Treeing Walker Coonhound

Treeing Walker Coonhounds are extremely fast, agile, and tireless in the pursuit of game. They are extremely vocal with a distinctive bay that allows their owners to easily identify their dogs from great distances.

While very affectionate they are best suited to a life of action outdoors, and will suffer from being cooped up. While generally not considered suitable for apartment dwelling, Treeing Walker Coonhounds can do well in that setting, provided they are given plenty of opportunities for exercise outdoors.


Appearance

Walker hounds stand 20-28 inches (51-71 cm) at the withers and weigh 50-70 pounds (23-32 kg). Their markings are bicolor or tricolor with smooth short haired coats. They are extremely powerful, especially throughout the shoulder region, and have large ears compared to their head size. Their legs are straight and lean, and are not well muscled. They may be mistaken for very large beagles.


Temperament

Treeing Walker Coonhounds are great with children and get along well with other dogs. Like most hounds, they are even-tempered and difficult to annoy or drive into aggression towards people or other dogs. They are, however, energetic, and have a tendency to stand up on their hind legs to pursue their curiosity about a young child or small dog that is picked up by a person, which can be alarming to people that are fearful of dogs. It is highly unusual to see these dogs display aggression towards other dogs or humans in particular. They can be highly focused and idiosyncratically attracted to certain toys, locations, people, sounds, or objects. They love to nest and cuddle. Getting a Walker hound out of your bed, off your couch or away from your fireplace will be a feat in itself. They love to sleep after a long day and are the perfect dogs for watching television. Generally easy to train with little trouble, they make excellent pets if well exercised.

Training must be consistent as Walker hounds are extremely intelligent and will take full advantage of loopholes in the training regimen. These hounds have been known to use objects as levers/tools and often manipulate their environment to accomplish a task (e.g., moving furniture to climb over gates, using household objects to manipulate kennel mechanisms, etc.). They love to carry plastic soda bottles. They will attempt to steal attractive items, and usually maintain several caches of licit and illicit items.

Because they are eager to please, loving, intelligent and confident, they make a splendid companion dog for an owner willing to give them proper exercise. Because this breed requires intense exercise to match its energy levels, Walker hounds cannot settle for mere walks in the neighborhood.

Most Walker hounds are capable of scaling fences in excess of 6 feet (1.8 m), so a proper yard system whether fence or electric fence is a must. They bury bones and dig if they are on scent. In general, they are oblivious to commands when trailing a scent, much like a beagle or basset hound, so it is imperative for a Walker hound to have serious training and a safe running area free of cars or other potential dangers. They have strong tracking instincts, which is why they are popular as hunting dogs. They can be quite adept at catching small rodents such as squirrels, roof rats, opossums, and skunks. They are also known for their ability to tree raccoons, bobcats, cougars and bears when hunting in packs of two or more.