Trigg Hound 

When the dogs arrived a lot of us went down to Col. Trigg's to inspect his new dogs, and a more disgusted lot of foxhunters never met. They were racy built, crop ears, rough coated, bushy tails and chop mouthed and looked unlike any fox hound any of us had ever seen, and the general impression was that Col. Trigg had picked up a "Gold Brick."

A   few days after the dogs arrived Col. Trigg invited several of us to the Baird Knobs where a red fox had been seen, and asked that we bring our packs along. We struck a running trail at once and soon had the fox up and going. The fox went over the knobs and out of hearing, and when they returned our potlicker pack was nowhere to be heard, and we were as much surprised at the performance of the Birdsong dogs, as we were disgusted at their first appearance.
There is an impression in some localities that the Trigg dogs were inbred to the extent that it somewhat affected their stamina as well as their scenting qualities and "fox sense." As I will show before I conclude, it was wholly erroneous, as Col. Trigg was a very careful breeder, especially with an outcross.

Col  Trigg was a man of remarkably fine judgment, was a fine judge of a fox hound and bred his dogs with the utmost care and never selected the progeny of any outcross for breeding purposes until they were thoroughly tested and proved to be first class for endurance, scenting, speed and fox sense.

The Trigg dog was usually black and tan, that is, black saddle, tan sides and white tips and white about breast and neck, was twenty-four inches high, large around the heart with flag tails carried gracefully over the back, and while this color predominated there were as good dogs of all colors.

In 1867 when Col. Trigg determined to establish a breed of fox hounds superior to any then in existence, and from that time up to 1900 he had in his Kennels the following dogs and their progeny of the pure Birdsong-Maupin Walker and other strains: Of the Birdsongs he had Chase, Bee, George, Lightfoot, Delta, Rip, Fannie, Lee, Forrest, Emma, Hampton, Ward, Rose and Emma Sampson.

Of the Maupin strain he had Minnie, Mat tie, Lead, Crouchman, Bob, Dick, Milton, Blucher Mac, Raiby, Tip, Waxer, One-eyed King, Haifers Dick, Rock, Venus, Mercy, Lee and Brenda. Of the Walker dogs he had Buckner, Scott, Trooper and others.

Col  Trigg did not own all of these dogs. Some were loaned him for breeding purposes by Gen. Wash Maupin, Col. J. C. Walker, W. S. and Ed Walker, W. L. Waddy, Thos. Ford and others, and later he procured from Judge Malone of Nashville, Tenn., "Foot" and from Judge Gaston of Alabama, "Turner" by Mack out of White Mary, and from Mr. Varner of Arkansas, "Yorick" by Imp. Harbiner, and from E. T. Halsey of Louisville, Ky., "Portland", from the Quorn Kennels of England, and Elijah Kincheloe brought with him from East Tennessee "Crowner" and "Tennessee Lucian" that he claimed was of the "Tennessee Lead" stock, which may be doubtful, yet they were both first class red fox dogs.

Col. Trigg's judicious breeding and crossing the best of these dogs produced a wonderful breed of red fox dog, for the rough country, superior to any. It was not Col. Trigg's purpose to continue to breed a July strain, but to cross the July upon the best of the other breeds, such as the Maupin, Walker and others mentioned for the purpose of producing the very best red fox dog possible, and to establish a breed or strain of his own, and he never claimed that the "Trigg" dog was a pure July or Birdsong. As a result of his judicious crossing Col. Trigg's breed of red fox does, inferior to none, produce such famous dogs as "Hodo" that won the all age and Champion Stakes at the National Fox Hunters meet at Bowling Green, Ky., in 1902, and Hindoo, Rattler, (Dick's Dog), Hornet, Lou and others, and last, tho not least, Scout, that won the futurity in 1921--tho Scout was only half bred Trigg, he was a Walker dog.

Col.  Trigg was tall, rather frail in health, without an ounce of surplus flesh. He was a man of comparative leisure, and fox hunting and breeding of foxhounds was his occupation, and for endurance I never knew his equal.

I hunted with Col. Trigg from the time he got the Birdsong dogs until his death, and kept a modest pack of my own, and a chase of four or five hours, (we usually hunted at night), satisfied me, especially if it was sharp and spirited. Not so with Col. Trigg. If coming home after mid-night of a cold, raw night a dog struck a trail, no matter how cold, the Colonel would stop and say: "Boys, it will never do to leave that dog," until sometimes I would hate to hear a dog strike in the after part of the night, especially if was dark, cold and raw and the ground freezing.

I    have hunted with many men in my day, and for hospitality, endurance, dog sense and fox sense I have never seen Col. Trigg's superior, nor equal, unless it was Paul Rainer, who visited Col. Trigg before he went to South Africa, and, after hunting with us for two weeks, he purchased twenty-five of the Trigg dogs and carried them with him to Africa, and, upon his return, said the Trigg dog was the best on earth for courage, endurance and scenting qualities.

Col. Trigg, in 1867, when he purchased the Birdsong dogs, established the "Full Cry Kennel", (nearly sixty years ago), and the kennel is still maintained by his son Alanson Trigg, and Paul Greer, who have kept the, strain intact except an occasional outcross.

I could have named many other noted dogs of the Trigg strain equally as great as .the ones named, but I started out to give a true history of the "Trigg Dog", and in doing so have already extended this paper beyond what I contemplated at the start.

Height    23-25 In.

Group   Hound

Weight 50-70 Lbs.

Coat  Short; Soft, Fine, And Glossy

Color    Tri-Colored; Bi-Colors Are Allowed

Faults    Any  departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.

Note *  Male animals should  have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum

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