Otterhound breed guide

As large and strong as Otterhounds are, they may be very sensitive. AKC advises positive, reward-based training and praise and says that like people Otterhounds love to hear how excellent and talented they are when they master something.

Patience helps and food usually works well in training.

Otterhounds live 10 to 13 years. AKC calls them healthy for a large breed. Breeders screen for epilepsy and hip dysplasia, though even dogs with moderate hip dysplasia on radiographs may move very well their whole lives.

Like all large dogs, Otterhounds may get bloat, so owners should learn the signs and the action to take.

Otterhound coats should be shown as naturally as possible but need brushing once or twice a week, depending on length and texture, with a good slicker brush and medium comb. The beard may need cleaning at the same time, since the dogs tend to drag it on the ground and store snacks in it.

Otterhounds need mental as well as physical exercise. A large, securely fenced yard is a good beginning, but some hounds will lie under a tree in a fenced acre and not exercise themselves, so long walks to sniff the world, obedience classes, tracking and agility help.

In medieval England a huge otter population preyed on fish in rivers and stocked ponds and packs of Otterhounds were kept by country squires and even kings to protect that food source.

As a sport otter hunting was never as popular as the gentry's foxhunts, but it helped fill the spring and summer months. Otterhound packs were so good at their work that river otters nearly went extinct and hunting them was outlawed.