Thomas Walker of Virginia imported a pack of foxhounds to Virginia in 1742 in an attempt to bring the English tradition of foxhunting to the New World. It was only later, as the frontier became more settled, that Lord Fairfax, George Washington, and other Virginia "tuckahoes" began to establish foxhunting in that part of the world. Red foxes were not common to the southern parts of North America at this time, and the grey fox, which was more common, had an unfortunate habit of climbing trees to avoid the hounds. In the English tradition of foxhunting, the chase is as important as the kill. The grey foxes ruined the sport. Things were made even worse when the dogs, which were more accustomed to running a red fox to ground, became baffled when the grey foxes escaped to the trees. It was only after the red fox became established in Virginia that fox hunting could ever become popular.
In the in between time, dogs from Walker's line of foxhounds were selected for their "treeing" ability. A dog that trees game is able to use the wind blown scent of the quarry species than the actual trail that the animal leaves. Treeing hounds are able to find the exact tree that the animal has moved to. Because raccoons often run up one tree and move to another, a pure trailing dog, as all the original foxhounds from England were, would be unable to find animals in the trees. The line between foxhound and coonhound was not always as clear as it is today, with all United Kennel Club recognizing most breeds of coonhounds and foxhounds as a single breed called the English foxhound and coonhound.
Walker's line of hounds did play some role in the development of the modern American foxhound breed with its various lines. However, the modern "Walker hound" is usually referring to the Treeing Walker Coonhound, which is a descendant of those treeing hounds derived from Walker's line of foxhounds. Most tuckahoe gentry in the coast South had very little interest in raccoon hunting, but the frontier and mountain South became settled with Scots-Irish and German settlers who hunted for survival. These people were often referred to as "cohees," because of the Scots-Irish idiom "quoth thee." Keeping large packs of hounds on the frontier made little sense, because hunting was a means of survival on the frontier, not a mere sport as it was for the landed gentry. These settlers made good use of treeing hounds of all types, including treeing foxhounds that were derived from Thomas Walker's line. All of the modern coonhound breeds descend from treeing hounds of British stock, save the Plott Hound, which is derived almost solely from the German Hanoverian Hound.
The Treeing Walker Coonhound has the greatest number of registrations of any breed in the United Kennel Club, a working dog registry that has long recognized coonhounds. Coonhounds are rather uncommon to urban and suburban environments, and most North Americans know little about them. However, as one travels to the more remote areas of the country, especially in the Appalachian South, the number of coonhounds goes up exponentially.
Unlike the traditional English-style foxhunts, which became popular in coastal Virginia and spread into Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and the Carolinas, coonhounds are run at night in relatively small packs. The hounds have to deal with the raccoon's high intelligence and aggressive nature, which often puts the hounds in some danger. It is not unknown for a raccoon to lead a pack of hounds into a river, and then, while the hounds are swimming, double back on them, climb upon their heads, and push them under water to drown them.
However, most Treeing Walker coonhounds have pleasant dispositions and would make excellent pets, if their activity levels were not so high and their hunting instincts did not make them rather difficult to train. To the layperson, the Treeing Walker Coonhound looks like a large beagle, but like all scent hounds, this breed is much more likely to follow its nose than follow its humans. It is an intelligent breed, but its intelligence is not the same kind of intelligence that one would see in a border collie or a golden retriever, which have been selectively bred to work with human direction. The Treeing Walker must figure out the tricks of the raccoon on its own. It must think for itself, and as a result, it is unlikely to be a top obedience dog.
Coonhounds are part of the hunting tradition in the United States. These dogs accompanied the Scots-Irish and German settlers across the Alleghenies as the new nation began to fill with people of European stock. These hounds probably will not make the best pet for the suburban or urban setting, but for their original purpose, they are the true maestros.