medium-to-large breed
Bluetick Coonhound
A cold-nosed trailing hound, meaning they will take a scent hours old that other hounds have given up on and work it methodically for hours more. Blueticks are affectionate, easygoing, uncomplicated company indoors and completely uncontainable outdoors, with a voice that carries much further than you expect. They are superb at the job they were made for and almost entirely unsuited to anywhere that is not the country.
Pup Height
22-27 in
Pup Weight
55-80 lb
Figures are for males; females are 21-25 in and 45-65 lb. The blue is not a color but an effect - dense black ticking over a white ground, which reads as slate at any distance. The Bluetick was registered as an English Coonhound until 1946, when breeders split them off to preserve the cold-nosed trailing style rather than the faster English one. Source: AKC breed standard.
Pup Lifespan
11-12 years
Your pup, at a glance
What’s Life With This Pup Really Like?
Genuinely affectionate and a committed sofa dog once the work is done. The contrast between the animal on a trail and the one asleep against you is the character of every coonhound.
Good. Easygoing and tolerant with children a Bluetick is raised around, with the usual caution that a seventy-pound hound on a scent 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 matter, since finding and treeing them is precisely the job.
The highest here alongside the other coonhounds. A deep, ringing bawl bred to carry for miles, used freely, and untrainable away.
Very high. Bred to work hard through the night over rough country, and ninety minutes is a floor rather than a generous allowance.
Low to moderate. A short, hard coat that sheds steadily and is easy to live with.
Businesslike. They will play briefly and would far rather be following something. Scent games hold them where a ball never will.
Moderate. Some loose lip and real drool around food, though nothing like a Bloodhound.
Low, and independent by design rather than dim. They learn quickly and comply selectively, and a scent outranks every instruction they have ever been given.
Moderate. They will announce a visitor at considerable volume and then greet them warmly - the noise is the whole of it.
Very low for the coat, real for the ears. Weekly ear cleaning is the difference between a cheap breed to keep and a permanent vet bill.
The lowest here alongside the guardians. The voice and the nose together need land and distance, and neither is something an owner can train away.
Lifestyle fit
Could This Be Your Best Breed?
Bluetick Coonhounds need acreage, a fence they cannot go under, ninety minutes of hard exercise a day, and an owner who asks the breeder about the Krabbe disease test before anything else. Costs are modest at $1,700 to $2,800 a year over eleven or twelve years. Without acreage and a neighbor out of earshot, do not - and never plan on unclipping the leash.
Living Space
Rural, with acreage and a fence they cannot go under. Blueticks are easy company indoors and impossible to contain outdoors, and the voice alone rules out anywhere with neighbors in earshot - which is further than you would think.
Pup Experience
Not a first dog. Blueticks are friendly and uncomplicated at home, and they are also a cold-nosed trailing hound bred to work an hours-old scent alone through the dark. Recall is not something training fixes in this breed, and owners who assume otherwise lose them.
Daily Pup Time
Ninety minutes or more of hard exercise daily, on a long line or behind a fence, plus weekly ear cleaning that is genuinely not optional.
Allergies & Coat
The Bluetick Coonhound scores 4/10 for shedding and 5/10 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, ringing bawl bred to be located across a valley in the dark. It is used freely and it is not a training problem to solve.
A Cold Nose Means Hours
They can work a trail that is a day old. Once they start, they are committed, and they do not hear you at all.
Ask About Krabbe
A fatal inherited nerve disease documented in this breed, with a DNA test. Both parents' results, or a different breeder.
Recall Is Not Realistic
Off-leash in unfenced ground is how Blueticks get lost. A long line and a real fence are the honest answer.
Ears Need Weekly Care
Long drop ears trapping warmth and moisture. Weekly cleaning prevents infections that otherwise recur for life.
Not a Suburban Dog
The volume and the exercise load together make close neighbors unworkable. This is a rural breed and stays one.
The good, the bad & the hairy
Health, Care & Costs
Understanding the health risks and ongoing costs of a Bluetick Coonhound helps you plan for a happy, healthy life together.
11-12 years
$45-$70
per groom (bath, nails and ears), every 8-12 weeks - a short coat needs little ($200-$350/year)
$1,700-$2,800/year
all-in (food, routine vet, grooming, insurance, incidentals)
Health Risks
Conditions this breed is prone to.
An inherited enzyme deficiency that destroys the protective sheath around nerves. Puppies appear normal and then weaken and lose coordination in the first months, and it is fatal - there is no treatment. It is documented specifically in this breed, it is inherited simply, and there is a DNA test, so a puppy from two tested parents cannot be affected. Ask for those results first.
Long, heavy drop ears that seal in warmth and moisture, on a dog who works through wet undergrowth. Structural rather than inherited, and the most predictable recurring cost in the breed - weekly cleaning and thorough drying is genuine prevention.
The hip joint develops loosely, so the ball and socket grind instead of gliding. It leads to arthritis and, in severe cases, replacement surgery. 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 working straight after eating makes it likelier.
The lens clouds and vision goes with it. Surgery restores sight in most cases but runs into thousands per eye, and breeding stock should carry a current eye examination certificate.
Less a disease than the cost of the job - torn pads, cuts, ticks, pulled muscles and the occasional serious encounter with what they treed. Routine in a dog actually hunted, and worth budgeting for.
Insurance & Health Coverage
A hardy working breed, and the one condition that really matters here is not an insurance question at all.
Krabbe disease is fatal, appears in puppyhood, and has a reliable DNA test. It is congenital, so no policy will pay for it, and it is entirely avoidable by choosing a puppy from tested parents. A breeder who cannot produce those certificates is asking you to gamble on the worst outcome in the breed.
What cover is genuinely for is the ears, the joints and bloat. Ear infections start young and recur, which makes them the textbook exclusion once they are in the notes - and on a working hound that record builds fast. Bloat is emergency surgery in the thousands on a deep-chested dog, and joint surgery is in the same range.
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Care needs
The Daily Routine
Grooming
A short, glossy coat that needs a weekly going-over with a rubber mitt and nothing else. The ears are the real job - checked and cleaned weekly, dried thoroughly after any wet day out. Nails matter on a heavy working dog, and the feet want checking after rough ground.
Exercise
Ninety minutes or more daily, and it has to engage the nose. Long-line tracking, hiking over varied ground and scent work use the dog they actually are; a walk on pavement leaves the working half of them idle and noisy.
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 tall enough to clear a counter, so count what they take as well as what you give them.
Similar breeds
If This Isn’t Quite the One
American English Coonhound
The breed they were split from in 1946, and the difference is the whole point - the English is faster and hotter-nosed, built to run a fresh trail, where the Bluetick is slower and colder-nosed, built to unpick an old one. Similar voice, similar demands.
Black and Tan Coonhound
The heavier, more methodical American treeing hound, with more Bloodhound in the mix and a correspondingly better nose. Calmer indoors than the Bluetick and needing rather less exercise.