Bryn Mawr Hound Show

Virginia Foxhound Show, Oatlands, 1986: Huntsman Shelly O'Higgins receives trophy from Joan Jones (now President, Virginia Foxhound Club). Judges are (l-r) Captain R.E. Wallace, MFH, Exmoor Foxhounds (UK); Bun Sharp, MB, Nantucket-Treweryn Beagles; Sherman Haight, MFH, Mr. Haight's Litchfield County Hounds.

The venerable Virginia Foxhound Club—the team that brings you the Virginia Foxhound Show each year—is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary. It seems timely to look back, evaluate the importance of hound shows in the overall scheme of foxhunting, and convince those with a passion for the sport that their membership in the Virginia Foxhound Club, no matter where in North America they hunt the fox or the coyote, is an investment that will benefit all fox hunters and their hunts.

The Virginia Foxhound Show, the largest hound show in the world, brings foxhounds of all types and all strains to the flags for viewing, comparing, and judging. Whether a Master or huntsman is seeking certain bloodlines, or an outcross to introduce hybrid vigor to the gene pool within his kennels, he sees such hounds at Virginia. And he has the opportunity to socialize and chat, in a magnificent setting, about the merits and traits of the canine objects of his desire. With your support, the best matings may continue to be made in Heaven, but they’ll be arranged in Virginia!

But no one came to the party.

Virginia Foxhound Show, Oatlands, 1986: Huntsman Shelly O'Higgins receives trophy from Joan Jones (now President, Virginia Foxhound Club). Judges are (l-r) Captain R.E. Wallace, MFH, Exmoor Foxhounds (UK); Bun Sharp, MB, Nantucket-Treweryn Beagles; Sherman Haight, MFH, Mr. Haight's Litchfield County Hounds.

There's an elephant in the room, sucking away so much attention from what we would normally be thinking about at this particular time of year. The Virginia Foxhound Club, for one.

The venerable Virginia Foxhound Club—the team that brings you the Virginia Foxhound Show each year...except this one—is celebrating its sixty-fifth anniversary. It seems timely to look back, evaluate the importance of hound shows in the overall scheme of foxhunting, and convince those with a passion for the sport that their membership in the Virginia Foxhound Club, no matter where in North America they hunt the fox or the coyote, is an investment that will benefit all fox hunters and their hunts.

The Virginia Foxhound Show, the largest hound show in the world, brings foxhounds of all types and all strains to the flags for viewing, comparing, and judging. Whether a Master or huntsman is seeking certain bloodlines, or an outcross to introduce hybrid vigor to the gene pool within his kennels, he sees such hounds at Virginia. And he will again have the opportunity to socialize and chat, in a magnificent setting, about the merits and traits of the canine objects of his desire. With your support, the best matings may continue to be made in Heaven, but they’ll be arranged in Virginia!

Potomac huntsman Larry Pitts (standing) with Allen Forney and
Potomac Dapper 2011, Grand Champion Foxhound at Bryn
Mawr  /  Anne Davies photoAlthough a Potomac Crossbred foxhound—Potomac Dapper 2011—happened to be judged Grand Champion at the Bryn Mawr Hound Show on June 1, 2013, Potomac huntsman Larry Pitts wants you to understand that he doesn’t breed Crossbred hounds.

“We don’t breed Crossbred to Crossbred,” said Pitts, who maintains one of the few pure American packs in the country for the Potomac Hunt (MD). “We breed an American hound to an English hound or to a Penn-Marydel as an outcross. We keep just two or three puppies, and we breed to the best one.”

Pitts breeds successive generations of his selected Crossbreds back to American hounds until the litters can be registered in the American Stud Book. American hound breeders need to outcross in order to maintain hybrid vigor, because the gene pool of American hounds is small.

Los Altos huntsman Matthew Cook and Nicassio / Kimberly Kavish photoNicassio, an un-entered Crossbred dog hound from the Los Altos Hounds (CA), was judged Grand Champion at the Western States Hound Show. The show was held on May 21–22, 2011 at the Santa Ynez Valley Hounds kennels in Santa Barbara.

“It’s not often an un-entered hound can beat an entered hound—fully developed and muscled—but Nicassio moved really well,” recalled huntsman Matthew Cook, who is in his sixth season at Los Altos. “That’s what sold it!”

Nicassio is by Ninja 2006, an un-registered dog hound that Cook obtained from his friend Martyn Blackmore, huntsman at the Loudoun West Hunt (VA). Blackmore? Again? This is the second grand champion hound this season in whose story Martyn Blackmore played a prominent role!