I have two bird dogs, I really love dogs and hunting and want to try my hand at freeing dogs, how are the hounds as pets I was thinking the plott or Black and Tan for my first hound, how are they in the house and as guard dogs, are they as high strung as bird dogs?

WE live along the Yukon, near the Canadian Border; was minus 45 last night, but that really ain't cold. That being said, we have Plotts as our house dogs; great dogs that are much more social/family type dogs than all the other hounds I have had back east in Western Pa growing up; coon hunting and such.  Back East, we had blueticks, redbones, blk & tans over the years. They were good hunting dogs, but the plotts have it all. Our plotts keep bear away from our house, the local Indians are all scared of them, but they've never got a taste of any of them yet, and they hear every sound; keep everything on the straight and narrow.  Best nose I've ever seen on any hounds, but I don't hunt them cause there ain't any roads where we live; don't want to feed my dogs to the wolves. We've had wolves in our garbage barrels at 3 am and my plotts winded them through our perma chinked logs and woke me up.

I got my first plott from the Indians. They had a white relative they were hiding out up here in Alaska. He brought his plotts with him and I got a pup. Best dog we have ever had. Got my second from Ursus bloodlines in B.C. buy another from him too.  Great personalities, protective, but not vicious, and pretty dang sharp at judgement. Our female sleeps on the bed between the wife and me half the time.

About a dozen years back, we were teachers at this Indian Village.  Indians started stopping at my place at 3 am looking for booze, they were walking home from the lodge after night of drinking. Buggers would get me up and I'd run them off but it ruined my good sleep.  So I told the Village Leadership if it didn't stop, my plott was going to stop it. I had to keep him behind door in bed room.  After a few more times, I had enough, and let the dog out on them. That plott chased three Indians down the road, they were hollaring up a storm.  Nx morning at school, Indian Kids giving me the silent treatment.  Finally one told me I should shoot that man eater. Apparently, one of the guys chased down the road was their older brother.  I told them now why would I do that, My plott was such a good judge of character. That shut them back up and never had anymore problems. true story.

You won't regret getting a plott.

Great story, how hard are they to train? How hi-strung are they? How much exercise do they get? Thanks I'm a hair away from putting a deposit down on a pup.

I have sight hounds...

Here' s my experience with plotts.  Training for hunting wouldn't be much different than any other hounds.  Training for house dogs takes longer than say for golden retriever or another pet breed.  I've never had any other hounds as house dogs, so maybe they are all hard headed.  It took me 2-3 years before each of my plotts were totally trustworthy and I could depend on them.  BY that I mean where I was proud of them and knew they understood the important position they had in our family.  I've watched them chase bears outta our yard and even go to the wood line and kick up a storm at a couple wolves that weren't coming outta the woods after my plotts but the plotts had the sense not to go in after them either. Wolves try to draw dogs away from homes then kill & eat.  My old male lived to be almost 15 and it was tough shooting the ole friend.  My female is 7 years old now, what a great dog. Don't get put off by me saying training takes longer, I'm not serious at training, just expect them to figure out what I demand out of them.

As far as acquiring a calm or hyper dog?  You'll find both types in every litter.  Good and bad with both types.  My old male was a laid back porch dog, but I couldn't let him outta sight or off the chain or he'd be gone, the drive to hunt was that strong in him.  I could never correct him of that either. One winter day I let him out to do his business and he took off, didn't come back for 23 hours. It was 25 below the entire time and that dog wasn't frost bit or anything.He was running up and down along the Yukon the entire time. Showed up laying nx to the door, ha ha. Now my female who is quite high strung, never leaves the yard except to bark & play fight with my neighbors dogs on my lane.  She is a very luving dog and our family values her quite well.  Not a big deal either type, they all have their own traits.

But no joke, we will have to get another plott in a couple years, and I'll have that guy from BC (URSUS) send me one up. They go for like 200-300 bucks and another couple hundred in shipping. You can probably find a plott local.  Try the plotts out, best family, personality, hound you ever get.

My plotts lay around nx to wood stove and sleep like a lazy hound does. They are very well house trained. When we drive the 1200 mile supply run to Anchorage, they quit eating until we return, never go in the house.

Sir, thanks so much for the information, I really enjoy hearing about them, they sound great, I mostly bird hunt, ill probably hunt the perspective plott a few times a year, but mainly keep it to protect the wife while I'm away. Not that the bird dogs can't, they would do fine, just not the same as a bear dog.

We have all kinds of grouse & Ptarmigan around my house. We get deep snow, 3-4-5 feet in the yard. Have spruce & birch trees everywhere.  The grouse make tunnels under the snow, pretty much stay there most the winter, except on sunny day when they can find some gravel to peck in. They eat berries that are everywhere in the woods.  We have a couple semi tame lynx, that we feed fish sometimes.  The plott watched the lynx following the grouse tunnels in deep snow. Pretty quick the plott was catching grouse same as lynx, and got better at it than the lynx; it was their good nose too.  It was hilarious, I'd see the lynx watching the plott after the grouse,dog was after grouse too serious to even think lynx.  Soon as plott would get a grouse, I'd take her inside and lynx would trot over and feast on the grouse.  I'm waiting for the day I see the lynx & plott playing around like some of the fox do with her around the house.  Like I said, you won't regret getting a plott.  There are several kennels that have super good noses and are known for the fight they have in them. URSUS in B.C. is one, but there's others.  My female wants to displace my wife in our house, but wouldn't bite anybody at home, but you should see her fight with the neighbors dogs.She takes two of them on at once and sends them running for home. It's jsut play fighting though, hardly ever come home with quarter size holes all the way through the skin. You want a plott from good bloodlines, spend the 300 bucks and you'll be glad ya did.

Sir, thanks so much for the information, I really enjoy hearing about them, they sound great, I mostly bird hunt, ill probably hunt the perspective plott a few times a year, but mainly keep it to protect the wife while I'm away. Not that the bird dogs can't, they would do fine, just not the same as a bear dog.

Something else.  If you're getting the plott for your wife as pet or protection; I'd get a male.  I've had a bunch of coon hounds over my life. All my plotts and most of the other hounds were very gender aware,if you could call it that.  In other words, my female plott is very much my dog, she follows me around. If I go into the bed room to catch a nap, she's there with her head on my legs, never does that with my wife. She doesn't let me outta her sight, and just isn't as dedicated to my wife all the time. A friend once told me that it is common as the plott female sees my wife as alpha female and wants to replace her in the family.  Kind of like how sometimes females will fight with each other but not with males.  Now, my male plott was protective for the entire family,  My male plott also would fight to the death if somebody attacked anybody. He didn't even like people getting loud or belligerent watching foot ball games, ect. He let everybody know there were limits in his house; I really liked that aspect of his personality.  Most the Indians around my house were quite respectful of old duke the hound even when they were on a week long drinking binge.

No joke, I'd start with a male, hope you get a calm one that likes to stay on the porch too, but if ya don't they will have other positive attributes that make ya proud.   I'll post some picts when I get down the school, we are still on slow dial up at the house, like the 1987.

I have a couch hound, aka bassett.

DFM

Huntin Plotts...treein lots...

Had Plotts all of my huntin life. Great hounds. They are their own breed and have no relation with the B&T or English breeding. Great with kids and a loyal companion. UNTIL their nose hits the track...then it's all business. And the ones that aren't...well they just go away. I have spent a good many years with these hounds and have come to understand just how tough it was to develop the Weems and Brandenberger line. Some of those Weems bred females were the toughest bear chewing hounds I ever saw. Years back we purchased a few hounds from Roy Singh a respected breeder in Arkansas and boy oh boy did that ever turn out to be a good choice...here's a few pics from the late 80's with those game catchen Plotts.  Get the Plott...you won't regret it.

Great pics and advice from all around, my goal is to get a male plott and train him for bear and coons. Lots of coons in ohio, but little to no bears and no bear season, so I am going to have to get a non-resident tag somewhere and hunt bear, it's one of my life goals to hunt bear behind a hound and I am going to try and accolish it here soon.

Actually we have had very good luck training and starting our Plotts on coon. It gives them the respect they need for a bayed up critter and seems to lessen the vet bills somewhat

That said cmon up anytime ya want. Training starts July 1st. The hunting season is in Sept. you could help drag !!  



eta:  BTW that URSUS line of Plotts from BC is a well respected line of hound around here. URSUS Rowdy sired a whole lotta no nonsense huntin machines...I have stomped the woods behind a few of them and that could be a good choice but in all reality you could prolly find a keeper in your back yard.

Only pict I have on my computer of the dogs, wife has a bunch.  My boy is away at college now.  Duke has passed on and the female is sacked out nx to me here on a sofa.  Plotts are the best.  I'd really get a pup from good bloodlines though; should only cost a few hundred and you will never regret spending the money. You'll have the dog many years, might as well start with the best you can acquire.

We have had both black & grizzly bear end up in our back yard.  I have a couple Spring bear stands a mile out my wood lot trail.  I have fish, meat, popcorn, big buckets of rotten salmon eggs, miricle whip, ect hanging up high & in my barrels.  We usually shoot 7-8 bear outta the stands each Spring, often have 150-200 picts on trophy cam every day..  When I stop baiting the barrels, the bear follow my 4 wheeler tire smells clear back the trail to my house. The come looking to see where the goodies are coming from I guess.  My plotts seemed to know when the bear would start showing up.They'd lay on the porch and just wind out the direction of my wood lot trail. They'd be waiting on the bear when they came waltzing out in our yard, and send them running back down the trail. After about a week, the bear would stop showing up until the nx year.

I have a coonhound and he is a hard headed bastard for sure.

I didn't realize how tough it was training him until I got a lab, training that lab was like auto pilot.

Even now the hound is a multi step problem solver and is very sneaky about things.

Great family dog and great guard dog though, tougher than nails too, he wouldn't back down from any fight with a critter any size.

Thanks all for the replays, lots of good looking Plotts in this thread, just wanted to say I'm sending in a deposit on a plott this week, can't wait! Ill post update when I send it in and speak with the breeder about it.

One thing about hounds to be cautious of is they go through a rebellious streak after their nuts drop, and can turn food aggressive. All the males we had growing up did it and my male did it. When they are a pup be sure to make them sit before getting their food bowl, and pet them around the muzzle and put your hand in the their food bowl as they eat so they get used to you handling their food whenever you want.

Be ready though for that inevitable day the little bastard will growl at you while eating. You need to instantly pin him on his back and hold him there firmly the second he does it, then let him up to begin eating again.

Even my 6 year old hound I make it a habit of still petting him while he eats table scraps and left overs and when my daughter was a baby I would hold her while doing it.

The other day I walked around the corner and he was eating out of his bowl and she was sitting right there taking pieces out and holding them over her head for him to eat out of her hand, wagging his tail the whole time, I don't think he would ever consider hurting her since I made sure that he was aware she is an alpha, but I still took her into the other room just incase the pup walked around the corner and he got nervous. He will still face bark the pup if he gets too close while he's eating, and since they are both males I imagine it will continue for awhile.

Thanks for all the help gentlemen, put a deposit on a Plott, ill keep you updated and post pics when I get him (June)

I have a redbone coonhound. They are either eating, sleeping, and tracking. They're a support system for a nose. If you do not have a gated yard, you need one. Electric fence will not suffice (even though I won't use them). When a hound gets a scent, or starts the chase, they take off. Ours will always leave if the gate is open just a minute too long. That said she is very loving, affectionate, and loves stomach rubs.

Also, get used to carrying a towel to scrub the slobber. After you get used to it, its pretty manageable and isn't really that bad.

Ours is pretty loud when people come near, she will bay and bay. I've never put her to the test or had to have her fend someone off, but my 13/14 year old brittany at the time definitely put her in place when we brought the hound home day one. I don't doubt if I needed help though, she would jump in without hesitation...I hope.

I have a redbone and she sleeps in bed with me everynght she isn't aggressive unless you look like a raccoon or a woodchuck lmao. She's great with kids and has that wonderful hound bawl she's hell on trees though if a coon or squirrel goes up one she will chew the freaking bark off while I'm on the way to her. She's very protective of me and my lady couldn't ask for any better pal than my billie jean