This Month in Covertside

FOXHOUND CONFORMATION CLINIC RESULTS

Issue of Covertside: March 2001

FIRST: Import Import is a grand example of a type to represent the Hardaway hound. He is a magnificent hound in the field with a low nose, good cry, and fox sense. In addition, he is magnificent in conformation which was confirmed by the award of Grand Champion of the 1998 Virginia Foxhound Show. His bloodline is 33% American and 67% English. From this picture, one can see that he has a lovely top line, sloping shoulder, well let-down hock, good feet, happy stern, deep keel, and intelligent head and eye. His pedigree is a textbook example of crossing English with July, as represented by Warrior and Stoney's Wildfire, and with Penn-Marydel as represented by Dawson and Dauntless.	SECOND: Justice Justice represents the July influence, though he, too, is a Crossbred with a common grandmother with Import. His mother is pure July and his sire is a classic Hardaway crossbred, 51% English with some Penn-Marydel. He obviously is more American by his conformation. He is a lovely hound for balance with a let-down hock, and speed. He is much lighter in build which belies his inherent toughness. His temperament is much more sensitive than that of Fitzroy which necessitates a softer hand when he is handled by the staff. Justice has an incredible nose and great cry, two very fine attributes of the July line. He has great biddability due to his sire, Stinger. July, his mother, has no pack experience. She was raised for night hunting.		THIRD: Fitzroy Fitzroy very much represents the English outcross. He is a Crossbred with Hardaway lineage from his paternal grandfather, yet he is mostly English. His grandfather was Hardaway (52% English) given by Ben Hardaway to Cottesmore. The rest of his gene pool is English. His conformation is much heavier than Import's though still good. His top line is less brilliant than Import but still sound. He is balanced with a good hock, but his bottom line appears too flat. Fitzroy has tremendous intelligence, fox sense and cry. He is more raw-boned than Import giving him somewhat of a coarseness that Import does not have.
These three hounds represent the three lines that we have used to perpetuate the Hardaway Crossbred - the English, the July and the ideal Hardaway Crossbred. Each hound represents a leg of the hybrid breeding program. We will breed each of these to his opposite to bring the English and July more to the mean of Import as the representative type for the Crossbred Hardaway hound. We will breed Fitzroy more to the July influence to gain the thrilling voice of the July plus the delicate fox nose. Justice will be bred to an English type to gain bone and conformation more in vogue with today's judges' ideal. Import's pedigree is shown here: