Lab Hound Mix Breed Review: Contents
Are you thinking of welcoming a hound dog Lab mix into your home?
Appearance
Lab hound mixes can vary greatly in size depending on the type of hound giving their DNA to the mix. Labradors are medium-to-large dogs measuring 21.5 to 22.5 inches tall and weighing between 55 and 80 pounds.
For example, if a Labrador is mixed with a Basset hound, a breed that rarely reaches 15 inches tall, they will be a lot shorter and stockier than a Lab.
On the other hand, if a Lab is mixed with a big bloodhound that can weigh up to 120 pounds and reach 28 inches in height, then you can expect a much taller and overall larger dog.
Alternatively, if the hound parent is a greyhound, you can expect another tall dog since they usually measure between 27 and 30 inches tall. However, you can expect the normally muscular body of the Lab to thin out since greyhounds are such slender dogs.
The appearance of a Lab hound is also often difficult to predict, but there are a few qualities you can expect regardless of the hound parent breed. Lab hound mixes usually have the face of a Labrador retriever mixed with the long ears of a scent hound. Most breeds of scent hounds have long ears to trap smells for tracking.
They might have more skin than usual and look a bit droopy like their bloodhound or Basset hound parent. But if the dog is part greyhound, you can expect them to have a more pointy face with no excess skin.
While Labradors tend to have a double coat that is short but thick, hounds typically have a single short coat. This means while Labrador retrievers shed a lot year-round, hounds tend to shed seasonally only, and their coat can easily be maintained with occasional brushing. Which of these two coat styles your dog will inherit is a bit of a gamble, though.
So, while you might be thinking of a Lab hound mix as a hypoallergenic alternative to a Lab, just be aware that you might strikeout in the genetic pool and end up with a pup with a high-shedding coat. Breeders do try to control this, but pups don’t always cooperate.
Lab hound pups will very often inherit the full-colored coat of their Lab parent, which could be black, chocolate, or yellow. But if their hound parent has a patterned coat, like the tri-color coats common among Basset hounds, their mixed-breed pups can have the same color or pattern.
Temperament
It might be fair to say that with a Lab hound mix, you can expect a dog with the personality of a Lab with their size, coat, and appearance to be more influenced by their hound parent. The same can be said when it comes to temperament; you generally will get a Lab with hound-like characteristics mixed in.
Labrador retrievers are highly intelligent dogs that can learn new tasks quickly and easily figure out what is wanted from them in new situations. Hounds are generally a bit less intelligent and intuitive, but they are just as capable of adapting and learning with the right training.
However, while Labs are very reward-driven and eager to please, hounds tend to be more independent and not overly concerned with pleasing humans.
This can make them a little bit stubborn and harder to train. It’s not that they don’t know what you want; they just might not want to give it to you. This is why some people say hounds are impossible to train.
Hound Lab mixes will be somewhere on the spectrum between highly trainable and incredibly stubborn, but it is impossible to predict which it will be until they have grown up a bit past the puppy stage.
Both Labradors and hounds tend to be very friendly dogs that love to play and prefer to make friends with small people and animals rather than chase them. This means they make terrible guard dogs, but they are excellent family pets.
While neither breed of dog tends to bark excessively and will only raise their voice to communicate with you, Hounds can have a tendency to bay or howl, which is a type of barking that many people find very annoying. Thankfully, they can be trained not to do this at inappropriate times.
Labradors are high-energy dogs. Hounds have a fair amount of energy, too, but they’re generally less active than Labs. If your Lab mix was bred with a small hound, you can expect them to not need much exercise, but if they are mixed with a larger breed like a bloodhound or a greyhound, they might need a bit more.
Any Lab hound mix will need at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, and larger mixes could need two to three times that amount.
The Lab hound’s high energy means they also don’t adapt well to apartment living and do best when they have a bit of outdoor space to call their own and can burn off energy throughout the day.
Their high energy levels also mean larger Lab hound mixes don’t mix well with younger children, even though they love them! Their energy can often be too overwhelming for both young children and new parents. However, older kids will probably enjoy the liveliness of the dog and helping to look after them.
Labs and hounds are both quite needy when it comes to human love and attention. They aren’t the types of dogs you can leave at home for ten hours a day while everyone is at work or school.
They tend to easily develop separation anxiety, which can manifest in destructive behavior like chewing and scratching furniture. Plus, since hounds have such a sharp sense of smell when they’re bored or frustrated, you can expect them to get into and destroy anything that smells tasty.
While hounds can be quite lazy and don’t mind lying around on the couch for several hours, separation anxiety is more about being apart from their people. As a result, they can still become troublesome, even if they usually sleep a lot when you are around.
Lab hound mixes do better in households where there is someone around most of the time, or even better, when they can accompany their principal companion on all their adventures. This includes the office during the week and hiking and swimming on weekends. Their Lab parentage means they will probably love a good swim.
Max- Black lab/Hound mix
The Labrador Retriever Hound mix, also very commonly referred to as the Labloodhound, is a designer dog breed that comes to life when one Labrador Retriever parent is cross bred with one Bloodhound parent.
Even though this canine is not officially recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC) since it’s not purebred, this cross breed is officially recognized as a mixed dog breed by the following organizations: The American Canine Hybrid Club (ACHC), the Designer Dogs Kennel Club (DDKC), the Dog Registry of America (DRA) and the International Designer Canine Registry (IDCR).