THOMASVILLE- Recently, the Live Oak Plantation’s 50 year- old pack of hounds found great success at major hound shows in America, with a member of their pack attaining Grand Champion of Show.

Founded by and belonging to Marty and Daphne Wood, the pack of hounds that they have bred for decades are often used for hunting, whether it be foxes or feral pigs.

“We started the pack 50 years ago, which is just crazy,” Daphne said.

The Southern Hound Show in Monticello and the Virginia Foxhound Show, known as the largest hound show in North America, are the only two hound shows the Live Oak Hounds regularly participate in.

“I think we took 26 hounds to Virginia,” Wood said.

With two Master of Hounds from England judging at the 15th Annual Southern Hound Show, the Live Oak Hounds won first place in 9 of the 13 classes, Champion Bitch, Champion Unentered Hound, Champion Two Couple of Hounds and three Reserve Championships.

The Brood Bitch winner Live Oak Trusty ‘19 won the Grand Champion of Show overall.

Like Oak Trusty ‘19 is a descendant of Live Oak Drummer 89. Marty Wood noted that Live Oak Drummer is one of the best hunting hounds he has bred in his half century of breeding the hounds.

At the Virginia Foxhound Show, which is held on Memorial Day weekend, the Live Oak Hounds competed alongside over 500 hounds in five rings in Leesburg, Virginia. There, the Live Oak Hounds won ten of eleven classes as well as, Champion Bitch, Champion Unentered Hound and Champion English Hound.

Of the Live Oaks Hound, the Champion English Hound Live Oak Frisky ‘21, who possesses similar pedigree to Trusty ‘19 and was awarded the Grand Champion of Show.

Wood said that it was a remarkable achievement for all of her hounds, a testament to the care and effort invested into them from birth.

“They are handled a lot from the time they are born, when they’re old enough, they are taught to lead,” she said. “They are led in and out every day to a big yard, that’s the beginning of their training.”

Wood said that it was around 9 months old that the hounds would be coupled to an older, more experienced hound, with their collars strapped together during hour long exercises for a week or two, alongside the horses of the plantation.

“And then they understand what is expected of them,” she said. “You can take them off for hound exercise without them being coupled to an older hound.”

Both award-winning hounds, according to Wood, are English, which means that their pedigrees are more than 90% English Foxhound.

“They are homebreds that go back many generations,” Wood said. “We like the English hound, it’s a little bigger, it’s a little more biddable.”

When preparing for a show, Wood said that good conformation, the overall structure and appearance of the dog, is very important, alongside training the hound to show off it’s movement and remain focused during the show, which is trained through the use of dog biscuits.

Now with such success at these esteemed events, Wood said that she thought it was remarkable and shocking how overwhelming their victory was in Virginia.

“It’s really remarkable,” she said. “I think the most remarkable thing is, in Virginia, we not only won the Grand Champion of the Show, we won 10 classes and we won 4 championships and 3 reserved championships, so really, we dominated it to an almost embarrassing degree.”

Wood added that it was just gratifying to be recognized for their work and that she and her husband had and would continue to appreciate and enjoy their pack of hounds.

“It is very gratifying to have our life’s work recognized on the national scene,” Wood said. “We both get such enjoyment out of these wonderful canines.”