From the horse world to the dog world, there are many names given to the markings on the animals we love, and a few of them are applicable to the face of this lovely Basset Bleu de Gascogne youngster: Irish face, a blaze, a mask, patches, points – we bet we’ve missed some.

There is another, and very specific, term given to something quite lovely and noticeable on this pup’s face, and we found it mentioned in only one breed standard for the Basset Bleu de Gascogne.

It has to do with those marvelous tan “eyebrows:”

From the FCI breed standard:

Colour: Entirely mottled (black and white) giving a slate blue effect; marked or not with more or less extended black patches. FCI-St. N° 35 / 01.09.2023 5 Two black patches are generally placed on either side of the head, covering the leathers, surrounding the eyes and stopping at the cheeks. They do not meet on top of the skull, they leave a white interval in the middle of which is frequently found a small oval shaped black spot, typical of the breed. Two more or less bright tan markings are placed above the superciliary arches, giving a “quatreoeuillé” effect to the eyes. Also, tan traces are found on the cheeks, the lips, the inner face of the leathers, on the legs and under the tail.

Did you catch the word, “quatreoeuillé?” Thought to be a descriptive term in French, quatreoeuillé might translate to “four-eyed” in English, but no one seems to be certain because “quatreoeuillé,” appears to be either a misspelling, or a combination of words that doesn’t have a recognized meaning in French or English. That said, “quatre” is French for “four,” and if one makes a loose interpretation of the word, “œillé” (the past participle of the French verb “œiller” which means to “to wink” or to “close one eye”), we might understand why the word appears in the FCI breed standard.

As always, we defer to the real breed experts, the owners and breeders (and to expert French speakers, as well!)

Image: Detail from photo of a Basset Bleu de Gascogne youngster by dazb75/Adobe