It’s remarkable how many of our breeds were either nurtured or developed by monks, the Saint Bernard, Tibetan Terrier, Japanese Chin, Tibetan Spaniel, Shih Tzu, and Lhasa Apso among them.
The Basset Hound was also thought to have been bred by monks, in this case, the Benedictine Monks of the St Hubert Monastery in Belgian Luxembourg during the Middle Ages. The good monks initially created the influential St. Hubert Hound using, in part, a much larger dog known as the Laconian Hound. From the St. Hubert Hound descended the Bloodhound, but another line was bred to hunt in heavy cover and be able to hold his nose close to the ground. This short-legged or dwarf hound is now known as the Basset Hound.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the monks supplied many of these hounds to the French Aristocracy, and from France they were exported to England. It was in the British Isles in the latter half of the 19th century that the breed was developed to perfection. In 1866, Lord Galway of England imported a pair of hounds from the Marquis de Tournon. A litter bred from them then went to Lord Onslow who went on to develop an exceptional pack by crossing with further imports from the Coultreux pack from Normandy. Importation soon stopped as the English version of the Basset Hound was developed in its own right, and the first of these hounds appeared at the Wolverhampton Dog Show in 1875, and again in 1883.
The rest of the world soon discovered the marvelous Basset Hound, but let it not be forgotten that we have holy men to thank for it.
If you love this breed (and who doesn’t?), you might enjoy reading about the “King of Scandinavian Humor’s” Basset Hound Sidekick, or the Basset who appeared with Elvis Presley.
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Image:Basset Hound by Barbara Keith
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