A huntsmen and his hounds....

i watched an amazing programe last night on horse and country..

it was about a huntsmen and his pack of fox hounds.. he had 40 of them in total, knew every one of them by name.

it amazed me watching it, like how they are fed (different carcasses thrown down, then he lets the slower eaters in first, so they get their share, then let the others in)

he took them on a bike ride 6 miles a day through a park (presume he mean the estate here) and they were so well behaved, there were herds of deer, baby deer curled up, and the dogs just left them some of the young pups were a bit intrigued but he used the command "deeroff" which meant leave it, and he also has "hareoff" so they dont chase hares

they had puppy walkers for the litters and then put on a show before the pups go out on their first hunt (the huntsmen have them back for a few months, puppy walkers have them until they are about 6 months old) so the puppy walkers can see how the dogs they helped raised have matured, and he gives out awards to the puppy walkers which i thought was nice

he said when his hounds get too old to go out and keep up he puts them down. which i didnt quite agree with but after listening to what he was saying it is true. the dog has never lived outside of a pack, is not a pet, and has never ever lived in a home enviroment, they couldnt live as an only dog (they are used to living with 39 others!!) and he said when you have to see that hound in its kennel every day, because you cant take it with you and sulk when you leave it behind just wasnt fair..

he also raised some good points about hunting, and i agreed 100% with what he said, but i dont want to start a hunting arguement really.

so if you want to watch it its on horse and country channel on sky. they repeat things on there quite a bit so it should be on again soon

I have seen it a couple of times and found it really interesting too. It showed the hunt and the hounds in a very favourable (but non sentimental) light in my view. Definitely worth watching. The hounds have a fabulous life.

Aw wow, sounds amazing, we don't have sky I love seeing pack of hounds

Aw how old were they when they got put down?

cant remember how old he said but he had hounds still runnning at 8 years so i imagine they were older than that.. i wouldnt like to try and fit them into a house when thats all theyve known though.