Blackmouth Curs, etc.

Not all coondogs are big with the baying when there aren't coon around.

My black and tan is totally silent when he's in the house and only opens up when he gets really in to playing with our other dog. He doesn't even bark when the doorbell rings. He's great with kids, we have two cats that he doesn't pay much attention to, he's really just a delightful dog in every way.

I'm assuming the dog would live inside? Any dog living outside is going to be loud. They just get bored and barking is fun.

Stylin, BMC's are wonderful dogs, family dogs as well. They are not barky or loud mouths unless you are hunting and they are taught it is ok to be mouthy. My Dilly in my aviator is a BMC. I use him for tracking and he mostly comes to a point when finding a lost pet, very rare does he bark when we go on these expiditions.

They are a wonderful family dog, in that they bond to the family, guard the children, and love the women of the household more so then the men.
 
Mine is an inside dog. So, as for being left outside, I think most dogs would bark unless taught not to bark at every frivelous thing.
 
[linkhttp://www.blackmouthcur.com]www.blackmouthcur.com[/link] Is a wonderful site to go and read about them. They are very easy to train, food oriented, and very affectionate. They do need a job to do, be it guardianship of the family, hunting, herding, or as mine, tracking, playing ball is another job of his. Or finding items placed in the house out of hidden veiw. I love this breed, they are really high energy, up beat, happy well adjusted dogs in the right hands. High energy being, loving activity, swiming, playing ball, agility etc.

Feel free to Email me if you have any other questions.
 
Sweet Dilly D and Angel

PLOTT HOUNDS!!
 
Great coon dogs, very smart, loving, loyal and brave - they were also used to hunt bear. They have short chop barks and do not bay like many other coon dogs.
 
Plus, you can't beat the lovely brindle color!
 
 

i can tell you now... if the dog ISNT with the family - ie chained or kenneled outside by itself - it WILL bark, bay, howl, growl, and just be grumpy....
any dog can hunt though. my grandad had an airedale that would hunt anything if you put him on the scent.. including coon.
i say check around town for a local coon hunters club. they will know someone who knows someone who has a cousin with a dog already started or will at least teach you the basics of training.

Hmm I just noticed something
 
You say you don't want something with a high prey drive. But by definition, a good coon dog *has* a high prey drive. If you are planning to a) keep a decent hunting dog and b) keep that hunting dog around cats, you must be prepared for a GREAT DEAL of training. You could possibly never fully trust him around the cats. And you say you are in suburbia...where do you coonhunt in suburbia...? If you are seriously into getting a *real* hunting dog,  try local breeders, squirrel and coon dog clubs, and the like. If it is more of a "past-time" I would look into getting a nice treeing walker coonhound from a shelter - still a good huntin dog but easier to work with than one who has been born and bred for one purpose like most of the cur dogs and classic hounds are.

wht, good points. unless you just plan to tree and release the coon.... your dog is going to need prey drive to finish the job if the coon is still alive - even if you shoot it, they dont always die, and will try to run away, OR stand their ground and will fight to the death -
if your hubby is experienced then great. but if this is new to him.... then i think he needs to get with a local club.

it IS possible to have cats and hounds living together... but it helps a great deal if they are raised together. the dog will recognise YOUR cats as part of the pack.... but it may not be that way with stray cats.

BMC's also have a high prey drive. It takes a bit to train one to leave kitty alone, and a good recall on them too, cause after all they are HOUNDS too. BMC's train differently than most dogs. But are really AWESOME dogs.

With the cats and hounds, the key is never having them outside together. We have indoor kitties, and our dogs are "indoor dogs". The dogs know hunting does not happen in the house. Outside, all bets are off and beware kitties, but my kitties are never outside, and when the dogs are outside they are either in my fenced yard or a fenced off-leash area, or on leashes. No kitty snacks have been forthcoming. And of course, I never leave the dogs loose in the house with the cats when no one is home. That's just common sense.

But any coondog is going to have a high prey drive--it's what makes them good hunters. And any dog you want to actually hunt coon in a traditional manner is going to have a loud bark if they're any good. A coondog who doesn't make a racket when on trail and tree is kind of pointless.

right the purpose of the baying serves as a way to let the hunter know where the dog has treed the coon.

as for cats... i had a red bone when i was a kid and she looooooved chasing cats. but if the cat didnt run - and sometimes they didnt- she would fall over them, get up and run around in a circle baying. meanwhile kitty is giving her the Death Glare.
my hound would also bay at anything she didnt like.... her reflection was a hoot.... she was lying on the bed when i first got her... she looked up and saw herself in the mirror on my dresser.. oh boy, Katie bar the door, hells bells, and dammit Janet that hound was P!$$ED!!

and there was the time that ants had taken over one of her chew bones... she was leaping in, snapping at the bone, and hollering at it.. i thought she had lost her mind!! nope... ants. hounds hate ants, apparently.

While Marlowe doesn't open up and bay in the house, he has a wide range of vocalizations. I think those hounds just like to hear themselves and their first reaction to a strong emotion is "TALK ABOUT IT!" Marlowe especailly is in to mooooaaaaaning. When he's really comfortable, he's like an old man easing in to his favorite recliner: uuuuuuhhhhhhhhhh! When he scratches himself, hoo-boy! He moans and groans and whines and totally looses control over his vocal chords for a minute. And then Conrad has all these wookie noises when he's impatient. He let's you know to please STOP dilly-dallying because right now is the time for the walk/meal/lovins and not 5 minutes from now or 10 minutes from now, but NOW, mister!

Marlowe really can hollar when he wants to, and it's usually at Conrad when they're outside playing. Great googa mooga! He doesn't bay much, but when he does, you know it, your neighbors know it, astronauts in orbit know it. He is LOUD! But, as we know, a coondog who wasn't would be less than useful. I actually get compliments on his voice though, a lot. At the dog park, everyone just falls over themselves about his baying and even our neighbors said they don't mind it much when he lets one out in the yard because it's so pretty and it reminds them of being in the country. Transplants from the South stop me all the time to say how much they enjoyed hearing him because it reminded them of home. But yeah, I wouldn't want him to be employing that kind of decible level at all times. Just every now and then, so it remains kind of a treat.

ORIGINAL: houndlove
He doesn't bay much, but when he does, you know it, your neighbors know it, astronauts in orbit know it.

i have a bullhorn - actually made out of a bull's horn with a wooden mouth piece and all that - antique - when i had my hound i was fooling around with this bullhorn outside. i was trying to make a sound with it... i couldnt but my mom could! so.... i puckered up and blew... and made a HUGE noise.. so i did it over and over again.. i was on a roll!
 two minutes later i see the lady across the street coming down my drive way in a hurry... she was wheel chair bound, and had been since she was a child, but boy she was moving! which isnt easy because my driveway was pure sand.
she saw me with the horn and got upset. she said "i hear your dog baying from time to time, but i never heard her make THAT kind of noise! i thought she was hurt and i was coming to help her out"

You know, another allpurpose farm dog you might look at is the English Shepherd. Some lines are known for treeing coons and being good 'critter-ers' in addition to herding and guarding.

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! 

under 40lbs?
[linkhttp://www.dogbreedinfo.com/mountaincur.htm]http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/mountaincur.htm[/link]
i would go with a mountain cur then. there are bound to be several in your area. good health. versatile. smart, kinda cute, and your cocker could easy hold his own in playtime.

[linkhttp://omcba.homestead.com/index.html]http://omcba.homestead.com/index.html[/link]


just a side note -
many people say Ol Yeller was a BMC but if you read in the introduction or Author's notes of the book he clearly states that Yeller was not any breed in particular. he is several dogs in one. the author combined several family stories about dogs they owned on the Texas prairie. and as a way to immortalize them he "created" Ol Yeller the novel.
Now.. as for the actor dog that played Yeller... supposedly he was a dog from the pound.. no one knows for sure his mix. could be anything including BMC.