large-to-giant breed
Black and Tan Coonhound
A Bloodhound's nose on a lighter frame, and the loudest breed here - a bay built to be heard across a valley in the dark. Indoors Black and Tans are mellow, affectionate, faintly lazy and very good with children. Outdoors they are not really yours until the trail runs out, and a fence they can go under settles the matter. The ears and the drool are ongoing work.
Pup Height
25-27 in
Figures are for males; females are 23-25 in. The coat is always black with tan markings - tan spots above the eyes that hunters call pumpkin seeds, plus tan on the muzzle, chest and legs. The ears are set low and long enough to reach past the tip of the nose, which the standard asks for rather than tolerates. Source: AKC breed standard.
Pup Weight
65-110 lb
Pup Lifespan
10-12 years
Your pup, at a glance
What’s Life With This Pup Really Like?
Genuinely affectionate and a committed sofa dog once the day is done. The contrast between the tireless animal on a trail and the one asleep against you is the whole character of the breed.
Very good. Patient, gentle and hard to rattle, with the usual caution that a hundred-pound hound following their nose does not check what is in front of them.
Good with dogs - they were bred to work in company. Cats and small animals are a different question entirely, since finding and treeing them is the job Black and Tans were made for.
The highest on this site alongside the English Coonhound. A deep bay built to be heard for miles, used freely, and not trainable away.
High outdoors and low indoors, which misleads people badly. They will trail for hours and then sleep for the rest of the day.
Moderate and year-round. The coat is short but it sheds constantly, and black hair shows on everything light-colored.
Mild and a bit lazy about it. They will join a game briefly, and scent work holds them far better than anything involving a ball.
High. Loose flews and a deep muzzle mean drool after every drink, and it travels further than seems reasonable.
Low, and independent rather than unintelligent. They were selected to work a line regardless of instruction, and food is the only currency that reliably competes.
Moderate. They will certainly announce a visitor, at length and at volume, and then greet them warmly. The noise is the entire deterrent.
Very low for the coat and real for the extremities. The ears, the eyes and the facial folds are the ongoing job, and skipping them turns into vet bills.
Low. The voice rules out close neighbors and the nose rules out an ordinary yard fence, and neither is something training solves.
Lifestyle fit
Could This Be Your Best Breed?
Black and Tan Coonhounds suit a rural or well-detached home with a tall fence, and an owner who wants gentle company indoors and accepts a dog who will never be trustworthy off leash. Costs run $1,800 to $2,900 a year over ten to twelve years, with very little of it going on the coat. An apartment with neighbors on the other side of the wall is where this falls apart - a bay built to carry across a valley has no quiet setting.
Living Space
Rural or well detached, with a tall fence. Black and Tans are calm and undemanding indoors, which fools people - the problem is a bay bred to be heard across a valley and a nose that will take them under a fence and three counties away.
Pup Experience
Not a first dog, and not because Black and Tans are difficult company. They are gentle and easy at home. The difficulty is that a hound bred to work miles ahead of a hunter at night does not come back when called, and owners find that out the hard way.
Daily Pup Time
An hour to ninety minutes of real exercise daily, on a long line or behind a fence, plus weekly ear cleaning that is genuinely not optional.
Allergies & Coat
The Black and Tan Coonhound scores 5/10 for shedding and 6/10 for drooling. No dog is truly hypoallergenic. The allergens come from dander and saliva, and a dog that sheds this much will leave plenty of hair behind - especially on your furniture, floors, and clothes.
Quirks & challenges
The Not-So-Easy Stuff
The Loudest Breed Here
A deep, carrying bay bred to be followed across a valley at night. It is not a training problem and it does not get quieter.
The Nose Overrides You
On a scent they are functionally deaf. Off-leash recall is unrealistic for most individuals no matter how much work goes in.
Ears Need Weekly Care
The longest ears in the group, dragging through grass and food and sealing in moisture. Infections follow neglect quickly.
Raccoons Carry a Risk
Coonhound paralysis is triggered by raccoon saliva. Most dogs recover, but it is weeks of nursing a dog who cannot walk.
Mellow Indoors, Gone Outdoors
The calm house dog and the animal that disappears under a fence are the same dog. Judging them by the sofa version is the mistake.
The Drool Travels
Loose flews and a deep muzzle mean drool on furniture and walls, particularly after drinking. Keep a towel by the bowl.
The good, the bad & the hairy
Health, Care & Costs
Understanding the health risks and ongoing costs of a Black and Tan Coonhound helps you plan for a happy, healthy life together.
10-12 years
$45-$70
per groom (bath, nails and ears), every 8-12 weeks - a short coat needs little ($200-$350/year)
$1,800-$2,900/year
all-in (food, routine vet, grooming, insurance, incidentals)
Health Risks
Conditions this breed is prone to.
The longest, lowest-set ears of any hound here, dragging through everything and sealing warmth and moisture against the canal. Structural rather than inherited, and the single most predictable recurring cost in the breed - weekly cleaning and thorough drying is genuine prevention.
An immune reaction, classically triggered by raccoon saliva, that attacks the nerve roots and causes progressive weakness from the hind legs forward - sometimes to the point of not being able to stand. Most dogs recover fully over weeks to months, but it needs intensive nursing and the recovery is slow. Worth knowing about before it happens rather than during.
The hip joint develops loosely, so the ball and socket grind instead of gliding. It leads to arthritis and, in severe cases, replacement surgery on a dog who may weigh a hundred pounds. Ask to see hip scores for both parents.
The stomach fills with gas and twists, cutting off its own blood supply. Without surgery within hours it is fatal. Deep-chested dogs are most at risk, and feeding one large meal a day or exercising straight after eating makes it likelier.
The loose lower eyelid sags away from the eye, leaving the surface exposed to dust and drying out. Mild cases need drops; the rest are corrected surgically. It comes with the heavy head and loose skin the breed is built on.
The thyroid stops producing enough hormone, causing weight gain, lethargy and a dull, thinning coat. A daily tablet manages it completely and the medication itself is inexpensive.
Insurance & Health Coverage
A hardy working breed with no cluster of inherited disease, and the costs sit in two very different places.
Ears are the recurring line and the one that decides timing. Infections here start young, come back, and are the textbook condition an insurer writes into an exclusion the moment they appear in the notes - which on a dog with ears this long is usually early. Cover arranged while the record is clean is worth more than the premium difference suggests.
The sudden costs are bloat, which is emergency surgery in the thousands on a deep-chested dog, and joint surgery in the same range. Coonhound paralysis is the odd one out: it is not expensive in surgical terms but it means weeks of supportive care, and it is worth knowing your policy covers hospitalization rather than just procedures.
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Care needs
The Daily Routine
Grooming
A short, dense coat that needs a weekly going-over with a rubber mitt and nothing more. The ears are the real job - checked and cleaned weekly, dried thoroughly after any swim or wet walk - and the loose skin around the eyes and muzzle wants wiping out. Nails matter on a dog this heavy.
Exercise
An hour to ninety minutes daily, and it has to give the nose something to do. Long-line tracking, hiking over varied ground and scent games use the dog they actually are; a walk on pavement leaves the working half of them idle.
Food & Weight
Two measured meals rather than one large one, with hard exercise kept clear of mealtimes given the bloat risk. They are intensely food-motivated and accomplished counter-surfers at this height, so count what they steal as well as what you serve - and they gain weight easily once the hunting stops.
Similar breeds
If This Isn’t Quite the One
American English Coonhound
The same job in a lighter, faster dog - the English is built for speed over open country where the Black and Tan is a slower, heavier, more methodical trailer with a better nose. Both are among the loudest breeds on this site.
American Foxhound
The other big American scent hound, bred to run rather than to tree. The Foxhound needs considerably more exercise and is better with other dogs; the Black and Tan is calmer indoors and rather more affectionate with their own people.