[Mikey T]

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

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.

 

[Mikey T]

is she blue because of her eye color or coat color or...?

coat color, it is the result of a dilution gene, the color varries some whate between breeds my beagle for instance was a slate grey if stand by herself as the vet said "has a bit of mouse in her" it really is not that noticable until next to a tri and the dilution becomes very obvious. of corse there are individual differences in the amount of dilution that occurs as well some moch more than others.

the Blue eye color is the result of a vary different gene and is a serious fault in the breed.

 

[Mikey T]

I met a pit bull/weimereiner mix FWIW the weimaraner coat color ...he liter dilutes and all the other carrier.

 

[Mikey T]

I hope to keep up on this and give thees lovely colored Bassets a better name in the canine world.

the biggest rap against them is less than ethical breeders claming that they are rare and breed specifical for this trait without out regard to the breed betterment etc because they think they can market them for extra bucks. That said the vlue dilution gene has been associate with sumstantial health issue in other breed but in bassets beagle and other scent hound the biggest issue seem to be alopecia is some blue dogs. I had a blue beagle in the past with this problem but the hair loss whas limtited to top of the muzzle near the nose and the ears. A high quality dog food with extra omega threes help conmsiderably but still the was hair loss compare to breed average.