[CharlieSue]

gsally- I completely agree!

And Kirska- She is a beautiful dog

 

[Soundtrack]

And so should we love a certain basset who is does not meet the conformational standards any less?

Certainly not! They are all deserving of love, regardless of what they look like. I certainly love my fluffy girl, even though long hair is a disqualification, and you can ask Mikey what I think of Bassets with crooked noses! (need more pics and updates...hint, hint....)

However, when a person purchases a Basset expecting to get this:

They are frequently somewhat disappointed when they end up with this:

Is the second dog cute, loveable, and deserving of a good home? Absolutely! But he's not what people generally have in mind when they decide they want a Basset. How do I know? Because of the number of times I've run into people with a dog or puppy like this while out with my dogs, and they want to know either when their dog will look like mine (if it's still young) or why theirs doesn't look like mine (if it's fully grown). Not that they don't love their dog, but it's not what they wanted when they decided to get a Basset.

 

[CharlieSue]

I love the first pic kind, but personally have always had the second pic kind because I am drawn to them. The first basset we had was more like the second one so I guess that is what I just grew up loving!

 

[Mikey T]

you can ask Mikey what I think of Bassets with crooked noses! (need more pics and updates...hint, hint....)

Soundtracks Twisted Sister, hmmmm any breeder that registered a dog under that name has to be a bit "twisted" themselves

Jo-ann Gerde
photography See the 1 hour and 30 second table sequence.

 

[Kirska]

And so should we love a certain basset who is does not meet the conformational standards any less?

I think not!

Variety is the spice of life!

As long as a hound has short legs, long ears, sad eyes, a bit of saggy skin, a pink belly to rub and a swaggering tail.....................I'm a fan!

The lady that runs the dog services company that my obedience trainer now works for (Power To The PawZ - Home) has this awesome basset/Great Pyranese mix that I just love to pieces:

He's like a huge fluffy basset hound

And when I say huge, I mean huge.

The vet says my mutt is probably part basset. Personally I love the mixed breeds.

 

[gsally]

"Harley, 10 year old Corgi/Beagle/Basset/?? mutt"

Saw Harley's pic. album. What a happy looking mutt, beautiful smile!

"The lady that runs the dog services company that my obedience trainer now works for (Power To The PawZ - Home) has this awesome basset/Great Pyranese mix that I just love to pieces"

Hmmmmmmmmm, I wonder how that happened! YEOW-sa!

He is a beautiful dog too!

 

[Kirska]

Thanks yeah Harley didn't have the best start in life. He has hypothyroidism but he wasn't diagnosed for a very long time. He was at least 20 pounds heavier and lost all the hair on his tail. He was my sister's dog and they didn't have enough money to take him to a decent vet. He's gotten much better now with us on a good diet and regular thyroid medication and now he's a happy old mutt

 

[Soundtrack]

Soundtracks Twisted Sister, hmmmm any breeder that registered a dog under that name has to be a bit "twisted" themselves

I'm not gonna take it! No, I'm not gonna take it! I'm not gonna take it...anymore.





I WANNA ROCK!

 

[smitte21]

Wow she really does have a crooked little nose doesn't she. She is very cute though and looks like she's got some spunk to her.

The point is they are all very cute and neither deserves any less love but yes I have had several people ask me what type of dog my Roxie is when they see our boy Beau they know what he is. It's sad to me that people can recognize that our boy Beau (who may very well be a beagle basset mix) is a basset but yet when they see one that is conformationally correct they can't recognize it. I realize Roxie's coloring is unusual but still how people can think she's not a basset is beyond me. Then I get the others who yes ask when their puppies will look like her and have ears like her. How do you tell them that if they don't have it as a puppy they won't have it as an adult?

 

[Mikey T]

Wow she really does have a crooked little nose doesn't she

my nascar field hound. She specializes in tracking bunnies that circle to the left


Actual In person most do not notice the bend to the left. what they do notice is in profile the lack of a stop and curvature is reminiscent of a bull terrier

I WANNA ROCK!

.

and roll all night and party everyday?

 

[smitte21]

Yep she does have the appearance of a bullie there.

 

[Soundtrack]

my nascar field hound. She specializes in tracking bunnies that circle to the left

LMAO!!!!

I WANNA ROCK!
and roll all night and party everyday?

No, that's KISS. Different decade....

 

[Mikey T]

No, that's KISS. Different decade....

I know but as the say if you haffta explain the joke well it suks




Run for your life

Like a Knife in the Back

 

[Soundtrack]

She is just too cute. But of course, I'm biased.

 

[bklantz]

I know I've got two very different bassets!

Here is Ella, a more beagle looking basset, about 35 lbs

And Ringo who has the droopy big head but a tighter long legged body about 65 lbs

 

[gsally]

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:bzZ0n4CqFduP2M:http://www.celebson.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/bull_terrier-8095.jpg[/img]

So what's the story behind the twist?

 

[bubbad]

Ok I set myself up for your response last time Mikey.I knew it as soon as I wrote it. But no matter where the basset orignated from or what one looks like they all deserve a great home with someone who loves them.For me, I wanted a basset that looked like the breed should look like,I have fostered a few bassets that are not the standard,long legs,short ears etc.I helped them get to their forever homes but I do not desire to own one. I know not every(show) breeder or a breeder seeking good conformation from a breeding gets what they expect or want from a litter but I detest those who breed and do not care what the puppies will look like as long as they can sell them to unknowledgeable people. By "unknowledgeable " I mean those who do not care to educate themselves on the breed, they," just know they want a basset". I think both parties do the basset hound a great disservice.

 

[Mikey T]

So what's the story behind the twist?

I was hoping for Mirriam to answer the question but I will do the best as I can as I understand. Macey was the last of a larger litter to be born, actual mirriam had to go with the bitch to the vet to have her extracted. Where the nose is genetic, cause by overcowding in the uterius, being stuck in the birth canal for a prelong period, Or from forcept or the procedure to forceable extract her is not clear and will never really be known. I do believe genetic are not a like cause. Especial given the number of champ from that litter but one never knows.

Ok I set myself up for your response last time Mikey.I knew it as soon as I wrote it.

yay a pet peeve of mine. Much like assuming an Australian Shepard is from australia because of it common merle markings. It may included foundation stock that originated in austrailia but it is clearly an american breed.

The other one is that the purpose of the basset hound was to hunt small game on foot. While that was the purpose of bassets originating in France the English breeder clearly on had one thing in mind and that was the look of the hound. In this regard the basset hound has more in common with the toy breed than the other hound in the hound group. ect the elk hound which is not a hound at all but a spitz breed but that another story. It was not until later that people discovered that basset hounds still retained the ability to hunt that they were used in that way. More as an after though than the driving force.

 

[bubbad]

Oh, but I wasn't guessing the basset orignated in France ,it did,and yes absolutely it is a hunting hound which is why it has many of the qualities it has today so I don't think the English did a bad job of developing it. The long ears that are to wrap around the nose swirl up the scent for them to follow,the short legs,allow the basset to go through underbrush that dogs with longer legs cannot,and the saggy skin allows give when snagged on thorns and jagged underbrush so the skin doesn't generally rip. This, seems to me a more useful hunting dog than shorter ears ,tight skin and longer legs .If the English was only breeding for looks they made the basset better equiped for hunting so I don't believe they lost sight of the purpose,they enhanced it.

 

[Mikey T]

so I don't think the English did a bad job of developing it. The long ears that are to wrap around the nose swirl up the scent for them to follow,the short legs,allow the basset ...

I always find this a bit ammusing. The justification of a particular breed standard as pertaining to suitability or excelling at purpose of breeding with scant to no evidence to support it. Lets talk head wringkles and long ear as trap scent and stiriring it up simultaniously. The is no evidence that they actual do nor that it actually improves performance. Lets us take a look at England's and the world's more popular short legged scent hunting dog the beagle. The beagle does not have wrinkles and shorter ears yet it is the preferred rabbit hunting dog. . You will in generally that hunting or field trialing dogs have shorter ears and less wrinkles than those winning in the conformation ring. So at the very least this suggest such trait ar not as important as the breed standard makes them out to be and they may actual be of some detriminent or these trait are genetical tied to some other trait that is not benefitial.

The breeders in England goals were to produce a more "massive" dog than the French stock that it started with. The did so by adding bloodhound to the mix so the longer ear more wrinkles ect were more or less along for the ride. Is there any evidence that a more massive dog is an asset in the field? Does it perform better than the french hounds that proceeded it. It has it purpose and advantages but in most cases the advantages are simply that of massivness that makes it even slower moving. Such a dog is an asset for the more atheletically challenged hunter but not so much for any others. In the same vain basset tend to work much closer to the Hunter, again this is more of a stylistic choice and not one performanced based. So there will be individual that prefer to hunt behind bassets but that is minority.


IMHO if one objectively looks at the breed standard of most pure bred dogs there is a lot of justifcation of why a breed looks like it does because it was bred that way intentional ,but in fact the breeding for a look either came first or was just happened to be tied to another trait and was simply along for the ride. Most of the justifcation is after the fact and basied on no to little substance that the trait actual improves function,.

Let us take a look at a a study done in russia in which wild foxes in a captive breeding program (fur farmers) were bred for a single trait.short flight distance. . In a few generation the actual appearce of the fox changes daraticaly being more Piebald (large white pacthes, flopply ears to name just a couple traits. That is their appears to be some physical appearance traits that are link with genetic personality traits. So breeding of a particular personailty can and will manifest it self in the look of the dog as well and these physical traits are just along for the ride theywere not purposely bred for nor do the effect performance, but the underlying personality traits certainly can
for mre details see

Early Canid Domestication:​

The Farm-Fox Experiment

​