American English Coonhound

Overview

Overview of American English Coonhound Dog

The American English Coonhound is American by birthright but English by ancestry. They're one of six coonhound dog breeds that frontiersmen developed to hunt and trail North America's vast source of food, fat, and fur (mostly racoons). People speculate that the ancestors of American English Coonhounds are the English Foxhounds brought to America, in the early 1800s, where Fox Hunting had been a popular pastime since the late 1600s. Even George Washington was an avid participant in English-style horse-and-hound fox hunts! During America's formative years, English Foxhounds were brought over by Colonial breeders and crossed with several other breeds to develop the American English. They were once known as the English Fox and Coonhound: hunting foxes by day and raccoons by night. As the breed came to specialize in evening raccoon hunts, its current name caught on. Some say that the American English is the fastest of the coonhound breeds. And because they were originally bred for trailing and treeing raccoons, these pooches can even climb trees!