There are six recognized breeds of Basset, and the Basset Fauve de Bretagne one of five whose origins are entirely French.  In a round-about way, it owes its existence to the fact that back in the day, marriages were arranged, deals were made, and political and personal alliances were forged during hunts. Hunts became as much social event as sport, and in France, hunting with hounds became particularly popular. France soon found itself as the center of the hound hunting culture, and the more prestigious and important that hunts became, the more consideration was given to breeding hounds.  The first record of an organized breeding program in Europe comes from the Saint Hubert Monastery near Mouzon where sometime between 750 and 900, the monks of Saint Hubert undertook a regimented breeding program which eventually resulted in the Saint Hubert Hound. As the dog spread across France and England through noblemen who’d had been gifted the dogs by the King of France, the breed became known as the Bloodhound.

Over the next few hundred years, French hunters began to develop their own breeding programs to create specialized hounds, and the Bloodhound was often the base stock for these new breeds. In the 1800s, the Basset Fauve de Bretagne created, the product of the now extinct Grand Fauve de Bretagne (though other historians have suggested that the breed was the result of crossbreedings between the Basset Griffon Vendeen and other short-statured basset breeds). At the root of them all was the Bloodhound, what most believe was the first “planned” breed.

Image of Bassets Fauve de Bretagne found on Pinterest and happily credited upon receipt of information.