This is a dogblr for my dog Valkyrie
She is probably a redbone coonhound mix. She and her siblings were surrendered to a shelter at about 6 weeks old. I adopted her at 8 weeks old and she's been with me about a month at the time of writing this.
I went to the shelter because they were going to have some chiweenie puppies available but they all got adopted by the time I got there. They asked if I wanted to meet any of the other puppies they had available and I asked to see a puppy named Honey that was listed as a shepherd mix. Found out she was mislabeled and was actually a hound mix. Still wanted to meet her. She ended up getting scooped up by someone else that had been there for a chiweenie so they asked if I wanted to meet her sister, Buttercup. I said yes.
And I took her home
And honestly, pretty happy I didn't get a chiweenie.
I dont know for sure that she's a redbone as the shelter didn't see her parents and had no information on them. She's definitely a hound. She's very howl-y. She looks like a redbone coonhound puppy. From the pictures, she and her siblings all look very similar. But genetics are weird. So it's possible her appearance isn't a good clue. But her temperament also matches what I've read about redbone coonhounds
So its hard to say.
I plan to test her DNA eventually
But for now im just saying she's a redbone mix
The pitbull in some of the pictures with her is my dads dog, chewby.
Hopefully eventually you'll see her with my cat, Harley. For now Harley is still keeping her distance.
I ordered a book about redbones
I'm hoping to detail what I learn about them on this blog along with posting about val
Also just hounds in general
LIKE
Did you know that of the 20 rarest dog breeds on the akc's list, TEN of them are different types of hound??
Redbones aren't among them but they are 144 out of 202
Also a lot of hounds end up in shelters due to their high energy and probably also because they tend to be a little more difficult to train. They have to be able to think for themselves on hunts so they're highly intelligent dogs but they need a lot more patience in training because they have a short attention span and if they catch an interesting scent they WILL stop listening to you.
As you can see in the screenshot above, redbones weren't recognized by the akc until 2009 but they were recognized by the ukc back in 1902.
They got their name from a prominent breeder of them named Peter redbone and NOT from their color, tho they do always come in different shades of red.
Coonhounds are American breeds and can be difficult to find outside of the US. Redbones specifically came from scottish red foxhounds, red Irish foxhounds, and bloodhounds brought over from Europe in the 1800s. They were bread to hunt raccoons but they've also been used for other small game as well as cougars, bears, and boars.
Redbones tend to be on the smaller side as far as coonhounds go with their weight range being around 45-70 pounds.
Redbones are what's known as cold-nosed due to their ability to track old scents.
They also have webbed feet. Val in particular doesn't seem to mind water much. Both my childhood dog (a chihuahua corgi mix) and my dads pitbull were/are not fans of rain. I dont know that val enjoys it per-say but she doesn't seem super bothered by it. She'll go out in it to go potty (layla always had to be forced or have someone stand over her with an umbrella and chewby will just hold it as long as she can to put it off). Even as a puppy her coat seems to have some water resistance as it seems to take her some time to realize that she's even wet.
I think another reason coonhounds are often taken to shelters and spend a long time there is because they are very talkative. I've met plenty of dogs that bark when people come over or they hear something outside. Val doesn't bark at either of those times so far. She does however yell at chewby for hogging toys, or not playing with her, or is playing too rough, or not rough enough, and also when she wants food that someone has.
I personally don't mind it too much, but I also dont live in an apartment and all my neighbors have much barkier dogs.
Because they are hunting dogs, they also tend to have a high prey drive but can coexist with cats as long as they're raised with them. So far val is alright around my cat. Harley is pretty skittish but also very attached to me which is helping her acclimate to the puppy. And val is being pretty calm (for a puppy) around her. So we're getting there.
