The Otterhound - Great Underwater but Can be Noisy in Yards
Author: Steve Evans
The Otterhound is a large breed of dog developed in England to hunt the otter. The hunting of otters was necessary because they were preying on the fish in the rivers and streams to an extent that they were competing with the locals for this important food source.
Watch our Video below. It’s about the many old British Dog Breeds in Danger of being Lost
This hound is an extremely rare breed from Great Britain, numbering only a small 1,000 individuals or fewer in the world. There is real concern that they may die out as pedigree strain of dogs.
The Otterhound has been bred to be a king of water, with a nose that can detect a submerged trail that is as much as half a day old, and capable of swimming for hours to find the scent of trails.
As the name suggests this breed loves to hunt, sniff, trail and especially swim. At home, it is boisterous, amiable and easygoing (although often quite stubborn). They are affectionate with their family and quite good with children. The breed will certainly need daily long walks or trips to an off-leash dog park so they can run around in a fenced in area. As we have said, they love to swim which is perfect because it provides exercise and entertains them in quite a small space of time. This is not an obtrusive dog to his owner, and they function as a quiet companion fitting in well with a variety of owner routines, that is with one exception! They have a tendency to snore. Also, wake them up and excite them and they become bold and exuberant.
The Otterhound is a large breed that stands between 23 and 27 inches tall, with a shaggy face and bushy eyebrows. They usually weigh between 65 and 120 pounds. Friendly, cheerful, loving and devoted, they make a good companion. However, you should only really take on one of these dogs if you live in a house with a large fenced yard for him or her to roam in. They do need plenty of exercise.
Given this essential fact, these dogs are exceptionally friendly toward other dogs as well as people, so almost all that you meet will be pleased to stroke and talk about your charge. But, to go out and hope that they will protect your property would not be wise.
Due to their great friendliness they make poor guard dogs. Their bark has been described as a loud, melodious voice that carries for long distances. But, when approached their fierce noise is often accompanied by tail wagging, which hardly deters anyone. The breed enjoys ‘baying’ occasionally, but does not bark excessively if well exercised and entertained. In fact my friend calls hers the most generally laid back and amiable companion of all the dogs she has ever kept, and she has looked after dogs since she was large enough to hold a lead, and is now in her sixties.
The Otterhound is a large rough coated dog. They do require a fair bit of attention when it comes to grooming. They are about average when you consider the extent to which they shed their coats. They may shed more heavily on a seasonal basis, which means that they may cause problems for allergy sufferers.
They are strong throughout the body with a deep chest, heavily boned muscular legs, large feet and a long powerful neck well set into the shoulders.
The head, underneath all that hair, is large and deep, but wide, somewhat resembling the look of a Bloodhound. He or she should be strongly built, hard and enduring, with of course those unfailing powers of smell and eagerness to trail. Colour in this breed can be grizzle or sandy, with black and tan clearly defined.
The breed has the worst hip record of any dog breed recorded in recent research. This hound is in the same predicament as many of the other large breeds when it comes to hip dysplasia. It continues to be a problem in this breed and care must be taken to x-ray all these dogs before mating, and select against the problem. The problem with these dogs suffering hip pain is quite upsetting and it has been said that until the UK Kennel Club takes this more seriously and starts to listen to those campaigning for the club to make health testing compulsory, and takes a decent stance on pro-active dog health and welfare, there is an ethical problem with breeding to raise their numbers. Some say that in this context the KC’s stated wish for more puppies is, quite inappropriate.
The Otterhound can be a stubborn and independent breed, and in common with many of the old English breeds will not easily train. They are little too independent by nature to do as you say willingly.
There is an Otterhound Club of America, which was founded in 1960 and held the breed's first National Specialty in 1981. This is an old breed and it has been in existence since the 1300s. Most otter hunting was done by nobility, and many English kings and queens owned packs of these hounds going back a few centuries.
The O’hound dog is know as a member of the scent hounds. At their height of popularity these dogs never became large in number nor a common sight, but they were in demand as hunters throughout England wherever there were otter rivers.
When hunting the Otter, these dogs had to be agile and strong, as the otter weighs up to 16 kg (35 lb), and is very quick and extremely agile under water. These hounds had to be able to quickly take to the water and be able to scramble up and down slippery river banks. These hounds also had to swim long distances under water.
The Otterhound was often, we are told, aided in the pursuit of this quarry by small terriers that flushed otters from their dens in the tangled roots of trees along riverbanks. Once an ottter was in the water, the O’hound took to the trail and took over from the bank stranded terriers.
We all think of otters as delightful creatures now and worthy of preservation in the small numbers which exist now in the United Kingdom. However, in the time of Otterhound popularity otters were hated and hunting them was very popular. As recently as the years just prior to World War I, it was not uncommon for 500 plus of these hounds in a couple of dozen packs to go on a otter hunting expedition, even though many of these dogs were not completely true bred, this must still have been an impressive sight.
To conclude we would say that Otterhounds can be very bright dogs - at least when it comes to getting something they want. They are friendly to the extent of not being good guard dogs - and by the way, if there is any food around at all, they WILL smell it, and try to plead with you for more than their rightful share of leftovers and titbits!
These are dogs which must be exercised and entertained. They are vocal dogs who love to make their presence known. Though they are can learn to master commands, this breed takes a lot of training, due to their independent spirit.
They are athletic, happy and do fine in a kennel, so think about owning one and help raise the numbers of individuals in the breed, to preserve their unique qualities.
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