I have been reading all the questions on coonhounds. I have only had one, been a
poodle person all my life. We rescued Homer, a Treeing Walker, who was abandoned
at the coonhound trials in Ohio. He was to be PTS and a poodle lister from one
of the poodle lists I am on posted him. I watched his progress and when it
seemed certain he had one more day left I wrote to Katie, she took him to her
house in Ohio and kept him for me until a rescue run. I found a wonderful
man, a truck driver from this area (St. Stephen, (N.B.) who picked him up on one
of his runs and kept him for three days in the transport with him and brought
him home to us. I
have a toy poodle, spoiled standard poodle, and 2 cats and a bird and was
terrified on what I may have got myself into. It took 5 weeks to get
things to settle down.......Lance (my standard poodle 27" at the
withers and 62 pounds) hated him. I live in the country on 10 acres with
forest to both sides and in the back with lots of woodland trails and roads,
even an old abandon railway line. Homer was one of the greatest dogs I
have ever had the privilege of living with......He completely won over
Lance (my grouchy standard). Both dogs learned from each other. Homer was
a thin 45 pounder (about 1 year old) when he arrived and when he left he was a
muscular beautiful 62 pounder and I got so many comments on how beautiful
he was and even the vet comments on what great shape he was in.
He had not a mean bone
in his whole body and taught my standard (who was under socialized in that he
had bad experiences in early obedience classes and hated other dogs and bordered
on fear aggression) the language of dogs and to play and romp. And in turn,
Lance, taught him how to enjoy a decadent spoiled pet family life - He went from
being terrified to enter the house to lolling on the sofas and sleeping in the
bedroom and car rides every day. They also had at least three (more in the
summer) long walks in the woods and on the trails every day. Homer learned
the commands, sit, down, settle. He could anticipate my every move. He was
very intelligent (I was kind of lead to believe otherwise). I have a
fenced area at the back of the house and Homer would wake me up every morning
with "eerreerr eeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrr" I would say "Do you want
to go out" and he would bow put his head down then up (nod yes) and answer
with a deep guttural "yyeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhh" which I took
for yes. He quickly learned if I did not put my coat on I was just
going to let him out in the fenced area and not go for a walk.....so he would
run back into the bedroom and jump in his bed. If I went for my coat and hiking
boots he would run to the door. So I had to go for the hike, never
mind it was 6 am. *lol*
I could go on endlessly
about the things he learned in that one single year...but the tears are
coming. September 3rd this year he was struck by a speeding car and
killed instantly and now there is a big hole in my heart and a little grave in
the back yard. I always kept leashes at every door and walked both dogs on
a leash until I got to the trails in the back. This day my husband was
loading the van and I opened the door thinking the dogs would run to the van
(they always did would never miss a car ride). In fact that day Homer was half
in the van and Lance (my almost always obedient standard poodle headed down the
long driveway toward the highway). Homer glanced around and saw this and
immediately headed after him. Neither dog would listen to our calls to come back
(they were both obedient dogs and very seldom ever not heeded our calls to come)
but this day it was not to be. It is a secondary highway and usually not
very busy and usually the cars go slower but it just seems things conspired that
day and my dear Homer is gone. My husband refers to it as the day that
Homer committed suicide. The whole family has been devastated by this
(even Lance, he is just coming out of it now and I know he still looks for Homer
in the woods, they used to enjoy ambushing each other). I, on the other hand,
sometimes feel I will never get over it. When I see a rescue I would like
to respond but am afraid to.
On our walks Homer
always stayed close and always came when we called, he was bolder and more
adventurous than Lance but never went that far and always did the "pack
walk". A rabbit bolted in front of us one day and he came when I called. If
he saw anything unusual on our walks he would bark and then run back to Lance
and I; or he would just stare and I knew he was looking at something, one day I
followed his stare and there was a deer standing there. My husband and I
were discussing all this yesterday and I think we are afraid Homer is a very
tough act to follow; and were wondering if most coonhounds were like him or was
he one of those "rare heart dogs that seem to be one of a kind".
He totally blew all our preconceived ideas on what we had heard about
coonhounds. He was clean and well mannered in the house, and what I loved the
most was his disposition. He was fun loving and affectionate and did not
have a mean bone in his body. My two cats loved him and they would play, he
would put his head under them and lift them up in the air but was always very
gentle with them. I knew they did not mind as they always went back for
more. Thanks for listening - I know this is long.
I have been reading all the questions on coonhounds. I have only had one, been a
poodle person all my life. We rescued Homer, a Treeing Walker, who was abandoned
at the coonhound trials in Ohio. He was to be PTS and a poodle lister from one
of the poodle lists I am on posted him. I watched his progress and when it
seemed certain he had one more day left I wrote to Katie, she took him to her
house in Ohio and kept him for me until a rescue run. I found a wonderful
man, a truck driver from this area (St. Stephen, (N.B.) who picked him up on one
of his runs and kept him for three days in the transport with him and brought
him home to us. I
have a toy poodle, spoiled standard poodle, and 2 cats and a bird and was
terrified on what I may have got myself into. It took 5 weeks to get
things to settle down.......Lance (my standard poodle 27" at the
withers and 62 pounds) hated him. I live in the country on 10 acres with
forest to both sides and in the back with lots of woodland trails and roads,
even an old abandon railway line. Homer was one of the greatest dogs I
have ever had the privilege of living with......He completely won over
Lance (my grouchy standard). Both dogs learned from each other. Homer was
a thin 45 pounder (about 1 year old) when he arrived and when he left he was a
muscular beautiful 62 pounder and I got so many comments on how beautiful
he was and even the vet comments on what great shape he was in.
