The Walker Hound

This article was originally published in Showsight Magazine, April 2013 issue.

The Walker Hound

It was in Madison County, Kentucky that three strains of Foxhounds had the foundations for this breed’s development: Goodman, Trigg, and Walker. In April 1894, seven men drew up the first American Foxhound Standard, among them were W.S. Walker, W.C. Goodman, and Col. Haiden C. Trigg.

It all began in Henrico County, Virginia, when Asaph Walker married a Watkins and moved to Madison County, Kentucky in 1785. His son John had four sons: W. Stephen, Edwin H.J., Wade, and Arch K. In the fall of 1857, another son, William, had a son, Jason, who imported two hounds, Rifler and Marth. Jason’s son, Col. Charles, and his nephew, William Walker Watts (Buck), took the first Walker foxhounds into Texas soon after the end of the war. The third son, James, married and had two daughters. After James’ death, the girls were raised by their guardian, a well-known hound man. The girls married brothers: Mary to George Washington Maupin and Nancy to his brother Daniel. It is this family, Maupin and Walker, who blended all of the hounds they raised, imported, and bought into what is today called the Walker hound. Daniel Maupin came from Virginia to Kentucky in 1784. Both men, Asaph and Daniel, brought with them their Virginia hounds, long-eared, deep-voiced, narrow-chested. Their colors were black-tan, red pied, black pied, and blue speckled.

When the red fox first crossed into Madison County, it required the fox hunters to look for new blood for crosses. On a November morning in 1852, Tom Harris caught a black-tan hound out of a deer chase in Tennessee. He knew there was a ready market for hounds with speed in Madison County, Kentucky. Wash Maupin, on November 20, bought the hound, and Tennessee Lead became the first hound to run a red fox to earth in Madison County. He became one of the foundation sires of Maupin, Walker, Goodman, and Trigg hounds.

Wash Maupin could not read or write, so he kept no records of his hounds; that task was left to the Walkers. Wash was a great businessman, and at his death, he was worth over $100,000 and owned broad acres of bluegrass and much land in the South.

Neither the Walkers nor Uncle Wash ever got to breed Lead to the imported hounds of ’57. Then the Civil War broke out, and no records were kept, and few hounds bred during this dark period. Three of Wash Maupin’s nephews—Neil Gooch, W.C. Terrill, and his brother, Dan, as well as his niece’s husband Arch Kavanaugh—were crossing Tennessee Lead and English daughters on Ben Robinson’s Maryland stock. This added more speed. Neil Gooch’s Spotted Top was by Couchman, a Maryland-English hound of Uncle Wash. Col. Trigg also bought no fewer than 20 hounds from Wash Maupin to cross on the Birdsongs from Georgia.

After the War, hound breeding picked up with the Walker brothers of Garrett County buying Spotted Top. In 1867, we begin to see a split of the two strains. Match races began, and in 1867, Uncle Wash and Ben Robinson met at Oil Springs in Clark County, Kentucky.

Side bets and envy produced prejudice that drew the line of breeding. Willis Goodman moved to Bourbon County to add the speed of the Maryland hounds, while the Walkers over in Garrard stayed with Uncle Wash and the English cross.

In 1891, the Walkers knew they had to outcross, and Col. Chinn was able to borrow or smuggle out of England three hounds through the Pinkerton Agency. These hounds came to Harrodsburg, Kentucky, and the Walker brothers. The three hounds were Imp. Striver, Relish, and Clara. They did not improve the hunting qualities but certainly improved conformation. Conformation was becoming important because of the addition of bench show classes to field trials.

The Walker hounds have more speed than any other breed of Foxhounds. Two men can be held responsible for the modern Walker hound: Edwin H. Walker (1843-1910) and Sam Wooldridge (1879-1946), both from Kentucky.