The History of ODH Foxhounds
ODH had pure American Hounds from 1924 until 1965. Bill Brainard whipped in 64-65. Brainard became Master in 1966 and brought in a few cross bred and English hounds.
By 1969-1970, there were 22 couple of American and 19½ couple of English.
Brainard stepped down in 1976-1977. Huntsman, Ray Pearson left 2 seasons later. All English and crossbred hounds were gone when Jimmy Atkins took over as huntsman in 1978. During his first year as huntsman, Jimmy had 35 couple of American Hounds.
1992-1995 there were 5 couple of Crossbred.
Gerald Keal arrived in 1994 and brought in 2 bitches that were Orange County and Andrew’s Bridge breeding. This brought a small nick of Penn-Marydel, to help improve the nose and voice of the pack.
In 2004, Gerald traveled to England to pick up 2 bitches from the Vale of the White Horse (VWH) Hunt in the Cotswold region. These bitches carried the female tail line of Old Dominion ‘Gorgeous’ who had been bred out of the ODH kennel. This is an ongoing breeding program and will take 4 generations to be pure America Foxhound.
* The Hunt name changed from “Mr. Larrabee’s Hounds” in 1924 to “Old Dominion Hounds” in 1931 as a means of increasing subscribership.
By 1969-1970, there were 22 couple of American and 19½ couple of English.
Brainard stepped down in 1976-1977. Huntsman, Ray Pearson left 2 seasons later. All English and crossbred hounds were gone when Jimmy Atkins took over as huntsman in 1978. During his first year as huntsman, Jimmy had 35 couple of American Hounds.
1992-1995 there were 5 couple of Crossbred.
Gerald Keal arrived in 1994 and brought in 2 bitches that were Orange County and Andrew’s Bridge breeding. This brought a small nick of Penn-Marydel, to help improve the nose and voice of the pack.
In 2004, Gerald traveled to England to pick up 2 bitches from the Vale of the White Horse (VWH) Hunt in the Cotswold region. These bitches carried the female tail line of Old Dominion ‘Gorgeous’ who had been bred out of the ODH kennel. This is an ongoing breeding program and will take 4 generations to be pure America Foxhound.
* The Hunt name changed from “Mr. Larrabee’s Hounds” in 1924 to “Old Dominion Hounds” in 1931 as a means of increasing subscribership.
