The Bloodhound, also referred to as the St. Hubert’s Hound or the Chien St. Hubert, is a Belgium breed that was bred tracking and hunting. This is one of the oldest hound breeds in the world. They typically grow to be between 23 and 27 inches tall and they usually weigh between 80 and 90 pounds. They have a short smooth coat that is waterproof. Their coat colors vary between black and tan and red and tan. Red Bloodhounds can also be found. They have folds of skin around their face and neck which help to gather scent and direct it towards their nose.
To care for this breed you will need to rub down their coats with a wet towel a few times a week. Their toenails will also need to be clipped on a weekly basis. Their ears also need to be tended to on a regular basis. For exercise this breed needs daily runs and lots of play time. To keep their minds stimulated you may want to introduce tracking games. This breed has a few health concerns that you should be aware of: hip dysplasia, inverted eyelids, and bloating.
The Bloodhounds name may sound morbidly scary and even a little sinister but this breed of dog is affectionate and mild-mannered. This rather shy dog possesses an astonishing ability to track people and animals by using its incredible sense of smell. The breed is useful in law enforcement and search-and-rescue operations.
Origin of the Bloodhound
The Bloodhound is likely to originate in Europe, specifically France. They were bred to do one thing and that is to track human beings by scent.
However, there is a legend that asserts that they were first developed by monks of in St. Hubert monastery in Belgium. This is why they are also known as the St. Hubert Hound.
Bloodhound Appearance and Abilities
Bloodhounds are large, powerful looking dogs. They can weigh as much as 100 lbs or more. They are rugged and strong, perfectly fitting for a working dog.
Distinctively, they have wrinkly extremely loose skin that can be pleasant to touch. They have a thick coat that come in black, liver, or red with tan, sometimes speckled with white.
They are great scent trackers. Their hefty snouts help filter scents and they can distinguish different kinds of odors. Bloodhounds can follow scents for long duration of time over great distances. Because of this ability, they are commonly used in law enforcement and search-and-rescue missions and on top of all that the bloodhound has great stamina.
Temperament and Tendencies of a Bloodhound
Bloodhounds are naturally dominant. Hence, they are stubborn and independent especially when still young and immature. They are also boisterous and bouncy as pups. Training is essential to neutralize this behavior as they grow old.
As they mature and if they are properly trained, they become noble and mild-mannered. However, being somewhat shy and aloof is inherent. Bloodhounds are great with children and display great patience. They may bark at strangers but they will rarely display hostile aggression.
If there is something Bloodhound owners find objectionable about them, it is their propensity to drool a lot. They are slobbery creatures. They also have a distinct odor that some may find offensive.
Bloodhounds can be easily distracted mainly, because of their advanced sense of smell. If they catch a scent, it is difficult to get their attention.
Bloodhound Training and Care
Training Bloodhounds requires patience and perseverance. If you want to train them, do it in areas with less distraction and scent, if possible. Train them in short and frequent sessions a few times a day.
Socialization and training such as potty training must be done early. Crate training is a great method for them. Positive reinforcement is the only way to train Bloodhounds effectively. Do it with praises and pats on the back and head.
Dealing with Bloodhounds means you need to show natural authority. Firm leadership is essential to keep them manageable and help them avoid dominance problems.
However, remember that they are very sensitive creatures. Bloodhounds are sensitive to the tone of their master’s voices. When addressing bloodhounds, it must be in neutral tone which is not too gentle and not too excited or loud. They are very vulnerable to reprimands and praises.
Bloodhounds are fairly inactive indoors. Apartment living conditions are just fine but they must have occasional exercises outside.
They’re very easy to train. Just devote enough time to them. Focus and be patient. Give them recognition and rewards.
I just adopted a blood hound/ blue tick who’s 18 mos old, he is neutered and house broken. However I need help with training since they seem to be so different from your average dog. I’m trying to teach him to stay ‘off’ doors and window frames. I understand they are trailers/ trackers. I would like to let him off lead when hiking but don’t know how to begin, I don’t want to loose him. Do you have any advice?
thank you
I recommend our off leash training program to learn the off leash obedience- http://membership.dogbehavioronline.com/advanced-e-collar-obedience
i have 2 bloudhounds and they are very easy taining
We have a 10 week old bloodhound pup and he is proving to be somewhat difficult to potty train. We are crate training him and he does fine with it, he rings the bell at the door when he has to go out. I praise him when he goes potty outside and bring him straight in. However, he randomly pees in the house, even minutes after he went potty outside. We don’t understand why. It is getting frustrating to clean pee all day long. What can I do to stop it?
I never recommend using a bell for house training because it tends to give dog owners a false sense of security. They feel like they can not supervise as they should because the dog has a bell. Also, many dogs end up abusing the bell and ringing it at times when they don’t need to go potty.
I’d recommend keeping the pup on a leash and not allowing him any freedom to wander around until he gets it.
My 15 week old blood hound has been very difficult to potty train and when you take him outside he just comes back in and pees more in the house. What do I do about this? Cathy I am with you on being frustrated with cleaning up pee all day long. I am crate training my dog as well.
I also want to ask about growling. My bloodhound has a very good nature, but when you play with him he growls and then tries to bite a little bit. Is he tying to be dominate or is he just playing. I have two other dogs at home and an 8 year old child and he does well with them.
We just adopted a bloodhound pup.hes about 12 weeks old. He is being pretty aggressive about.his food. Any suggestions?
Wow, he’s starting that at 12 weeks? That is a big red flag. Where did you get the dog from? What has the breeder said about this? Describe his aggression. Is he snarling and biting at hands when you go to touch his dish?
We adopted a bloodhound mix, 3 mos old. While she caught on to housebreaking very easily, we are having a very hard time keeping her from biting. I know she is a puppy, but when we tell her no, she gets aggressive. She starts barking at us and just has a very aggressive stance. The shelter where we got her thinks she was weaned too early and did learn not to bite from her littermates. But I’m very anxious – we have a 10 year old boy, and all the friends that go along with that. Everything that I read suggested that bloodhounds have good temperament. We have reason to believe she is mixed with a basset hound, which would also be good tempered. Any thoughts? I am a HUGE dog lover and it is KILLING me to think of returning her to the shelter. I’ve never had a problem adopting a dog before and have had great success training dogs – but they have all been around 9 mos old at the time of adoption. But I cannot have a temperamental dog around kids.
The first thing I tell my clients is that ‘telling isn’t training’. Telling a dog ‘no’ is meaningless, it’s what goes with the word ‘no’ that gives it meaning.
Every three month old puppy I work with is on a leash at all times and when the puppy bites we correct with the leash or with a spray bottle.
We just adopted a 5 year old bloodhound from a shelter. He is very sweet and gentle. I have a couple of concerns. One of which is the fact that we live on 38 acres. We also have a german shorthaired pointer, and when he needs to go outside, we open the door, let him out and he comes back after he is finished. However, this bloodhound we adopted came in as a stray, so I am worried about just letting him out the door to go to the bathroom. It has been 36 hours, and I am still taking him outside on a leash to go to the bathroom because I am afraid he will catch a scent and just take off. I just don’t know at what point I can trust him to come back to us. Second is his name. The shelter named him when they found him a month ago, but they obviously don’t have any background info on what his name is/was, so he doesn’t necessarily like or respond to that name yet. So, if I let him off his leash, and he does take off, I am worried that he won’t come back when he is called. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I immediately fell in love with this guy when I met him, and I want him to want to be a part of our family, but I don’t know if I will ever be able to trust him on his own or if he will want to stay close to our home.
Not to oversimplify it but you’ll be able to trust him to stay close as soon as you train him to stay close. What did you do to train your Pointer to stay close? What did you do to train your Pointer what his name was? Do those things with this dog as well.
I suggest you get a GPS device for your hound. I have two (litter mates), live on an acreage and can promise you, that if they get outside a fenced area, they are gone. I have a rod iron fence and an invisible fence, but these guys just wait for the gate to open and off they go.
Iam training a 1yr to find wounded deer how do I get him to bark when he fines the deer
I have a 20 month old bloodhound and she is very stubborn behaves poorly. I am an active duty service member and was working up to deploy when my wife bought her for me so I was unable to work with her. Well she proved to be too much for my wife and young daughter to handle so she was rehoused with a family member. She has been house and crate trained but she is still very destructive and very wild behaved. I would like to bring her back home and need advice on training her to be a well behaved family indoor pet, that can interact with my 4 year old, and not destroy my property. Any advice?
With every one of my clients we always start with core behavior:
- Staying
- Coming
- Walking properly
With those behaviors well established you can manage nearly anything- http://www.dogbehavioronline.com/foundation-obedience-p/
I have a stray bloodhound and am thinking about becoming his permanent home if his owner doesn’t claim him. I have a couple questions. 1) What is their prey drive? Will he be trustworthy with free range chickens and goats? 2) The naturally dominant behavior I keep reading about… the livestock guardian dogs have it also. I can get them to accept the bloodhound with some effort. What training techniques would I need to employ to get the bloodhound to not confront the LGD’s? Is that possible? All the animals would need to share the same, albeit large, fenced yard.
There really isn’t much of an answer to your first question. Some bloodhounds would be fine with chickens, others not. Those that aren’t could be trained to accept chickens, though.
As far as your other question, I don’t have all the info I need to give you an answer. Are you leaving the dogs alone in the back yard? If so, that isn’t a training issue so much at that point. You can’t train if you aren’t there.
We just adopted a year old bloodhound mix, possibly with lab, last week from the shelter. He is having major issues being crated. We do praise him once he’s in and give him a treat but the process of getting him IN the crate is exhausting. We don’t know his history or if a crate holds bad memories or not. Any suggestions for that? Also is it ever too late to train him to track? I know most breeds start when they are young pups. Ay information would be great. Thank you! And Jäger thanks you too.
It’s never too late to train a dog to track.
Regarding the crate, a lot of dogs will resist going in the crate if they think that is a viable option. Meaning, if they think they can get away with fighting you on it they may keep fighting. If you are firm and consistent, and he realizes that fighting doesn’t work, it’s likely he’ll get over the issue.
Thanks for the response! We plan on teaching him to track soon once he’s more comfortable being in a new environment. As for the crate, he did so much better today! I think he’s learning the routine and we also crated our 11 month old puppy next to him to put him at ease.
I have a six week old akc bloodhound and when we got him he already ever was mean just puppy play! But yesterday he bit my 7 year old daughter on the ear! And this morning he has bit me on my lips and drew blood! I know he is a pup but I want this bitting to stop! Please help me!!!
One of the biggest problems in getting a dog too young, like you did with this bloodhound, is that they don’t learn bite inhibition from mom and litter-mates. Why did you get the dog so young? This can definitely lead to problems now and later on.
Have you tried using a spray bottle with water to discourage the biting?
Why do u think I got him so young a bad thing! I have had him since he was five weeks! Where he was not a good place! We just spent $ 120.00 for vet fees cause he was sick! We have really gotta attached to him!! The vet told us to hold him tight and tell him no when he growls and try’s to bite! But it isn’t working so good!
Getting a dog at 5 weeks of age is not a good thing. There are very important developmental things, both physical and behavioral, that need to be occurring between 5 weeks and 8 weeks that your dog is now missing out on. Getting dogs this early quite often leads to behavioral and health issues that you can deal with for a lifetime. The first problem I often see is what you are seeing now; a dog this is an excessive biter. I also commonly see higher rates of aggressiveness, a lesser ability to cope with being alone which leads to more destructive behavior, amongst other things.
That’s why I think it’s a bad thing.
So when is it good age to adopt?
8 weeks and up is typically a good time to get a dog.
I have a 12 week old female bloodhound. We got her when she was 8 weeks old and she comes from a long time breeder with amazing references and beautiful dogs. We’re running into some of the same issues some of the others have explained as well: difficulty potty training; biting (which is normal for pups); and just recently, have noticed some rather aggressive behaviors towards adults. I want to chalk it all up to her being a puppy and not knowing better, but I’m starting to lose my mind! She poops and pees all over the place, destroys furniture and household items and has bit and drawn blood on not only me, but my 6 year old. She seems to be more obedient and less aggressive towards my boyfriend and was wondering what I can do to establish my dominance and ease the training process. I was told to focus on one aspect of training (i.e.:potty training, then biting once housebroken). What are your thoughts on this and what tips do you have for me? Any input would be much appreciated.
My first tip would be to say that it should be IMPOSSIBLE for a 12 week old dog to destroy furniture and household items. The only way a 12 week old dog would ever be able to do that is if she was alone with your furniture and household items. 12 week old dogs should never be alone and loose. When your dog needs to be alone she should be crated. When you are home, she should be on a leash and with you at all times. This is the biggest tip towards success with a puppy that I could ever give.
From a leashed dog now we can start working on biting and other bad behaviors and start using the leash to train in good behaviors (come, sit, stay, etc.).
We have a 12 week old AKC bloodhound which we picked up at 7 weeks old (I know, probably one week too early…but I have heard both positives and negatives about picking up at week 7 and not 8). We have been socializing him with lots of people and my in-laws German Shepard that is fully vaccinated and up to date. They have had about 5 “play dates” which they go at each other for several hours…literally. We also have a cat that our bloodhound loves to chase and “tackle”….i think she actually likes it, until he bites too hard. She generally lets out a loud meow and he stops biting…if he doesn’t, we have a “time out” area that he goes in. Is this a good method to get him to stop puppy biting? I know it is “normal” but sometimes when he is biting us and we tell him “no” he acts more excited and gets down with his butt in the air and growls a little. At the same time he is doing this, he tries to nibble on our hands with his front teeth…it doesn’t hurt, but is this him thinking that we are playing a game? Or should I be worried about this behavior?
Another totally different question I have is about obedience training. So far we have been taking him on 2 long walks/runs per day and I train with him for about 30 min right before dinner. He is very good at sit and stay…he doesn’t touch his meals until I tell him “okay” and then he runs over. Outside on the walks I have been working on heel which he is getting good at. I am also incorporating this in the training sessions by doing some heeling while changing directions quickly. Overall, I think the training sessions are going good and I want him to be the type of dog that comes to me at the snap of my finger. I ALSO want to try and train him to track….however….are these two training methods impossible to teach your bloodhound? It seems like in tracking they are the leader…almost pulling you on the lead, while in regular obedience training they need to be beside you when walking/running. Any thoughts would be great!
With tracking, yes, the dog does need to go ahead of you. It’s all about context, though. You can train the dog that when tracking he’s allowed to be ahead and otherwise he needs to be by your side.