Welcome to The Hound Welfare Fund

Our Mission The Hound Welfare Fund is a registered non-profit charity that provides kennel accomodation, food, medicine, and veterinary care to retired hounds, once their hunting days are over due to age or injury. Based in Lexington, Ky., the fund is currently home to 25 retired hounds. The fund also serves as a model for other groups and individuals in the US and abroad who wish to set up similar retirement programs for hunting hounds in their area. We hope you'll enjoy reading about the work of the fund in these pages and, most importantly, finding out about the wonderful retired hounds it is our priviledge to look after.

Our Program

Founded in 2000, the HWF provides a model for other groups and individuals in the United States and abroad that wish to provide comfortable and dignified retirements for hunting hounds that can no longer participate in active hunting.

The HWF:

• Puts 100% of all donations directly to the hounds' care,
• Is a 501 (c) (3) foundation, meaning your donations are tax-deductible,
• Has no paid officers or staff and is run entirely by volunteers.

The Iroquois Hunt's retired hounds live alongside an active hunting pack in kennels at Miller Trust Farm. The kennel space, kennel staff time, and kennel overhead costs (electricity and water) are donated to the HWF, which pays for the retired hound's feeding and veterinary care. The retired hounds generally number between 20 - 25 hounds in any given year.

The retirees have access to:

• Ample daily turnout in a fenced 20-acre area that includes a pond, woods, and open pasture,
• A kennel area with a dog door allowing them to go in and out at will,
• In the evenings, when the active pack is in for the night, the retired hounds can come and go as they please between the kennel and a fenced two-acre paddock,
• A climate-controlled area with heat in the winter and air-conditioning in the summer.

Iroquois Sassoon '04: Retiree of the Year for 2012-'13

What can we say about Iroquois Sassoon '04? Son of the great Iroquois Grundy '98 and of Bicester Sandal '00, Sassoon more than lived up to the potential of his illustrious pedigree. An outsized hound with an outsized personality, he has been a stalwart of the Iroquois Hunt's pack for so many seasons that it seems very strange not to see him out this season. Fortunately, however, Sassoon is enjoying his retirement, living in the lap of luxury at Miller Trust Farm in Lexington where both the Iroquois pack and the retired hounds are kenneled. He spends most of his days at the Miller's farm house, but still makes time to see his old friends at the kennel and to saunter round his demense to make sure no coyotes are encroaching in his absence. 

At the end of 2012, Jack and Betsy van Nagell gave a wonderful retirement party for Sassoon at their beautiful house on Brookfield Farm. Click here to see photos of the event.  

The HWF thanks Peggy Maness at Peggy Maness Photography and Dave Traxler for the photos on this page.

Updated Thursday, 04th April, 2013