The Hunting Horn – Calling the Hounds

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212 – The Annual, 2022-23

By Amy Fernandez

More than a millennium before Karen Pryor popularized clicker training, dog people understood the magnificent simplicity of this concept. It only takes one or two positive experiences for dogs to forge that neural pathway between a sound and a reward. You might say that the hunting horn was the big clunky prototype for this training methodology. Luckily, our sport had Freeman Lloyd to document the origin and evolution of this iconic symbol for the AKC Gazette in 1943. He wrote, “In actual hunting, only one man is entrusted with it, and he is the official huntsman. For carrying the horn signifies absolute power like the sceptre of a monarch or the baton of the conductor of an orchestra.”

As a kid in the late 1800s, Lloyd had witnessed the incredible finesse of this training cue. Describing the Continental Hound shows from his boyhood, he especially marveled at the horn blowing competition which “brought forth a regular pandemonium of hound voices.” This melodic call and response ritual never failed to amaze spectators. Largely, as Lloyd explained to readers, that was due to “the deep and mellow tones that come only from loose skinned dewlapped hounds of pure blood…What is more, the hound understands and quickly realizes the purpose of the various calls conveyed by the instrument.” Lloyd added that younger, inexperienced hounds quickly learned this by emulating the senior members of the pack. It really was a grand canine symphony

But even then, Lloyd admitted that these customs were so ancient that no one really understood their source or origin. That historical amnesia was even more evident at the time of his writing. His stroll down memory lane had been prompted by a 1937 Westminster demonstration that had left spectators awestruck by the perfectly keyed canine choir, which seemed like a bonus surprise on top of the training skills on display.

Click here to read the complete article
212 – The Annual, 2022-23

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Posted by AnthonyA on Jan 3 2023. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.