Living and working predominantly in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, Barker often depicted the Foxhounds from his local pack, the Rufford Hunt of North Nottinghamshire. 

The Doghound on the righthand side of the painting is a classic depiction of an Old English Foxhound. A thick, heavy head and stout body, with excessively pronounced musculature on its near hind leg. He has the typical colouring of black and tan with a white colour, today known as the Belvoir tan. Chunky, angular joints and thick pads, Barker has produced an accurate study of Old English Foxhound conformation. Now an amalgamation, called the Grove and Rufford Hunt, Barker’s local pack only breeds and works the Modern English Foxhound. In the late 1920’s, the Modern Foxhound standard started to develop. The introduction of Welsh Hound blood, originating from hounds brough to Wales by French monks in the middle ages, produced a lighter, taller, better scented and better voiced Foxhound. Barker’s work captures the last years of the Old English Foxhounds superiority. 

This scene parallels the works of Barker’s contemporary, John Emms, who depicted hounds in their kennels in similar group scenes. Barker’s technique is noticeably less painterly, holding cleaner lines with a more polished finish. Despite stylistic differences, both artists managed to capture the domestic idyll of a hound’s life. Calm, daily scenes depicting them as more friendly and loyal creatures. The collar on the ground is called a ‘couples’, and is used to educate young hounds by pairing them up with sensible, older individuals. This detail suggests that some of these hounds are young or newly entered, making their interaction with the grumbling Fox Terrier a charming dynamic of youthful curiosity versus annoyance. Such paintings pushed the early 20^th century hound into a new character bracket, leaning towards the modern notion of ‘man’s best friend’ as opposed to just ‘hunting dog’.