sight hound breed possesses treeing ability. Curs and feists have both scent and sight hound in their make up plus a shot or two of terrier grit and bird or shepherd dog sense. Hence curs and feists can often be silent on track, extremely fast and the head full of sense to use their eyes when trailing and treeing.

They used to hold coon dog races at Kenton, Ohio that lasted for days. Many thousands of people would go for the races, swap meet and night time debauchery. They had water courses and dry land courses for coon dogs. Lots and lots of betting was involved. Since the dogs all ran together, people started crossing faster breeds of dogs on the coonhounds. Eventually all the dogs used were mostly greyhound. They went to using fenced in tracks. A coon is hung in a tree at the end of the track. They spray paint a circle around the tree on the ground. The first two dogs to enter the circle and the first two dogs to touch the tree get points. The dogs sight hunt only. The dogs have to be muzzled. They are extremely aggressive hunters.

The water "coon" dogs ended up being mostly labrador and Chesapeake Bay retriever blooded. They run and swim in a long fenced off area, with a series of shallow ponds with small strips of land in between, with a coon in the tree at the end.

The Kenton races are no longer held. There are still lots of other dog races in Ohio and Indiana. They pay out lots of money.

Keith

I've heard of Kenton, before my time, but didn't know all the details. Always assumed it was hounds not crossbreds.

As much as I miss the hounds I don't miss the nite hunts and drama.

Max's Water Dog Races, by Lima, Ohio, sort of took the place of Kenton. I don't think it is quite as big, but it's definitely not a small event.

http://maxstraderdays.com

Kenton used to have more traps for sale at it then I have ever seen anywhere else in my entire life. I wish I had bought all the decent bear traps I saw for sale there. They seemed high to me back in the day, but their value has increased so much I could have made a small fortune reselling them now. There were tons of old teethed traps at it. There were incredible amounts of hunting dogs for sale at Kenton on huge coffle chains. It was really wild at night there.

On Max's website you can see pictures of the "coondogs". Most of the race dogs are nearly pure greyhounds.

The first time I was at Kenton, I was looking for the coon dog racers' camp. I got directions to the area and all I kept seeing were greyhounds. Finally I asked a guy, who was watering dogs, where the coonhounds were and he told me I was looking at them. I said "aren't these greyhounds?" and he said "there's a percent or two of coonhound blood in them." Another guy chimed in, "well maybe not that much." The first guy laughed and said "well maybe their grandmothers saw a picture of a coonhound sometime." They had a good laugh over it.

The dogs are impressive athletes. If I had places to hunt, that were flat with no cover, it would be fun to have a brace of them.

Keith

We use them pretty regularly for coyotes , but mine did double duty as coon dogs. Used to love setting up a caller to 'coon fight' and then turn the fast dogs loose when customers started showing up.

Heard many a story about Kenton. I never made it to one, but wish I would have. If I am not mistaken the Kenton deal ended sometime in the mid or late 90's did it not?

Heard many a story about Kenton. I never made it to one, but wish I would have. If I am not mistaken the Kenton deal ended sometime in the mid or late 90's did it not?

The last Kenton Coon Dog Trial was in 2008. The trials ran for 54 years. The insurance costs of running a huge event with guns, gambling, camping and loads of booze made it to expensive to keep having.

Keith

They are an amazing animal to watch chase coyotes. They make up ground you wouldn’t believe. A lot of times the ones I’ve been around will whine when they see the coyotes. Rarely bark. Throw three greyhounds out and an Irish wolfhound out for a throat dog they become a machine.

The tragic collateral of our litigious society created by James’ profession. Fundraiser carnivals, local festivals, a lot of fairs, etc. All killed by insurance required due to the risk of litigation.

A guy I know, John, was part of a group, who made a 4 story, plywood and card board maze every Halloween, for many years. It took them weeks to put together. They did not charge anyone to go through it and did not even ask for donations. Somebody from the city finally showed up and told them they needed a permit and insurance to operate it. Insurance was going to be several thousand dollars, so they stopped building it.

Keith

I sure miss Kenton , was like a family reunion, only drunkerer.