Worldliness and the Call of the Wolf

I have been breeding coon hounds since I was a kid, and have had some success. Hounds from my breeding program are in many states, and have won in competition, which I don't personally participate in, as well as pleasing the old back at the forks of the creek coon hunters.

One thing I have done in my efforts to better the breed is to stay true to some of the old, houndy characteristics that many modern breeders have abandoned in their quest to streamline their hounds for nothing but competition hunts.

The big square muzzles, blocky heads, long, low-set ears, and deep, melodious bawl mouths are getting harder and harder to find, as many younger hunters are only interested in the winner's circle.

In the early days of the Bluetick breed, the founders set forth a breed standard, and clearly spelled out these qualities as critical. And certainly I understand the difficulty of trying to get high performance as well as maintaining these time honored traits.

It is difficult to maintain because every generation of coonhounds you raise is subject to what I like to call "the call of the wolf." Our hounds are genetically descended from wolves, and the wolf traits are always trying to resurface .In every litter, there will be some pups that have the shorter, higher set ears, the sharper, thinner muzzle, the voice that doesn't quite have the right tone and quality.

You have to select your breeding stock from those pups that meet the standard you have set, even if some of those lesser offspring have good performance qualities also.

It is much the same in our quest for a walk in the Spirit.We have a nature that craves the things of the world, a nature that continually pulls at us. Without deliberate, consistent, diligent efforts to stem the tide of worldliness, it will, as surely as night follows day, make inroads among us.

In our quest for the "winner's circle" of numerical growth, we cannot ignore the call of the wolf.