Meet Ka-Nai our new 9 week old blue basset hound!

My Breeder assured me that blue is a recognized color of the breed and has never heard of any of these problems! So far so good! Does anyone on this site have any experience with a blue basset being any different from any other basset, or are these all myths

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First up until 1964 blue was not an aceptacle color. That is when AKC eliminated reference to other breeds in the standard. Up until that time the standard ready any aceptacle fox hound color of which blue was not. Rather than name aceptable color the BHCA went with all colors being aceptable the wisdom of that decession is still being debated but changes in breed stands don't come easilu, so it has stay that way.

Many of the so called health risks of the blue color in basset are over blown or simply not true ie blindness etc which is a result of an entirely different gene than the dilution gene that casue the blue color. There are some well know and document problems however and they mostly relate to coat. The most common being Alopecia that is losd of hair. Most noteabley the ears and top of the muzzle can have abnormal lack of hair or hair loss but it can occur any where on the body. While not a basset I had a rescue beagle that had that problem virtual no hair on the ears or muzzle near the nose.

blue dilution
for an genetic of dilution and some of the problems associated with it.

Some blue dogs appear to be more prone to skin problems and hair loss, and perhaps skin allergies than dogs that are black. Some breeds have more problems in "born blue" dogs than others. The current phase of our study is to try to understand this difference.
The hair loss and skin problems which occurs in blue dogs is called "Black Hair Follicular Dysplasia" in some breeds and "Color Dilution Alopeicia" in other breeds. In the past it may sometimes have been called "Blue Dog Syndrome" also.

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I do not know about Bassets, but I am into the "bully breeds" and in the Pit Bulls blue is associated with allergies and skin/fur problems.

I would be careful to feed your pup a high quality food and keep an eye on the fur to catch any problems early. Check out dogfoodanalysis.com and look for 5 and 6 star foods, preferably grain free since a lot of blues have grain allergies. I'd also skip the puppy food and feed adult food to prevent growth problems from the extra protein in pup foods.

Some signs of allergies are chronic ear infection, hair loss, scratching a LOT, chewing/gnawing/licking paw pads frequently and sometimes vomiting.

I mean no offense, but the breeder you purchased your pup from sounds like she or he isn't very knowledgeable about the breed and probably didn't health test the sire and dam for genetic conditions, so make sure you keep an eye out for problems and have your vet thoroughly examine your pup at least once a year and more if you notice anything off or out of the ordinary.