Does anybody know a hound or a cross or a line of hounds that would have been real wolfhounds years ago? As an example I would say Hornet G x Midnight was a good foxhound cross that led to a lot of good foxhounds. What lines were producing good wolfhounds back 6, 7, 8 generations ago. I know they would have to be from the West but I'm not sure which breeders were selecting for those desirable traits that would give a hound the ability to run a Wolf with speed and endurance.

In the fifties my dad had a gyp called Hi Edna Mentzer who was out of Hi Dick(littermate to Ch Hi Doctor) and Ginger Dawson. She was the best wolfhound(and I mean real wolves not coyotes), I have ever seen. We had lots of gray wolves and Texas red wolves here in East Texas at that time and that is basically all we ran and we caught lots of them and I remember one night we ran one into a tin horn culvert and Old Edna, was about 8 yrs old at that time and didn't have many teeth and she went into that culvert and fought that wolf and the wolf got her by the front leg and wouldn't let go and she never whimpered, she just kept on fighting him and we got her by the back legs and pulled her and the wolf out and the other dogs got him then. Daddy bred her to a great Branham bred hound and produced the best running hounds I have ever known. One of them was advertised at stud for a long time in the Horn. Daddy sold him to a fellow named Burton Merrill in Cleburne Texas and he ran him at stud for a long time, his name was Hi Dock and he produced many very fine hounds that would run all night, give lots of mouth, no quit in them, the most game hounds I have ever known and they would definately kill a wolf. I like the Hi Dick/ Hi Doctor bred hounds better than any I have ever know. You may remember C V Salathael had Hi Mitch that was out of Hi Doctor back then also and he ran him in Oklahoma and I heard he was and did produce lots of good wolf hounds also. By the way, these hounds would put pressure on a red fox also. We had a gyp named Winnie that was a mate to Hi Dock and she was just as good as old Dock was and we used her for a strike and jump hound because she wouldn't run a gray(the grays in this country wouldn't run but 2 to 3 hrs before going up a tree so we didn't want to run them). Without a doubt the best hounds I have ever known, I would love to have some of them now!!!

I keep this picture on the desktop of my computer so I can look at it from time to time.

I would take a couple out of Hi Doctor just to try.

I have a picture of Hi Dock, and he looked identical to this dog, he even had the white jagged strip back on his back flank.

Thanks Don for all those memories and thoughts from yesterday.

Thanks Heath for this picture, now that is a nice looking hound, I don't care who you are.


True Grit,
Jonathan

Don you hit the nail on the head!!!!!!!!
The Hi Dick and Hi Doctor blood crossed on the Dawson blood produced some of the best wolf hounds ever.
The old Elder bred hounds of south west Oklahoma where with out a dought the best family of hounds I have ever been around.

This old line of hounds went back to
Hi Doctor and Hi Dick (litter mates)
Big Stride
Polly Ann Dawson
Scott Dawson
Bones
Sailor C
Chief Riley

Back in the late 40s and early 50s the men that bred the Elder hounds use Hi Mark, a son of Mark Twain Mark
and Cigarette, a son of Wolf Hill Troubadour on lots of there old Dawson bred females.

The Elder hounds I was around where nice big thick dogs that could take lots and lots of running, maybe not the fastes dogs you have ever seen but in an all night race they would get there share with any pack they were run with. One thing is for sure they hated every coyote they smelled and wanted to catch and kill every one of them.

Man I wish I could get my hands on some of them now.

HEATH......I SECOND THE COMMENTS ABOVE.. I ALSO EXPERIENCE THE HI DOCTOR HOUNDS. MY FATHER HAD A MALE THAT HE WON MANY TROPHIES WITH. MY CHOICE AND KNOWLEDGE TRAVELING MANY STATES IN THE SOUTH, WOULD BE HI MITCH. I NEVER HEARD ANYONE THAT HEARD HIM RUN THAT DID NOT COMPLIMENT HIS LOOKS AND SPEED TO CATCH A WOLF. I BOUGHT A MALE OUT OF A HI MITCH FEMALE; HI BREEZE. MANY WOLF HUNTERS SAID SHE WAS THE BEST WOLF HOUND IN HER DAY IN THE STATE OF OKLA. THIS HOUND WON THE WESTERN DERBY AND IT TOOK ME 10 MONTHS BEFORE I COULD TALK THE OWNER INTO SELLING HIM TO ME. I WON ANOTHER HUNTWITH HIM BEFORE HE GOT CRIPPLED UP. I WOULD HAVE TO SAY, BUGGAR J. HAD ONE OF THE BEST NOSES AND MOUTHS OF ANY MALE I OWNED, HE WAS ADVERTISED LATER AT STUD.

Larry I got to know Veral Salatheal when I was around 12 years old and talked to him many times befor he passed on.

It seemed like we always got around to Hi Mitch. Veral said he was by far the best hound he ever owned, and that was backed up by everone that heard him run.

When Dad and I first got some registerd dogs the Hi Mitch blood was highly prized and hard to get.

I sure wish I could have heard him run just one time.

MR. HARRIS, I TOO HAVE BEEN TO MR. VERAL SALATHEAL'S KENNEL, AND SEEN HIM AT HUNTS IN OKLA. THE LAST TIME I VISITED WITH HIM, I DROVE MY FRIEND TO HIS PLACE TO LOOK AT THE LAST HOUND HE ADVERTISED; HI-MITCH SAM. MY FRIEND BOUGHT HIM AND BROUGHT HIM BACK TO MISSISSIPPI. AT THAT TIME, COYOTES HAD BEGAN TO ENTER MS. AND HE WANTED A BLOODLINE TO CROSS ON HIS LIQUOR BLOOD. THIS WAS A GOOD DECISION, AS, SOME GOOD HOUNDS CAME FROM THIS VISIT TO OKLA.