KENAI
Bluetick Coonhound

The breeds · tree dog · coonhound

AKC Hound · UKC Scenthound

Bluetick Coonhound.

UKC: speedy, well-muscled scenthound; 'active, ambitious and speedy on the trail', a free tonguer. AKC standard: same build and 'active, ambitious and speedy on the trail'. Showsight (2022): a cold-nosed breed; the larger, slower cold-nosed hounds of the English Coonhound were selected to found the Bluetick. NBCA: the AKC parent club posts the AKC standard as its official standard. Showsight (Grooms, 2011): big-game hunters wanted 'a more resolute (maybe slower) and colder-nosed dog'; Blueticks were mainly used to put food on the table or hunt for hides..

Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.

0INHeightdogs null, bitches null. An ideal from the standard, not a range.
45–80LBWeight, all linesbreed dogs 55 to 80 lb; breed bitches 45 to 65 lb.

The body

What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.

Height at the shoulder

dogs 22 to 27 in · bitches 21 to 25 in

Breed clubAKC breed standard

AKC and UKC agree.

Weight

dogs 55 to 80 lb · bitches 45 to 65 lb

Breed clubAKC breed standard

AKC and UKC agree.

Coat

UKC: medium coarse, lying close to the body, smooth and glossy; not too rough or too short. AKC: medium coarse, lying close, smooth and glossy; not rough or too short. Color (both): dark blue, thickly mottled body with black spots on back, ears and sides; more blue than black; head and ears predominantly black; with or without tan over eyes, cheeks, chest and under tail and red ticking on feet and lower legs; more blue ticking than white. UKC: any other color or albinism disqualifies.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

UKC and AKC Coat and Color. Standards agree.

Shedding

Shedding 3 of 5 (AKC breed page trait score)

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Heat tolerance

4 of 5 · Medium coarse, close-lying, smooth glossy coat; not too short (UKC, AKC standards).

DerivedUnited Kennel Club

Derived from the standard's coat description (short, smooth, dense = 4). No measured data.

The dog at home

What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.

Energy

AKC breed page trait scores (1-5): Energy Level 4; Mental Stimulation Needs 3; Playfulness 3; Trainability 4; Barking Level 4; Adaptability 3; Affectionate With Family 3; Good With Other Dogs 5; Good With Young Children 3; Openness To Strangers 3. Vetstreet: needs plenty of companionship and activity.

Breed clubAKC

AKC bands are the registry's own scoring, not C-BARQ. Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Grooming load

2 of 5

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Grooming

AKC breed page: Coat Grooming Frequency 2 of 5; Shedding Level 3. Vetstreet: weekly brushing with a hound mitt or rubber curry.

Breed clubAKC

Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

The work

What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.

Role

UKC: speedy, well-muscled scenthound; 'active, ambitious and speedy on the trail', a free tonguer. AKC standard: same build and 'active, ambitious and speedy on the trail'. Showsight (2022): a cold-nosed breed; the larger, slower cold-nosed hounds of the English Coonhound were selected to found the Bluetick. NBCA: the AKC parent club posts the AKC standard as its official standard. Showsight (Grooms, 2011): big-game hunters wanted 'a more resolute (maybe slower) and colder-nosed dog'; Blueticks were mainly used to put food on the table or hunt for hides.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

UKC and AKC Characteristics; Showsight and the NBCA page are non-registry. Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Primary game

Raccoon (UKC coonhound events and AKC Raccoon Hound Events are scored on raccoon). Vetstreet: coonhound that trails and trees raccoons. AKC Expert Advice (2026): when it picks up the scent of a raccoon, Blueticks can be selective, some preferring to track and others to chase it up a tree.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2023

Neither standard names a quarry; raccoon rests on the event rules and editorial. Showsight (Grooms) says big-game hunters bred for cold-nosed dogs. Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Also used on

Showsight (Grooms, 2011): big-game hunters wanted a hound that could run a cold track, several days or weeks old, and come up with the game at the end; George Washington probably used the French foundation hounds for small game in packs. UKC History: French hounds in the ancestry 'were used for hunting big game' and were very cold nosed. AKC Expert Advice: bent on following day-old scent trails.

EditorialCynthia Grooms, 2011

No source names a modern big-game species for the Bluetick. Single editorial thread; UKC History is the only registry mention (of the ancestors). Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Range

UKC: 'speedy', 'ambitious'; Showsight (2022) describes the cold-nosed breeds as slower, deliberate on aged tracks. No source gives a distance or close/medium/big class.

EditorialUnited Kennel Club

Not sourced as a range class; left as descriptive text only. Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Search pattern

UKC: 'a free tonguer on trail, with a bawl, squall, chop or bugle voice when striking and trailing, with a distinct changeover on tree of bawling, chopping, or combination of both.' AKC: 'a free tonguer on trail, with a medium bawl or bugle voice when striking and trailing, which may change to a steady chop when running and a steady coarse chop at the tree.' Showsight (2022): 'an open trailer with a bawl voice on track that changes over to a steady chop on tree.' Vetstreet: 'big bawl mouth', a cold-nosed dog good at following an old trail; its bark on the trail is a bawl. Cold-nosed (Showsight, Vetstreet, AKC Expert Advice): works older, fainter scent; the hot-nosed breeds favor fresh tracks.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

UKC and AKC Characteristics quoted. All sources agree on an open (voiced) trailer with a bawl on track and a chop at tree; UKC allows a wider voice list than AKC. Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Field trial standard

UKC (2023 Coonhound Rulebook, Nite Hunt Honor Rules): strike points 100/75/50/25 and tree points 125/75/50/25 in order of call; a dog must open and be heard opening when declared struck or treed, and a dog not opening on trail must be declared struck before a tree call counts; points are plus only when a raccoon is seen at the tree during shining time; babbling (opens three times or is struck where no track is evident) is minused; scratched at 400 minus points, for fighting, or for failing to attempt to hunt within any 15 consecutive scorecard minutes. UKC field trial: heats of up to four dogs on a laid scent drag to a caged raccoon or hide up a tree, Line and Tree winners advance to finals (5 points per heat win, 10 for Grand Final Line, 15 for Grand Final Tree). UKC bench show is judged on the breed standard; spayed and neutered dogs may compete in all UKC licensed coonhound events. Showsight (2022): a cast is up to four dogs; AKC nite hunts run 60, 90 or 120 minutes; AKC coonhound field trial heats give 15 minutes to work the track and come treed. Breed voice for calling: UKC allows bawl, squall, chop or bugle on strike and a distinct changeover at the tree.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2023

UKC rulebook read in full text (pdftotext) Oct 8 2026; Showsight read through the Internet Archive copy. AKC Raccoon Hound Event regulations themselves were not reachable (akc.org/sports/coonhound-events returned 404); the AKC points come from the Showsight article only. Editorial views are shown beside the standard, labelled; where they disagree both stand (Chad, Oct 8 2026).

Cold water

2 of 5 · Medium coarse, close-lying coat, no undercoat described (UKC, AKC standards).

DerivedUnited Kennel Club

Derived: short single coat, no undercoat described in either standard (scale 1-5). No measured data.

How common the problems are

Evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock; the numbers are still the best there are.

Hip dysplasia

17% · OFA: 17.0% dysplastic (mild 13.6, moderate 2.0, severe 1.4), n = 147 evaluations, current all-data, accessed Oct 8 2026. Normal 81.0% (excellent 15.6, good 52.4, fair 12.9).

MeasuredOrthopedic Foundation for Animals

OFA data service. Breeding-stock skew applies: OFA evaluations are submitted by breeders and owners, so the figure underestimates the whole population. n is small (147); no elbow row published.

More

akc bands

AKC breed page trait scores (1-5): Energy Level 4; Mental Stimulation Needs 3; Trainability Level 4; Barking Level 4; Watchdog/Protective Nature 2; Good With Young Children 3; Openness To Strangers 3; Good With Other Dogs 5; Shedding Level 3; Coat Grooming Frequency 2; Drooling Level 2; Affectionate With Family 3; Playfulness Level 3; Adaptability Level 3.

Breed clubAKC

Fourteen AKC bands in one row; the selector reads each by name. Breed-club ratings: a tendency, never a measurement.

No KENAI kennel lists the Bluetick Coonhound yet. If you breed them, list your kennel free: it shows on this page and in the hunting dog breed finder, under every handler whose answers land on the breed.

How to read this page

Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.

Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 6 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called
Bluetick, Blue Tick, Bluetick Hound

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