Breed Spotlight: the Basset Hound
The Basset Hound is one of several antiquated members of the Basset family that includes the Basset Artésien Normand and the Basset Bleu de Gascogne. These dogs are easily recognized for their short hound coats, as well as their short stature, long noses, and long hound ears. In fact, the Basset family gets its name from the French word Bas, meaning short or low-set.
The first Bassets Hounds were imported to the United States from France and resembled the Norman Bassets more than the English Basset Hounds. However, the breed began to develop into the larger-boned companion dog that we see today in the United States around the 1920s when heavier, bigger-boned dogs were imported from English kennels and bred to the existing Basset Hounds in America.
It is the Basset Hound’s extreme conformation that has set the breed apart but also resulted in a diminished quality of life due to the many health issues that accompany such extremes of breed type. It is for this reason that Continental Kennel has developed a standard for the Basset Hound less extreme in exaggerated type of height to size ratio for the purpose of improving the overall health of the Basset Hound.
Want to know more about the Basset Hound? Click here for the full standard.
