Bloodhoounds have always been our favorite breed.

Don't ask us why, because, if you speak to other bloodhound people it seems to be kind of a virus.

You know, when you start with a bloodhound that:

- A bloodhounds runs of

- A bloodhound hardly listens

- A bloodhound is very big and brute and runs you of your feet if you don't watch out

- A bloodhound pulls the leash

- A bloodhound can be quite dominant as it is a pack dog of origin.

Knowing all this we choose for our first bloodhound, Aust, Quinta van de Oeienbos. She was already 9 months old.

We never forget her….

All these warnings were not told to us, because we were convinced:

We wanted a bloodhound, all the way.

Aust was a fine dog, we had a lot of fun with her but a lot of irritations as well.

We asked ourselves a lot of times why the hell we choose to have a nonsocialized bloodhound with a LOT of passion in her genes.

But we survived and even choose to get other ones after this difficult start.

We thought, shortly after we bought Aust, to get our Elska.

She has a lot of nicknames which I cannot translate…. But they all say that she is a bit stupid. And that she was….

Anyway, these 2 could get along well together. They played and fought all around the clock. They ruined our house. (which is very small……) But we loved them and than you have to give a lot, don't you think?

They lasted for 8 years together and after that Aust began to show signs of aging. She could not play and jump anymore and Elska never took advantage of that. Till the last day Austje lived, she was Elska´s big example.

When Aust died, Elska did not know how to act. Her life was not being regulated by Aust anymore.

She didn't know what to do anymore and decided to do nothing. She ate, went out for a walk but nothing more after that but sleeping.

We decided to get a new puppy very soon and found one in Denmark.

And yes, little Jente came into our life. A great puppy. We wanted a real black and tan, nothing else but color and that is what she is. Black and tan!!

She does not look like a bloodhound a lot but she is so CUTE…. She just fits into our life.

Our daily life is adjusted to the need of a bloodhound. ( At least we think so.)

Our dogs walk loose in the forest everyday for about 1, 2 hours and the get their meals 3 times a day. (To avoid bloating and other stomach problems we hope….??)

The best thing about a new puppy is that you can start all the way back and try not to make the same bloopers you made with your others…..

That is why we want to write down some of the things we experienced in our 10 years off having bloodhounds:

- Leave your puppy off leash, as much as you can. It will learn to watch you, instead off you watching your puppy.

- Put your puppy in a bench (crate) so it cannot ruin your entire house

- Buy a lot off toys for your puppy so you can distract it if it starts ruining your house.

- Go to Clickertraining. Amazing how that works, even for a bloodhound. It teaches them how to think!

- Teach your puppy to fetch and bring back things. It loves to do it when it is young enough and you can distract it again when it is walking off leash by throwing a ball or something else

- Try not to use a lot of cookies, it will start to drool. Just stroke it or throw a ball away. Don't let them get used to all this food.

- Make sure your puppy has some respect for you. So, don't give anything for nothing. Let it sit for food, drinks or cookies.

Don't give it away, let it work for it. They love to work!!!

-Ignore all behavior you don't like. Bloodhounds gets scared of a lot of crazy things. Ignore them, never reward it.

Just go on and pretend nothing is wrong.

So, these were our Hints and Tips for razing a bloodhound. Maybe you can do something with it, maybe you don't.

We don't want to patronize but these were a few things we learned after having 2 bloodhounds who did not listen very well.

Good luck!!                                                                       

Geschiedenis / History