True colours

There is considerable variety in hound colouring and, while some hues have been deliberately developed, others reveal long-forgotten genetic inheritance, says William Chanter

- William Chanter

GENERALLY, even the most thrusting subscriber in every pack will be able to tell the visitor the names of one or two hounds. In some instances, this might be because it has a woolly coat or perhaps a curly stern.

But more often than not, the most well-known hounds in a pack are of a differing colour to their kennel-mates and it is these, if also good in their work, that become everyone’s favourites. It is not unusual to see a shadow of a grimace on the huntsman’s face when their best-performing stars are passed over and the thrusty subscriber describes “dear Ruby” as the best in the pack solely because she is the most recognisable.

More amusingly, the senior professionals generally nod sagely in agreement in the interests of both diplomacy and a decent contribution to the Christmas box. Conversely, it is not unknown for masters of hounds who have indulged in a generous lunch at the puppy show to rather lose their appetite for judging when the “all in” is called with an entry of nearing identical colour.

While work is always the primary objective when breeding, there are still a few packs of hounds where colour is maintained as the kennel standard. The primary examples are the old English, the Kerry beagle and the West Country harrier, but certain packs begin to take on a certain hue due to breeding policy.

This works in two ways: first, that a breeder might choose to try to breed a distinctive colour of hound, generally in the case of hill packs where white or, at least, lighter colour hounds can be seen at much greater distances than darker hounds. Indeed, the Exmoor have always been known as the “Stars of the West” on account of their light colour against the dark of the winter heather. Second, a pack of hounds develops a colour on account of a breeding policy that favours a certain hound with a dominant colour gene.