Family : Canidae
Text © Pietro Paolo Condò – Giudice Enci-fci
English translation by Mario Beltramini
Interesting, captivating, irresistible : impossible not to note it © Giuseppe Mazza
Interesting, winning and irresistible: it is impossible to ignore the Basset Hound. Seemingly, a “low” size dog, it is nevertheless comparable to big size dogs for weight and dimensions. Let us try to imagine it with legs proportioned to the length of its trunk !
Nevertheless, it comes to life like such, low and heavy.
But it is, anyway, a scent hound: in the scent hunting it shows a strength and a tenacity in chasing the prey which is surprising to say the least !
It holds a long head, compact, with much loose skin around the highly expressive and intelligent eyes; the occiput is very prominent. The lids of its round eyes are slightly open. The snout is long and the cranium facial axes are divergent.
The nostrils of the large nose are well open, the lips thick and abundant, but not fluttering.
The long ears form two extremely functional “curtains”, quite useful when hunting.
Huge ears for better tracking © Giuseppe Mazza
As a matter of fact, when the nose is on the track of a prey, they keep away all foreign effluvia. They hang down and move quickly over the ground, thanks to the position of the head, kept low while tracking.
The Basset hound has a long and vigorous neck, the thorax must be well stretched by powerful muscles and straight, the long tail is erect.
Ample is the chest, covered by abundant and thick skin, resistant to the brushwood and the thorns and elastic, in way to yield to the thorns softly before lacerating. The trunk is long and tubular.
The limbs, with great framework, are covered by skin forming slight wrinkles, especially on the metacarpi and the withers; the toes are short and big with very robust nails.
It has several colours: from unique to spotted. Its voice is deep and low, characteristic, this one, typical of the scent hounds.
If not utilized for hunting, the Basset hound is a lazy and pleasant life companion, surprisingly agile when compared to the mass and the shortness of its limbs!
It does not disdain the sofas and its best attitude is to lay down on a carpet in front of a fireplace.
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