Stylin
Posted : 8/28/2007 9:31:56 PM
Thanks so much for all your helpful info. Didn't want to weigh down my original post with all the facts, but since I've gotten a lot of feedback, here's a little history.
Hubby grew up in redneck central, hunts every day he's legally allowed to. Then he met me and I'm attempting to civilize him so we moved to Connecticut where he tries to find private land, and does hunt state land, but still goes home to the boonies to hunt regularly. So he's experienced at all types of hunting and is really quite good at it.
When I say don't want high prey drive, I mean for a good/avg hunting dog I don't want it too high. In other words, I don't want the dog to see my cats and think DINNER! Obviously they have to have some prey drive, I just don't want a bloodthirsty champion hunting dog. Like terriers are known for being troublesome with cats, I don't want something that I"m going to have to fear will eat my cats any chance they get.
All my dogs are spoiled rotten and live inside, so the boredom barking isn't really a problem, it's the seeing the leaves next door twitch and them raising the dead to come take a look, lol. I actually don't mind the barking/baying too much, but live literally 30 feet from our neighbors and am sure they wouldn't like it. Especially since we just asked them to keep their dog in at night so as not to wake us up at 2 am all the time.
I love the coonhounds, groom a couple black n tans. They're sweethearts, but I don't think good fits for us. Never met a Plott, though I've always admired from afar. Also never met a BMC and am just learning about them so thought I'd find out some more info. I like that they're not bred for ONE thing, that I could maybe do agility with them, and someday herding. We train all our dogs, so that's not a problem either, we're pretty responsible, but just didn't want something as intense as a BC, as loud as a beagle, or as big as a horse. I have a cocker who's lonely cause the other 2 play together and would like something he could play with...so looking at under 40 lbs-ish.
The cats are all dog savvy. We have 2 dogs that just annoy the heck out of them. They know not to run, the ones that do, only have a couple feet to the fence line and they're safe. I don't mind cat chasers, it's the ones that eat them when they catch up to them that I don't want. Pretty much the cats avoid the dogs cause my poodle is quite playful and gets so much satisfaction out of pecking the daylights out of the poor cats as they stroll through the yard, so they usually wait til the dogs are
reoccupied and then slink in to the house/yard. I guess by high prey drive I mean I don't want one that's going to whine, drool, and obsess at the fence line when one of our cats is waiting to sneak in.
I'm thinking the best thing is to find breeders of all the breeds we're considering and go and actually meet with them and get a feel for the dogs. That's really the only way we can make a good decision. I go by looks and what breeders say about their breeds on the websites, lol, and they're not going to say too many bad things. I think I want the impossible though....a quiet, calm, great coon hunting dog, lol. Just doesn't go with the territory I'm learning. Thanks for the advice, please keep it coming, it's really helpful!