Area SPCA shelter wants to hound you

They’ve lent their name to a song, a film, a guitar and even a guided nuclear missile and now they’re overpopulating the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA.

Hound dogs — beagles, harriers and foxhounds — are the Snoopys, Droopys and Huckleberrys of the canine world. They’re also the predominate breed populating the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ Berkmar Drive headquarters and they’re on sale.

$25 will buy friendship

“April is hound month and we’re adopting them out at $25 per dog,” said Suzanne Kogut, the SPCA shelter’s top dog. “About 50 percent of our dogs in the shelter are hounds. We always seem to have a lot of them and they often are the ones who stay the longest. We’re hoping to encourage people to take a look at them.”

They’re also the best dogs in the world. If more people were nothing but hound dogs, the world would howl more and bite less.

“They’re great companions,” Ms. Kogut enthused. “They tend to love people, they love packs so they tend to get along with other dogs and animals and that also makes them very loyal. Most of all, they love to lay on the couch and relax.”

One reason so many hounds are at the shelter is the shelter’s location in hunt country. Hunters often hold hounds for ferreting out rabbits, squirrels and even deer.

Another reason may be simple prejudice, Ms. Kogut suggested. She noted there are a disproportionate number of hounds and black cats at the shelter.

Consider Leland. An older pup that enjoys food and lounging, Leland likes walks, hugs and snuggling. The foxhound-mix is so well behaved that he recently attended the daylong Quadruplicity conference, held at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel and attended by more than 200 businesswomen and men.

“He was a hit. Everyone loved him,” Ms. Kogut said.

No one, however, adopted him.

“Golden retriever or Labradors, even the not-so-well behaved, are often adopted within days or hours, but a calm and well-behaved hound may wait months to find a new home,” she said. “The great thing about animals is they love us unconditionally, no matter what we look like, and maybe it is time for us to offer back that same unconditional love.”

Love in all shapes, sizes

Like love, hounds come in all shapes and sizes.

“We’ve got Plott hounds, we’ve got treeing Walker coonhounds and Basset hounds. We’ve got hound mixes and most of them are very sweet,” Ms. Kogut said. “People think of hound dogs as always running, but if you bring them into your home and take them out on a leash, they’re not as much trouble as their reputation would suggest.”

Although there are puppies in the shelter, most of the hounds are adults. That means they’ve passed the chewing, potty training and assorted other joyous phases of puppydom.

“We have some that are surrendered by owners, but most are strays. We don’t really know where they came from, and they’re not talking,” Ms. Kogut joked. “I think they’re hunting dog dropouts that are hunting for couches and dog beds.”