Appearance

The Black and Tan Coonhound's eyes are hazel to brown, and ears are extremely long, wide, and thin, set low and far back on the dog's head, hanging well down the neck. Their black and tan markings are similar to the Doberman and the Rottweiler but have key distinguishing differences from these breeds. The most prominent are the long tails and ears, and their loud, baying bark. Legs are long in proportion to the body length, muscular and finely modeled. The tail is set slightly below the natural line of the back, strongly tapered, and carried at a right angle, when the dog is alert or excited.

History

The Black and Tan Coonhound is descended from the Talbot hound, found in medieval England after the eleventh century. Its ancestry is then traced through the Bloodhound and the Foxhound to the Virginia Foxhound, commonly called the "black and tan". In 1945, the Black and Tan became the only one of the six varieties of Coonhound to be recognized in the Hound Group by the American Kennel Club.The Redbone Coonhound and the Plott Hound have since been recognized in the Miscellaneous Class. The other three varieties of Coonhound are the Bluetick Coonhound, the English Coonhound, and the Treeing Walker Coonhound.