It is no easy thing to catch a Grand Basset Griffon Vendéen relaxing. These happy, goofy and independent dogs are either investigating the promise of a scent-filled updraft, expressing their opinions with the voice that makes them hounds, putting the the small critters in the neighborhood on notice, or, as the website of the breed’s parent club notes: “…constantly doing things [their people] will never quite understand.”

Grand Basset Griffon Vendéen in Tallinn duo CACIB, 17-18 Aug 2013, handler competition by Томасина and shared via Wikimedia Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Still, it’s worth trying to catch a “Grand” at rest because that’s the best time to see the corkscrew fold in their ears. This characteristic is not only written into the breed standard, it’s the only AKC recognized breed whose ears should form a corkscrew shape when the dog is “chilling.” Perhaps the owner of a Grand would share a better picture than what we’ve found?

Image: Portrait of a Grand Basset Griffon Vendéen by Clark Paintings, exceptional commission portraits that can be arranged by visiting these sites:
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