[CharlieSue]

Hello everyone! Just a quick post asking about basset tails. I grew up with a basset and she, like most basset tails, had a white tip at the end of her tail. I know this is a trademark of almost all bassets.

Unfortunately, Charlie doesn't have this white tip. She has about 3 little strands of white hair, but that is it! Anyone else have a basset like this? I know she is still as cute as ever, but I was just wondering if anyone else out there had that too!

 

[Kirska]

Mine only has a few white hairs on her tail too. Maybe it has to do with how much white hair they have overall?

 

[SophieB]

All of our Bassets and my parents' ones going back many years have all had a few inches of white on the ends of their tails and it's been useful at times when they run off through the long grass. If it wasn't for their white tips sticking up as they run along, it might be harder to spot where they are whilst they're following a rabbit or pheasant scent!

 

[CharlieSue]

That is what I heard the white tip was good for- spotting her. My husband and I joke that if Charlie ever got loose, we wouldn't be able to find her, ha.

And Charlie doesn't have a whole lot of white on her, so who knows. She is still cute.. just different than most!

 

[Mikey T]

we have this question come up frequently
[

Zehyr pictured above had not white on her tail and a couple of littermates hads a frew stray white hairs. No white on the tail while not common is not rare.

it might be harder to spot where they are whilst they're following a rabbit or pheasant scent!

This is more wives tail than truth. If a white tip was truely useful in the field then the breed standard would call for one but it does not.

There is also the mistaken notion that a white tip on the tail was a trait that breeder particular bred for. This is not really the case it is more a case of a happy accident.
Like many cell in an embryo the pigment cells start out at nural crest sites along the spine and migrate to their final resting spot. So you will find dogs with white patches at those points that are fatherest from the nueral crests tip of tail. belly, feet, center of chest and nose area of muzzle. While genetic play a signifcant part in this migration and in the amount of pigmentation a dog has it is not the only factor. There are environmental factors as well such as temerature etc. Identical twins in dogs actual often are marked quite differently because of the effect of these environmental factors.

From the crest to the periphery: control of pigment cell migration and lineage segregation
Neural crest cell migration and pigment pattern formation in urodele amphibians

 

[rootbeerlove]

Harriet's a mix, so she's not really a good example, but we think it's funny, she has the opposite. Most of her tail is her light red, but the tip is dark brown!

 

[CharlieSue]

Mikey T- that is really interesting.. and makes sense. Thanks for sharing!

Rootbeerlove- I think that is funny! It's cute she still has a tip to her tail, even if it isn't white!

 

[hig4s]

Our male Zatarra has black on top, tan on bottom, no white at all anywhere on his tail.

 

[CharlieSue]

hig4s- Charlie is the same way with the black on top and tan on bottom! I think her tail almost comes across as longer because there isn't a white tip!

 

[SophieB]

Thank goodness for that white tip on Basset tails, especially when they run through the barley field beside my house!!!!

 

[Basset Momma]

We always thought the tails would come in handy if the hounds ever got lost in the fields around the house... then realized they were cotton fields!

 

[SophieB]

Those fields of cotton are very different to our wheat and barley fields and the Basset white tip won't show up as well
Does it feel very soft and fluffy to touch?

Thank goodness for that white tip on Basset tails, especially when they run through the barley field beside my house!!!!