If you had to go by the ears alone, you would assume they belong to a really large dog, but in fact, the Sabueso Español is a medium-sized dog topping out at around 22 inches.  One of its nicknames – Spanish Beagle – is also misleading as the Sabueso shares little in common with the Beagle other than they are both scent hounds that helped hunt rabbits (another of the Sabueso’s monikers is the Spanish Scenthound).  Some have speculated that Beagle appears in the DNA of this breed, but the Beagle owes its ancestry to the Foxhound,  Harrier and a small bloodhound known as the Kerry Beagle, while the Sabueso is believed to descend from the St. Hubert hound, and that may explain his Bloodhound-like ears.  Yet another of its names is the Spanish Bloodhound.

The Sabueso is indigenous to the north of mainland Spain and is known for its exceptionally keen sense of smell.  His breed was created for the sole purpose of being a hunting dog, and even today, the Sabueso isn’t really kept as a pet. He can be willful and at the mercy of juicy scent wafting past his nose (hound people know how this goes), but these qualities serve the dog well in the field where perseverance to follow a cold trail for hours is an asset. The breed was already known in the late Middle Ages and was described in the “Book of Hunting” by King Alfonso XI in the 14th century. It was originally separated into two types, but only the larger variant remains in existence today, the smaller Lebrerro variety believed to be now extinct. In modern times, the Sabueso Español is used to blood track, in bomb detection, and in search and rescue missions.

This was one of the first indigenous breeds admitted by the Royal Dog Society in 1911. While the Sabuesos isn’t acknowledged by AKC,  it is recognized by the FCI, and was accepted as the Spanish Hound by the UKC in 1996.

See one in action below:

Image: Sabueso Español found on the Internet with an expired copyright