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Showing at hound shows is all about the quest for perfection, and for 27 years Huntsman Larry Pitts has been striving to create perfection in his pack of American hounds at Potomac Hunt (Md.).
And in Potomac Jefferson ’05, he’s quite close. Jefferson followed his Virginia Hound Show grand championship with the same title at the Bryn Mawr Hound Show, June 2 in Radnor, Pa.
“He has no faults, really. My biggest concern, at both Virginia and Bryn Mawr, was the judges in the American ring might think he’s too light. But once he won that ring, I thought we had a really good chance,” Pitts said.
Liz McKnight, jt.-MFH of Elkridge-Harford (Md.), who judges the American ring, said, “He’s just an incredibly well-balanced, elegant hound. Conformationally, there’s nothing wrong with him. I liked him, and I saw a lot of his get. He threw some pretty puppies last year.”
Jefferson (Potomac Rapidan ’99—their Jezebel ’00) won the stallion hound and stallion hound with get classes on his way to the grand championship. His progeny showed quality, as the unentered Potomac’s Maple (Potomac Jefferson ’05—their Mallow ’03) earned the American foxhound reserve championship behind her sire, after taking the American bitch hound championship.
Maple’s littermate, Potomac’s Magnet, was first in the unentered dog class. And Jefferson’s son Potomac Jacket ’06 (Potomac Jefferson ’05—their Jacquard ’02) was second in the entered dog class.
“I thought he had enough quality to win,” said Pitts of Jefferson. “He’s the type that’s in style right now—long and tall. He’s a leggy hound. He’s a dog more elegant than they used to be. The judges used to like dogs to look tough, but now they’re looking for more elegance.”
Jefferson’s excellence is no accident. Pitts revealed that he comes from a long line of exceptional hounds. “Everyone asks me where the J line came from. That J line came from Essex Joker in the 60s. I took a bitch up to him in my second year here, 1981,” he recalled.
“Her name was Dutchess, and she was a light hound—like Jefferson, but smaller. She was the best hunting hound I’ve ever had, and the best personality, too. She had total confidence and had no faults,” he said. “Just by luck, we made the right cross, and that’s carried on since then.”
Jefferson is out of Jezebel, who Pitts lost right after she whelped his litter. “The first hunt after she had the litter of puppies, we were up on Sugarloaf Mountain, and she never came back,” he said.
Jezebel was out of Jody. “All the Js anyone ever hears about are out of Jody; she was a really beautiful bitch,” he said. “Jody was out of Joplin, by a dog named Brampton, who gave them all the drive and speed.
