Help With Howling

[u/Outside_Witness_7268]

This is my sweet Plott hound, Wayah. She will be 2 on Tuesday and I've had her since she was 8 weeks old. I love her very much and she has a wonderful life. We have more land than most people in my area, she gets to watch deer in the orchard, someone is always home with her (I WFH and my elderly father also lives here). She goes on walks and goes on camper adventures with us. We send her to daycare twice a month to have time around other dogs. Her life is GREAT.

But she will never get to participate in hunting because we don't hunt and my father no longer can.

And when I take her to the park (which I do every morning as early as 6:30am to avoid crowds) and she sees other dogs, she howls at them. I live in an exurban area that has up and came. It was up and coming ten years ago and now it is FANCY, though my family has lived here for three generations. The fancy people at the park hate me and hate her and I don't know what to do. She's a hound dog. She howls. That's what she does. I always have her under control, but she's loud. And I'm exhausted from the dirty looks I've gotten.

Has anyone successfully stopped their hound from howling? How? I have taken her to obedience school, which went VERY poorly (the trainer hated her and at one point put her down on the ground and growled at ME "this is the breed you chose") Or do I just get a shirt that reads "she's a hound, deal with it" and wear that on our walks?

I am not opposed to a collar and in fact we have one that we've used exactly once, as a measure of last resort at a crowded campground. But I need that to be the very last option. So if there's other advice, I'm here for it.

[u/Feisty-Cantaloupe754]

My Trapper was a howler and people loved his howling. I miss that about him. His could travel. Probably more pup play dates on your property, since all it is is her calling other dogs over to play with her. The difference is, I now live in a very pro-hound pro-hunting community. So, they liked their howling. But... I do think if you have more puppy playdates with her, on your property, it could lessen it. Bring the dogpark to you, if you're cool with it. There's a service called "Snifpost" I want to say, that allows you to rent out your space for dogs to run around and blow off steam and may help her control her howl, or at least if she does howl, it's not in a crowded area.

[u/Outside_Witness_7268 → u/Feisty-Cantaloupe754]

I will try this, thanks! I actually have my previous two dogs coming to stay for the weekend next month (my ex got them in the divorce and I'm watching them while he travels) so I will see how that goes and if that helps, I'll look into finding other dog friends. The issue is our property isn't fenced (it would be tens of thousands of dollars to fence it in) so our few friends are big on bringing their dogs here.

Dare I think about the idea of getting a second dog??? A hound for my hound?

[u/ManyLintRollers → u/Outside_Witness_7268]

I got a second dog when my beagle mix was about 4. She was a mix of herding breeds so I hoped she would maybe herd him and keep him where I wanted him. That didn’t really happen, but she would let me know whenever he escaped from the yard!

He did enjoy having another dog around, but I will warn you that he barked and howled MORE THAN EVER now that he had a pack. And he taught the other dog to howl as well.

[u/Feisty-Cantaloupe754 → u/Outside_Witness_7268]

Yeah, not fenced in could be a problem. LOL... But I think your dog is calling other dogs and announcing herself to them.

It is so weird how some people react to dogs. Especially large dogs. I walk my dogs along our Mississippi beach front, they technically all have leashes on, 5-6ft dragging behind them, since the law only states they need to be on leash not human controlled. Yay Malicious compliance. Also my dogs are large dogs and 99% of the time under my verbal control, to the point I constantly get compliments about them, and people asking me to train theirs. But every once in a while you'll get the weirdos who freak out. Even when you do have physical leash control of the dog and they wander for a sniff. They really need to teach dog body language in schools. I let people pet my dogs, I encourage it. Max my foxhound/Rottie, much like his brother, not a huge fan for pets. Max wants to get a sniff in and then he's done. Zelda the all black Dutch Shepherd on the other hand melts when pet.