Today's Basset Artésien Normand superficially looks like a basset hound. But only superficially. First of all, there is the size difference. While a basset hound's weight--depending on the sex and bloodlines--is between 45 and 70 pounds, the Basset Artésien Normand's is around 30-35. While the basset hound has lots of extra skin and massive bones, the Basset Artésien Normand lacks both. While the basset hound's head has a pronounced occiput, the Basset Artésien Normand's skull is quite flat. While the basset hound's earset is supposed to be low--below eye level--the Basset Artésien Normand's earset, at least in comparison to our basset hound, is quite high. While our basset's eyes are supposed to be slightly sunken, showing a prominent haw, the Basset Artésien Normand's eyes are round and lack the necessary haw that gives the basset hound such a doleful appearance. While the basset's lips are pendulous and the dewlap pronounced, the Artésien Normand has a long muzzle, lacks a dewlap, and its head, as opposed to the basset hound, is quite refined. Although the basset hound was developed from the Basset Artésien Normand, today--due to inter- and selective breeding--they are two distinctive breed
...English interest in the Basset Artésien Normand began in the 1870s, when two sportsmen, Lord Onslow and Mr. Everett Millais, began importing specimens of the breed from France. At that time there were two famous kennels of Bassets Artésien Normand in France: the kennel of the Count le Couteulx de Canteleu and the kennel of M. Louis Lane of Château de Frangueville near Rouen. Although both kennels specialized in Bassets Artésien Normand, over the years each developed a distinct type of the Artesian Basset. The "Lane type" hounds were in greater demand in France because they were considered to be the result of more consistent and purer breeding. The Lane dogs were predominantly lemon and white or gray and white. They were very heavy, with much bone and low to the ground. Their front legs were fully crooked ("jambes torses"). The Le Couteulx kennel, on the other hand, had at least two distinct types of hounds. One was an animal of larger build, heavier boned, low to the ground, with harsher coat that was either red and white or heavily marked tri-color. The other type, which most likely had an infusion of beagle in it, was much lighter in build, with coat short and fine of less well marked colors, either tri-color or very pale red and white. Their front legs were either full torse or demi-torse, and it could easily happen that one could find both types of front within the same litter. The Lane dogs, in spite of their purer quality, did not gain acceptance in England, and although a few were imported, they were simply cross-bred with the more popular Le Couteulx types.
