If ever a breed needed a flowchart.

In 1905, the English Coonhound was recognized by United Kennel Club under the name, English Fox & Coonhound. The name, English Fox & Coonhound,  reflected the similarity that the breed had to the American Foxhound and the English Foxhound.

In 1995, the AKC recognized the same breed, but as the American English Coonhound, perhaps to acknowledge that it is American by birth, English by genetic ancestry. That same breed is also sometimes called the Redtick Coonhound because red ticking is the breed’s most common coat color. Coloring in the breed, in fact, lead to some interesting splits we’ll get to below

By 1943, breeders within the breed were consistently producing four base colors: White along with any hound color (the original original English coloring), a blue ticking, a red ticking, and a tri-color known as the Walker. They were all considered simple variants of the same breed, the English Coonhound. However, the heavily ticked dogs split off from the English. The Bluetick Coonhound was recognized as a separate breed in 1945, and a year later, the tricolored hounds separated into the breed we call the Treeing Walker Coonhound. Today, the American English Coonhound standard DQs tri-colored dogs with no ticking, or are a solid color with less than 10 percent ticking.

Whether one calls the breed the English Coonhound or the American English Coonhound, generations of American southerners who grew up with the breed and hunted over them simply call them “English dogs,” either because what they knew from childhood was the English Coonhound, or because it descended from English Foxhounds. The road to uncoupling with its genetic homeland commenced when Foxhounds were bred to negotiate American terrain, far more challenging than what Foxhounds had dealt with in England. The American English Coonhound further became more specialized when breeders started to focus on breeding for night hunts that specifically hunted raccoons.

Image: American English Coonhound by Erzebet S is available as fine art, and in lifestyle and home decor items here

English Coonhound, American English Coonhound, Treeing Walker Coonhound, Redtick Coonhound,Bluetick Coonhound