Bluetick Coonhound

My personal favorite, as I own one, the bluetick coonhound is thought to have originated in Louisiana, though I’ve heard it argued that the breed comes from Tennessee. Still, the AKC says the genetic origins trace back to the man himself, George Washington. A friend of Washington’s, Marquis de Lafayette(that name certainly tracks in Louisiana), gifted Washington a couple of French staghounds, which I believe are now extinct. These were mixed with other hound breeds to develop the ability to track a cold trail, otherwise known as having a “cold nose”, mainly to hunt raccoons, hence the term “coonhound”. Their droopy ears might make them seem goofy, but make no mistake, coonhounds are intelligent and know how to solve problems.

The bluetick is identified by the large and small spots on his fur coat that appear to be blue, also known as “ticking”. With the appropriate training, your average bluetick can learn basic commands and maybe even some more. But even more than that, he would love to learn how to hunt. They should learn to track from a young age, if the owner plans on teaching them. As with all scenthounds, they need exercise daily, so a long walk would do. But the owner should be an experienced walker because blueticks can be stubborn when they catch a scent. This breed can be loud and loves to sing to signal to their people they’ve found something, so ideally the owner should own property with a large yard where their pup can explore and bay to their heart’s content. Despite their loud bark and their potential to be large, blueticks are not guard dogs and shouldn’t be used as such.

Coonhounds are very popular in Tennessee, so in 1953 the University of Tennessee selected a bluetick named “Blue Smokey” to be the school’s live mascot. Every time the current mascot passes the torch, the next bluetick is also known as “Smokey” on campus. The school’s current mascot is Smokey XI. In the animated Hanna-Barbera show “The Huckleberry Hound Show”, the main character Huck is a blue cartoon dog. The show won an Emmy award in 1960 and Huck was also featured in other Hanna-Barbera shows. Blueticks are also commonly featured in country songs. Blake Shelton mentions one in his song “Ol’ Red”(first performed by the late George Jones), with the music video featuring both a bluetick and a bloodhound. The country artist known as HARDY has a lyric line in his hit single “REDNECKER” that goes “And my tick hound’s a little more blue”. Blueticks are also mentioned in the following songs: “I Love My Country” by Florida Georgia Line, “Church Bells” by Carrie Underwood, “Long Haired Country Boy” by Charlie Daniels, “Red Dirt Girl” by Emmylou Harris, and “Sun Shines on a Dreamer” by Wade Bowen.