Home / Breeds / Black and Tan Coonhound
Black and Tan Coonhound
Patient, gentle, determined and led by the nose. From United States.
Houndlarge breedUnited StatesStandards checked
Standards checked: this profile's facts are checked against the breed standards of the AKC, The Kennel Club and the FCI, as described on our methodology page.
Gallery
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Photos show different individual dogs from licensed libraries, not one dog growing up. Stage labels are approximate, the way a careful editor would judge them.
About the Black and Tan Coonhound
The Black and Tan Coonhound is a large scent hound from United States, developed to follow scent trails for hours, on game from rabbits to boar, baying so hunters can follow. Expect a companionable, musical dog who treats every walk as a detective story. Food motivation is total, which helps training and hurts waistlines.
History
Scent hound packs were the engine of mounted and foot hunting across Europe for a thousand years, and most of today's breeds descend from those great kennels. The AKC recognizes the breed today, and its standard is the reference most US breeders work to.
Personality
Patient, gentle, determined and led by the nose is the record's Black and Tan, the grand old man of the American coonhounds: a big, black and tan trailing hound with Bloodhound in its ancestry and a voice built for valleys. Black and Tans are sweet natured, tolerant and easygoing at home, with a hound's pack sociability, and utterly professional outdoors, where the nose takes command. Puppies are all ears and appetite; adults are serene, funny companions that work a trail with methodical joy and then sleep like they invented it. Owners describe the classic coonhound bargain: music, mud and devotion in roughly equal parts.
Temperament and traits
Energy (3/5)
Trainability (3/5)
Grooming needs (3/5)
Shedding (4/5)
Barking (4/5)
Good with children: Good with children
With other dogs: Good with dogs
With strangers: Friendly with strangers
Apartment life: With enough exercise
Coat and care
Coat: Short and dense.
Colors: Standard colors: coal black with rich tan markings.
Feed to a visible waist tuck and weigh monthly; this breed does best on a routine of consistent meals, training in short sessions and daily exercise matched to its type. Weekly brushing keeps the coat healthy, with extra work when the undercoat sheds in spring and autumn. Long ears drag through everything and need weekly cleaning. Weight creeps up silently in this food loving type, so weigh monthly.
Exercise and grooming
Exercise
Sixty to ninety minutes a day, ideally as long, scent rich outings where the nose leads: the Black and Tan was bred to trail raccoons and bigger game through American forests all night, staying on scent for hours, and a walk conducted as a detective story is exercise for body and nose alike. Tracking and mantrailing are the breed's perfect hobbies. Free running belongs in fenced areas or on long lines, because a hound on scent is deaf to everything else. Puppies need protected joints and gradual building in a dog that can reach 110 pounds. Food motivation is total, per the overview, so exercise calories are measured against the bowl and monthly weighing joins the programme.
Grooming
Weekly brushing keeps the short, dense coat healthy, with extra work when the undercoat sheds in spring and autumn, per the care notes. The real care items are the ears and the waistline: long ears drag through everything and need weekly cleaning, exactly as the notes say, and weight creeps up silently in this food loving type, so weigh monthly. Nails need trims, teeth benefit from brushing, and the hound smell is present but modest in a clean dog. Puppies need kind ear handling habits from the start, because ear care is a weekly appointment for life.
Training and daily life
Training
Train the Black and Tan with food, patience and respect for the nose. They are intelligent dogs that learn household skills well in short, reward rich sessions, and food motivation is total, which helps training and hurts waistlines, as the overview notes. Recall exists in two states, reliable when the nose is idle and fictional when it is working, so the training goal is management: secure areas, long lines and a strong emergency response. Mantrailing and scent work turn the obsession into a trained sport. Harsh methods produce a hound that simply stops; kindness and clarity produce a polished, devoted companion.
Living with a Black and Tan Coonhound
The Black and Tan suits rural or semi rural households with space, secure fencing and neighbours at a comfortable distance for the music. Patient, gentle and determined, good with children, good with other dogs and friendly with strangers, it rates flats as possible in the record only with the full programme delivered, and honestly the voice argues otherwise. Expect a companionable, musical dog, in the overview's words, that treats every walk as a detective story and every evening as sofa time with its people. Coonhound people are devoted lifers who consider the singing a feature, and in the right setting it absolutely is.
What a Black and Tan Coonhound costs
Food cost
About $50 per month for a typical 88 lb adult eating roughly 4.7 cups a day of a standard quality food ($1.60 per lb). Full breakdown in our food expense calculator.
Activity and exercise
Plan 60 to 90 minutes a day of walks, play and training. Under exercised dogs of most breeds invent their own projects, and they rarely pick good ones.
Insurance cost
Typical US range $41 to $75 per month for accident and illness cover. Estimate only, based on market ranges for this breed's risk profile; see the insurance estimator and the insurance guide.
On the monthly figures above, a typical adult year runs to about $601 for food and $492 to $900 for insurance, before routine vet care, grooming and gear. Year one costs more: vaccinations, spay or neuter surgery, a crate, bedding and training all land at once.
Growth: puppy to senior
How weight typically builds with age for a large breed, and when full size arrives.
| Stage | Age | Typical weight |
|---|---|---|
| Puppy | 8 weeks | about 8 to 13 lb |
| Puppy | 4 months | about 18 to 31 lb |
| Puppy | 6 months | about 31 to 53 lb |
| Young | 9 months | about 44 to 75 lb |
| Young | 12 months | about 53 to 90 lb |
| Adult | 18 months | about 62 to 104 lb |
| Adult | 24 months | about 65 to 110 lb |
| Adult | Full grown | 65 to 110 lb (standard range) |
| Senior | From about 7 years | Healthy weight stays in the adult range; watch for slow gain or loss |
Growth pattern follows the size class growth curves published by the Waltham Petcare Science Institute, applied to the adult weight range in the breed standard. Individual puppies vary; steady growth matters more than hitting any single number, and your vet's growth checks come first.
Life stages
Puppies need socialisation, ear care habituation, gradual exercise building on a heavy frame and secure fencing audited before the nose fully engages. Adolescents discover trailing fully, and scent games plus long lines carry the household through. Adults enjoy a sturdy prime: keep weight measured monthly, ears clean and the walks long and interesting. Ten to twelve years puts senior status around nine: twice yearly checks, joint friendly exercise and continued sniffy rambles. Old Black and Tans stay gentle, musical and devoted, singing a little softer in the sun.
Health
Hip screening and eye checks are the standards for scent hounds, and the long ears need watching for infection. Keeping this food loving type lean is itself a health measure.
Conditions to know about
- Hip dysplasia: Hip screening is a standard for scent hounds, per the record. Ask for scores in writing, and keep this big, food loving hound lean, because extra weight loads every joint.
- Eye conditions: Eye checks are the other standard named in the record. Ask for current results for both parents.
- Ear infections: The long ears need watching for infection, in the record's words: weekly cleaning is the prevention, and head shaking or ear odour books the vet visit.
- Weight management: Keeping this food loving type lean is itself a health measure, per the record. Measured meals, monthly weighing and honest exercise are the Black and Tan's main health programme.
Facts follow the Black and Tan Coonhound breed standard (AKC, The Kennel Club and FCI standards agree on the essentials for this breed). Health notes summarize the conditions breed clubs and veterinary bodies most often flag for this breed. They are general information for choosing and caring, not a diagnosis or a substitute for your vet.
Gear for Black and Tan Coonhound owners
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Black and Tan Coonhound questions
How long do Black and Tan Coonhounds live?
A typical lifespan is 10 to 12 years. Weight control, dental care and screening for the breed's known conditions give a dog the best chance of reaching the top of that range.
How much does it cost to keep a Black and Tan Coonhound?
Food for a typical adult runs about $50 a month at a standard quality tier, and accident and illness insurance usually falls between $41 and $75 a month in the US. Try the full cost calculator for a complete year one and yearly picture.
Are Black and Tan Coonhounds good with children?
Good with children. As with every breed, supervise dogs and children together and teach children to respect the dog's space.
How much exercise does a Black and Tan Coonhound need?
Plan on 60 to 90 minutes a day, split between walks, play and training games. Puppies and seniors need gentler, shorter sessions.
Is the Black and Tan the original coonhound?
It is the oldest of the American coonhound breeds and the only one recognised for most of their shared history, developed from foxhound and bloodhound stock in the American South.
Are Black and Tans good house dogs?
Famously: patient, gentle and affectionate, real couch dogs once exercised. The challenges are the voice, the exercise and the nose outdoors, not the temperament indoors.
How loud is a Black and Tan, honestly?
Very: a deep, carrying bay built to be heard across valleys. Country living or tolerant neighbours are part of the honest ownership picture.