North Carolina State Dog: Plott Hound (Canis familiaris)

Plott Hound

(Canis familiaris)

Adopted on August 12, 1989.

The Plott Hound, Canis familiaris, was officially adopted as our State Dog on August 12, 1989. (Session Laws of North Carolina, 1989, c. 773; G.S. 145-13).

The Plott Hound breed originated in the mountains of North Carolina around 1750 and is the only breed known to have originated in this State. Named for Jonathan Plott who developed the breed as a wild boar hound, the Plott Hound is a legendary hunting dog known as a courageous fighter and tenacious tracker. He is also a gentle and extremely loyal companion to hunters of North Carolina. The Plott Hound is very quick of foot with superior treeing instincts and has always been a favorite of big-game hunters.

The Plott Hound typically has a beautiful brindle-colored coat and a spine-tingling, bugle-like call. It is also one of only four breeds known to be of American origin.

In 1750, two young brothers left Germany and emigrated to America with three brindle and two buckskin Hanoverian Hounds. One boy died on the way but the other, sixteen year old Johannes Georg Plott, settled in Bute County, North Carolina and later in Lincoln County. He Anglicized his name to George, built a home, married, raised his family and bred his dogs. His son, Henry, continued the breeding program and for the next seven generations (over 200 years), the Plott's were mountain men who bred the family dogs and used them to hunt bear, and from the 1930's on, occasionally boar. As Plott men built homes and raised families all over the Smoky Mountains, their dogs became known by their family name and were referred to as the Plott's hounds. During that time hounds of similar breeding and type were raised by other mountain families and were likewise called by their owner's family name.

After many generations, the Plott Hounds needed an outcross. A Plott breeder named Gola Ferguson carefully choose another well respected family hound, the tan, black saddled Blevins, and made the cross. Two of the resulting progeny were so exceptional that when Ferguson bred them back to his pure Plot family even used these dogs in their breeding program and, because of this cross, some brindle Plott hounds have a black saddle.

As the fame of the Plott Hounds spread, coon hunters began to take an interest in those with treeing instinct. Because there are many more coonhunters in our country than there are bear and boar hunters, the Plott came to be classified as a coonhound. Even so, the Plott's traditional work is to track and bring to bay or tree big game such as bear, boar, and mountain lion and many Plotts today are still performing their original function.

Capable of speedily traversing diverse types of terrain and water in all seasons, the Plott is a bold, aggressive trailer with an open, unrestricted voice. Plott "music" is distinguished by a loud, ringing chop on the track and the tree, although bawl or squall trailing mouths are also acceptable.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom

Dogia -- Dogs

Phylum

Chordata -- chordates

Subphylum

Vertebrata -- vertebrates

Class

Mammalia

Order

Carnivora

Family

Canidae

Genus

Canis

Species

Canis familiaris

State symbols represent things that are special to a particular state.

symbol \ˈsim-bəl\
noun

Etymology:
in sense 1, from Late Latin symbolum, from Late Greek symbolon, from Greek, token, sign; in other senses from Latin symbolum token, sign, symbol, from Greek symbolon, literally, token of identity verified by comparing its other half, from symballein to throw together, compare, from syn- + ballein to throw — more at devil
Date: 15th century

1: Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible.

State Symbols