FOXHOUND CONFORMATION CLINIC

MARCH 2001 ISSUE OF COVERTSIDE
Rank these hounds in your order of preference, then click here to see how our expert, Mason H. Lampton, MFH, Midland Fox Hounds (GA), judges them in the Crossbred ring. We've thrown you a curve this time, because the three hounds are dissimilar in type. Each hound represents one of the three ingredients that make up the Hardaway Crossbred. What follows is an important insight into the breeding philosophy of Ben Hardaway, arguably the most creative and successful American foxhound breeder of the latter half of the twentieth century. 

Mason Lampton writes: 
This article attempts to reveal the true north in breeding the Midland foxhounds that Ben H. Hardaway, III, has successfully maintained. The Hardaway philosophy hinges on hybrid vigor which is achieved in every organized breeding program of species as varied as chickens, cows and horses. The concept is to cross two families and then cross the get with a third line. This is beautifully articulated in the example of the Thoroughbred racehorse in Alexander Mackay-Smith's new book, Speed and the Thoroughbred. Hardaway originally used the English hound and the two American breeds, July and Penn-Marydel. After fifty years of breeding Hardaway has established the Midland hound as a strain that will replicate itself. The three lines now have evolved into the Hardaway strain, with outcrosses to the English and the July. We now have ten tail male lines and twelve tail female lines that trace back fifty years in the kennel. Periodically we have refreshed the lines by outcrossing with some new English line and July line. These outcrosses may have common ancestry with the Midland/Hardaway bloodlines which adds to the continuity of the pack. 

If you over-concentrate on producing a level pack, you will lose the brilliance of hybrid vigor that brings the superior cry, brains, speed, and nose. The dissimilarity of the types when crossed on one another evolve into magnificent hounds with overwhelming performance characteristics. 

The attributes that are key to the decision to breed a particular hound are keenness of nose, quality of voice, brains, biddability and, finally, conformation. (Voice is not a bark, but a screaming cry that is much a part of the July hound.) Hounds must exhibit these attributes to attain the opportunity to be bred. All of these attributes are measured by performance in the field under the pressure of hard running after coyote, gray fox, red fox and bobcats. The variety of the game necessitates a hound varying his method of hunting as one twists and turns in pursuit of the gray fox and the bobcat, while the red fox and coyote will use their speed to gain advantages. Hounds must learn to cast forward on a coyote and sweep an area for a bobcat. A distinction should be made between the different types of conformation these hounds represent and a fault of conformation. A fault must not be confused with a different type. You never want to perpetuate a fault. A type can be bred for its attributes and commingled with other types to fortify each other. 

Often we read that a level pack is the desire of all great breeding programs. If you concentrate on this maxim as a primary raison d'être, you will lose the brilliance of hybrid vigor that brings the superior cry, brains, speed, and nose. The dissimilarity of the types when crossed on one another evolve into magnificent hounds with overwhelming performance characteristics. For this reason we consider the levelness of the pack a nicety, but secondary to the pack maintaining the highest levels of performance with the characteristics of a family. 

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