Overview
The Redbone is the beauty of the coonhound family: a solid-red, sweet-tempered treeing hound bred in the American South to trail raccoons and big cats through swamps and mountains, then bay them up a tree. It combines a cold nose and real stamina with one of the gentlest dispositions among hunting hounds — a working dog that makes a famously easygoing house companion.
Temperament & personality
Even-tempered is exactly right. Redbones are affectionate, eager to please for a hound, and typically wonderful with children and other dogs. They have the hound's independent streak and a nose that governs their decisions outdoors, so training is a matter of patience and management rather than force. Indoors, they are professional loungers.
Appearance
An elegant, solid-red coonhound — the rich mahogany coat is the breed's signature, sometimes with a touch of white on the chest or feet. Redbones have a pleading hound expression, long velvety ears, a clean, muscular build, and a notably graceful, ground-covering gait for a treeing hound.
Care & daily life
Redbones need one to one and a half hours of daily exercise and do best with a job for their nose — tracking, scent games, and long hikes. Like all coonhounds they were bred to sing: expect a carrying bay, and plan training and exercise to keep it civilised. The short coat needs a weekly brush; long ears need regular cleaning to prevent infection.
Health & lifespan
The Redbone Coonhound is generally known for the following health watch-points:
- Hip dysplasia
- Ear infections, common to long-eared hounds that work in wet country
- Progressive retinal atrophy is reported in the breed
- Generally a hardy, healthy breed with few hereditary problems
Living with a Redbone Coonhound
Happy in rural and suburban homes with room to roam, a secure fence, and owners who enjoy an active outdoor life. Redbones are famously mellow indoors once exercised and make easygoing family companions, but their voice and prey drive rule out most apartment situations.
History
Redbones descend from red Scottish and Irish foxhounds brought to Georgia in the 1840s by Peter Redbone and others, later crossed for scenting ability and treeing instinct. For decades they were a Southern hunter's 'sad-looking' red hound before breeders like George Birdsong standardised the striking solid-red dog. The breed was made famous as the hounds in the novel 'Where the Red Fern Grows' and was recognised by the AKC in 2009.