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Most owners would say yes. Our record gives the Otterhound a bark rating of 4 out of 5, and the supporting picture fits: strangers are rated Friendly with strangers, energy is high at 4 out of 5, and the breed's temperament, Calm, sociable, musical and single minded on a trail, is one that notices things and says so. Owners who understand what the breed is reporting can manage the volume honestly, meeting the 60 to 90 minute exercise need, teaching a settle cue and not accidentally paying every bark with attention. Owners who need silence should keep reading the record and choose differently.
At home the Otterhound is sweet, clownish and affectionate, and intensely pack sociable; put it on scent near water and the dog transforms. Puppies are shaggy, big footed charmers, and adults grow into amiable, impressive companions that regard rain as an invitation. The record calls the breed calm, sociable and musical, rates it good with children and good with other dogs and friendly with strangers, and allows flats only in the largest theoretical sense. A typical life runs 10 to 13 years. England produced the Otterhound as a large scent hound, bred to follow scent trails for hours on game from rabbits to boar, baying so hunters could follow.
The full record behind the headline runs like this. Barking is rated 4 out of 5 for the Otterhound; energy sits at 4 out of 5 and trainability at 3 out of 5, and those two numbers decide how manageable the first one is: an energetic, trainable dog can be taught a settle, while energy with nowhere to go becomes noise. The barking score of 4 out of 5 was assigned inside that picture, not in isolation: breeds developed to work at a distance from people often kept their voices, breeds developed underfoot often lost them, and the Otterhound still carries whatever its own history decided about the value of being heard.
The trigger list for an Otterhound is long because the breed's job, historically, was noticing. Doorbell and knocking, obviously. Arrivals of any kind, family included, get an announcement. Add the door, the doorbell and the evening settle that never quite settles, and the pattern is complete: this is not a dog barking at nothing. It is a dog with a 4 out of 5 voice living in a world full of things it considers worth a headline, and the owner's work is editing the list, not burning the newspaper.
The Otterhound suits active rural households with space, water access and a tolerance for shag, song and scale. Expect a companionable, affectionate giant that treats every walk as a river expedition and every puddle as an appointment. Mantrailing and water games turn the obsession into trained sports.
For completeness, the record's remaining lines: the Otterhound comes from England, in the Hound group, and its color line reads: Standard colors: whole colored, grizzle, sandy, red, wheaten, blue. Its coat is recorded as Double, with a soft undercoat and longer harsher outer coat. Apartment suitability is rated With enough exercise, which is the line apartment readers should weigh beside the bark score, because a dog can be welcome in a flat for its size and unwelcome for its soundtrack, or the reverse. Its health watch list, Hip dysplasia, Eye conditions and Ear infections, belongs in the long view: a dog kept sound and lean is a calmer dog, and calm is the raw material quiet is made from.
Look sideways for a moment at the breeds this record finds most similar: the Bloodhound, the Black and Tan Coonhound and the English Foxhound. Their bark ratings are not identical to the Otterhound's 4 out of 5, which is worth remembering in both directions: do not borrow a similar breed's quiet reputation, and do not lend this one's volume out. Cross shoppers get more from comparing the full records side by side than from any single number, which is why each name on the shortlist carries its own page on this site.
Management starts with the exercise line, because a tired Otterhound is a quieter one in a way no training trick matches. The breed's 60 to 90 minutes are a floor, not a target, and part of them should be work for the mind: sniffing routes, training games, a job to do. The Otterhound can learn when to be quiet. It should never have to learn to be afraid of its own voice.
Adolescents are big, strong and increasingly nose led, and scent work plus long lines carries the household through. Adults enjoy a sturdy prime: keep weight measured monthly, ears clean, coat brushed through and the swimming coming.
Keep the record's figures in view while you decide. Height 24 to 27 inches, weight 80 to 115 lb, lifespan 10 to 13 years, exercise 60 to 90 minutes a day. Barking 4 of 5, energy 4 of 5, trainability 3 out of 5. A small dog's 4 out of 5 and a giant dog's 4 out of 5 are different acoustic events, which is why the size lines belong on a page about noise: pitch, volume and the neighbor's tolerance all scale with the dog producing them.
Start with the cause, not the noise. For the Otterhound specifically, a Hound dog whose exercise needs run 60 to 90 minutes a day, that plays out in daily routines rather than in occasional big fixes. Meet the exercise need first, 60 to 90 minutes daily, then teach a settle cue in calm moments so it exists in loud ones, and reward the pauses after barking rather than shouting through them. Manage the stages the dog performs on, windows, fences, the front door routine. At 4 out of 5, this breed's trainability of 3 out of 5 makes the program very workable, but it is a program of weeks. Anyone selling you a silent Otterhound by Friday is selling you fear, not training.
Sometimes, and sometimes it gives you stereo. In the Otterhound's case the setting matters as much as the rule: this is a breed with high energy and a bark level of 4 out of 5, so its voice is heard against a fairly specific home backdrop. A companion can drain the boredom and loneliness out of an Otterhound's day, and boredom is a common fuel for barking in a breed needing 60 to 90 minutes of exercise and company to match. But dogs also learn each other's songs: pair a vocal dog with another vocal breed and the duet is a real risk. Choose the second dog for its own record, its bark score included, and introduce it as company, not as a noise treatment with a heartbeat.
That is the core of the breed's vocal life, and its strangers rating reads Friendly with strangers. With the Otterhound, whose typical weight runs 80 to 115 pounds and whose lifespan reaches 10 to 13 years, the honest answer also changes a little across the dog's life, from puppyhood to senior status at about 7 years. An Otterhound with a bark score of 4 out of 5 announces unfamiliar people as a matter of course; whether the announcement is a single bark or a full report depends on the score, the dog and how the visitor behaves. Friends who visit often graduate quickly to the greeted list. Strangers who behave strangely, lingering at the fence, staring in at the window, get the extended edition whatever the score says.
Last updated: November 11, 2026