Underwood buried his own dog there, choosing the spot, previously a popular hunting camp where "Troop" did 15 years of service.

Key Underwood established the cemetery on September 4, 1937, interring his coon dog, Troop, in an old hunting camp[5][6][7] located in rural Colbert County, Alabama, US.

[8][9] At the time, Underwood only intended to bury Troop in a place they had coon hunted together for 15 years.

[10][11] Underwood buried Troop there, three feet deep, with an engraved old chimney stone for a marker.

"[15]Along with recognized breeds — i.e., "Redbone, black and tan, English bluetick, English redtick, Plott, Treeing Walker, and various combinations of the above" — "many non-AKC breeds of Southern hunting hounds (such as our native frontier hounds, the Black Mouth Curs, Plott Hounds, Catahoulas, and Mountain Curs)" may be admitted, but then must be proven to meet all three of the criteria, and have no fewer than three witnesses who will attest that they have seen the dog track and tree coons single-handedly.

[20] Headstones and markers in the cemetery range from homemade metal and wooden monuments to more intricate marble engraved stones, akin to human gravesites.

[23] The entrance is festooned with warning signs, some pocked with many bullet holes, which advise visitors of surveillance by the neighborhood; another forbids lighting fires, and stresses only coon dogs buried with permission are allowed.

"[25] As the 75th anniversary of the cemetery approached, coins and replica service medals started to be left on the graves.

Dogs are supposed to be independent, capable of hunting on their own, and "honest, meaning it won't run deer or rabbits; and it'll stay put, meaning it'll stay no matter rain, a storm, or another dog aggravating it," says Lee Hatton, grounds caretaker.