Bluetick Coonhound Grooming

About the Bluetick Coonhound

The coat could hardly be simpler: short, glossy, close lying and dense, needing a rubber curry mitt once a week and nothing cut, ever.

Two things make this page worth writing anyway, and both are things owners ask about constantly.

The first is the ears. A Bluetick has very long, thin, low set ears that hang well below the jaw, and on a working dog that runs through cover and water they are a genuine problem: they drag through everything, they seal the canal, and they get torn.

The second is the smell. Coonhounds have a real, characteristic hound odor that comes from skin oils rather than dirt, and washing more often makes it worse rather than better. That surprises people and it is worth explaining properly.

The ears, which are the whole job

The ears are long, thin, low set and heavy, hanging well below the jawline, and they are the reason this breed needs attention at all.

They lie flat over the canal, so air does not circulate and the ear stays warm and damp. On a dog that swims, trails through wet undergrowth and puts its head into things, that is the standard recipe for ear disease and coonhounds get a lot of it.

Lift both ears weekly, look and smell. Healthy smells of nothing. Yeast is sweet and musty and unmistakable once you have met it.

Dry the ears after every swim, bath and wet walk. That single habit prevents most of the trouble.

Keep the hair around the opening short, though there is not much of it on a coat this short.

The other ear problem is physical damage. Ears that long get stepped on, caught in undergrowth and torn, and they bleed dramatically because the leather is thin and well supplied with blood. Check them over after every outing in cover.

Head shaking, scratching an ear, a tilt, redness or dark discharge means a veterinarian rather than a cleaner. Cleaning an infected ear without treating it does not work.

The hound smell, and why bathing makes it worse

Coonhounds have a distinctive musky odor. It is not dirt, it is not a health problem, and it is not something a good owner has failed to prevent.

It comes from the natural oils the skin produces, which in scent hounds are more abundant than in many breeds and which sit in a dense short coat. There is a reasonable argument that it was selected for alongside the scenting work rather than despite it.

The instinct is to bathe more often, and that is the wrong move. Shampoo strips the oils, the skin responds by producing more, and the dog ends up oilier and stronger smelling than before, sometimes with dry irritated skin as well.

Bathe every six to eight weeks with a plain gentle shampoo, and use a rubber curry mitt weekly, which lifts dead hair and distributes the oils rather than removing them.

What genuinely helps between baths: wipe the ears and the folds around the mouth, keep the bedding washed, and dry the dog properly after water.

A sudden change in smell is different and is worth investigating. Ears, teeth, skin infection and anal glands are the usual sources, and all four need a veterinarian rather than a bath.

The coat, in about ten minutes

Short, dense and glossy, lying flat, with the mottled blue ticking that gives the breed its name. There is almost no undercoat.

Go over the dog once a week with a rubber curry mitt or a hound glove, working against the lie of the coat and then with it. It lifts the dead hair and spreads the skin oils that give the coat its shine.

Blueticks shed moderately and steadily rather than seasonally, and the short stiff hairs work into upholstery, so the weekly currying is the only thing that really reduces it.

There is no clipping, trimming or styling on this breed at all, beyond nails and keeping the pads clear.

Check the skin while you curry. A working hound collects scratches, ticks and grass seeds, and a short coat hides nothing, so there is no excuse for missing them.

Nails every three to four weeks. A hound that is not running daily does not wear them down, and long nails change how a big dog stands.

Feet want checking after work in cover, particularly between the toes.

A working hound, and the rest

Blueticks are athletic, driven, loud scent hounds bred to trail for hours and tree raccoons, and many are working or hunting dogs rather than house pets.

For grooming that means the dog may arrive muddy, tired and covered in things it picked up, and that a check over matters more than the brushing.

Deep chested, so bloat is a real risk: no large meal around an appointment, and unproductive retching with a swollen abdomen is an emergency.

They are generally easy to handle, being sociable and even tempered, but they are strong and they are noisy, and a hound that starts baying in a salon is memorable for everyone.

Weight is worth watching in a house dog, since a hound bred to work all day and then kept as a pet gains easily.

Ears, teeth and nails are the whole routine besides the weekly mitt.

Check the elbows and hips for calluses if the dog sleeps on hard surfaces, which working dogs often do.

What to tell your groomer

Ask for a bath, a curry, nails, ears and a skin check. There is no haircut on this breed.

Say the ears are the priority: dried thoroughly, checked and smelled, and looked over for tears.

Say the hound smell is normal and not to be treated with extra washing or perfumed products, which make it worse.

Ask for a plain unscented shampoo and no finishing spray.

Ask them to check between the toes and over the skin for ticks and grass seeds, especially on a working dog.

Say not to feed the dog around the appointment because of bloat risk.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Bluetick Coonhound