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Hounded for Life

Newbury

Breeders among few in state rearing bloodhounds

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By ANNE RUDERMAN
Monitor staff

April 19. 2004 7:31AM

"Beatrice," a bloodhound belonging to breeder Lisa Patch of Newbury, sleeps with her one-day-old puppies earlier this week. Some of Patch's dogs were donated to the New Hampshire State Police for rescue searches. April 13, 2004 (Concord Monitor photo/Preston Gannaway)

N
EWBURY - Altogether, the Patch family has 28 ears, 48 feet, 14 noses and untold amounts of drool. And most of it isn't human.

Beatrice, Trucker, Magoo, Daisy, Ruby, Zena, Zoro, Maggie, Simon and Belle are the Patches' collection of bloodhounds and Labrador retrievers, used to breed other dogs for pets, therapy, police work and show.

Lisa Patch donated two of her bloodhounds to the New Hampshire State Police. photo courtesy Lisa Patch

(Stephen and Andrew are their sons).

When they started out, the Patches knew the Labs, sweet short-haired dogs known for their docility, would be an easy sell, but the idea of breeding 100-pound bloodhounds was more of a gamble. Thirty-three baby bloodhounds later -- the latest 12 were born last Monday -- the Patches have quietly devoted themselves to an unusual breed. President Ann Legge of the Colonial Bloodhound Club said she knows of only two other bloodhound breeders in New Hampshire - and for good reason.

"They are hell to raise," Legge said. "They are very fragile and you can write off three weeks of your life dealing with the litter around the clock."

Legge added: "It's just not a breed for everybody: They're big, they're clumsy, they have to be fenced. But those of us who love them are addicted to them."

Investing $13,000 a year into their bloodhound breeding endeavor, Lisa and Brian Patch certainly qualify. In the summer, the dogs have an outdoor kennel and a wide yard; in the winter the Patches line their mudroom with 10 crates and turn the area into one great Labrador-bloodhound romp. And yes, the bloodhounds snore.

"They're so goofy, I could watch them for hours,"Lisa Patch said. "We'll be walking down the street and they'll stumble over their feet, their ears."

The Patches have passed on their bloodhound addiction to the Riva family of Lynn, Mass. The Rivas bought their first bloodhound, Thumper, two years ago and then returned to the Patches for another, Salem, last year.

Still, Marie Riva said her bloodhounds are in charge of her -- not the other way around -- and have a tendency to make up their own minds and follow their own wills.

"They're like a nose with a great big dog attached to it," Riva said. "What they're smelling is more important than what you're saying to them."

One of New Hampshire's only other bloodhound breeders, Chuck Meade of Bedford, said he actually tries to discourage most people from buying the dogs.

"They're such cute puppies but they grow into big unwieldy dogs,"Meade of American K9 Country in Amherst said. "If people are very particular about keeping a clean home at all times, it's not a very good breed for them. They'll sling their drool and it will end up on the ceiling."

The Patches began breeding dogs in 2000 after their boys, then 8 and 9, no longer needed close care.

"My great-grandmother raised German shepherds and used to go to dog shows," Lisa Patch said. "It was something I'd always wanted to do."

They've had to go far to get their pups. Trucker, the Patches' first bloodhound, came from North Carolina; his mate, Daisy, hails from the Derby Line, Vt., area, on the Canadian border. Other bloodhounds hail from Illinois and Alabama.

A week ago, 3-year-old Beatrice, a 98-pound dog, gave birth to 12 puppies in a marathon that began just after midnight and wrapped up 18 hours later. Starting at $750, the bloodhounds have all been spoken for, mainly as family pets, and will find new homes across several Eastern states.

Newborn bloodhounds are smaller than your average guinea pig. They are completely black, can't see or hear, and stay clustered together in a pack for warmth. Their existence consists of eating, falling asleep and then squirming over other puppies to eat again. A long way from barking, they make a constant mewing sound.

Some of the bloodhounds reared by the Patches already have several claims to fame.

Last year, the Patches donated two puppies, Dixie and Bo, to the New Hampshire State Police. They worked the state prison escape, trailing the prisoners' scent from the spot where they cut through the fence to where they were picked up in a car.

Once they also led the police to a drunk driver who ditched his car and tried to escape through the woods.

And last fall, Bo saved the life of a hunter who fell off his perch near Hanover and lay face-down in the woods for 13 hours, unable to call for help or reach his firearm to fire it off and let rescuers know where he was. Bo was given some of the hunter's clothing and was able to track his scent three-quarters of a mile through the woods to where the hunter was.

"They are the best tracking dog that there is," said Trooper Chris Rollston, who works with Dixie. "The reason you see them in prison movies is that they're considerably better than anything else."

When Dixie is not doing search-and-rescue work, however, she has a much different role.

"When she's not working she's my daughter's pet," Rollston said. "My daughter is 5 and she likes to dress her up in clothes. She puts on princess hats and gowns, and the dog just has this look on its face like, 'You've got to be kidding me.'"

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