Ginger, The Redbone Coonhound

 Tonight is Ginger's turn. She is our 6 year old Redbone Coonhound. About 7 years ago a Redbone wandered onto our property and even though my husband was adamant about 'No Dogs', he gave in. Rusty was irresitble. He had such a unique personality. Very independent but loveable. He would do things like go to the neighbors corn field, pull up an entire stalk of corn, drag it home and lay down in the back yard and contendently eat the corn off the ear off the stalk. I was always waiting for our neighbor to shoot him! But such was not to be, 13 months after he arrived, he was killed by a car out on the road. Pete and I were both heartbroken. 

Again, Pete said no dogs, but I persisted and found Ginger on the Internet. So one Sunday I drove off to Ft. Wayne, 4 hours away. I came home with 3 month old Ginger. She was much like Rusty, but definitely has her own personality. There are a dozen or more differnt sub-breeds of Coonhound. English, Blue, etc. They, of course are bred to hunt racoons, and other, bigger game. They have the second most powerful sense of scent, second only to Bloodhounds. Unfortunately, few people know them because they are generally owned by hunters who keep them locked up in kennels with no activity except to come out to hunt. They typically aren't socialized to humans. But, wow, do they make wonderful pets. They are not a guard dog, they would lick an intruder to death, but they are excellent watch dogs, they will let you know when someone is on the property. They love children and other dogs. Cats are subject to how they were raised. So, you can see that I am smitten. They are beautiful, the color of a bright, new copper penny. Big brown eyes that have that hound dog plead to them. Very, very trainable. Ginger gets anything after the 2 or 3 try. So, that's my animals, Ginger and Romeo!!