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The bloodhound is a large
scent hound Franz Rudolf Frisching in the uniform of an officer of the Bernese Huntsmen Corps with his Berner Laufhund, painted by Jean Preudhomme in 1785 Scent hounds (or scenthounds) are a Dog type, type of hound that primarily hunts by scent rather than ...
, originally bred for hunting
deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
,
wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...
and, since the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, for tracking people. Believed to be descended from hounds once kept at the Abbey of
Saint-Hubert, Belgium Saint-Hubert (; wa, Sint-Houbert) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. On 1 January 2007 the municipality, which covers 111.16 km² (42.92 sq mi), had 5,737 inhabitants, giving a popul ...
, in French it is called, ''le chien de Saint-Hubert''. This breed is famed for its ability to discern human scent over great distances, even days later. Its extraordinarily keen
sense of smell The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the special sense through which smells (or odors) are perceived. The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste. In humans, it ...
is combined with a strong and tenacious tracking instinct, producing the ideal scent hound, and it is used by police and law enforcement all over the world to track escaped prisoners, missing people, and lost pets.


Appearance

Bloodhounds weigh from 36 to 72 kg (80 to 160 lbs). They are 58 to 69 cm (23 to 27 inches) tall at the
withers The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, it is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, cattle ar ...
. According to the AKC standard for the breed, larger dogs are preferred by conformation judges. Acceptable colors for bloodhounds are black, liver, and red. Bloodhounds possess an unusually large skeletal structure with most of their weight concentrated in their bones, which are very thick for their length. The coat, typical for a scent hound, is hard and composed of fur alone, with no admixture of hair.


Temperament

This breed is gentle and is tireless when following a scent. Because of its strong tracking instinct, it can be willful and somewhat difficult to obedience train and handle on a leash. Bloodhounds have an affectionate and even-tempered nature to humans, making them excellent family pets.


Colour types

Up to at least the 17th century, Bloodhounds were of all colors, but in modern times the color range has become more restricted. The colors are usually listed as black and tan, liver and tan, and red. White is not uncommon on the chest and sometimes appears on the feet. Genetically, the main types are determined by the action of two genes, found in many species. One produces an alternation between black and brown (liver). If a hound inherits the black allele (variant) from either parent, it has a black nose, eye rims, and paw pads, and if it has a saddle, it is black. The other allele suppresses black pigment and is recessive, so it must be inherited from both parents. It produces liver noses, eye rims, paw pads, and saddles. The second gene determines the coat pattern. It can produce animals with no saddle (essentially all-tan, but called 'red' in Bloodhounds), ones with saddle-marking, or ones largely covered with darker (black or liver) pigment, except for tan lips, eyebrows, forechest, and lower legs. These last are sometimes referred to as 'blanket' or 'full-coat' types. In a pioneering study in 1969, Dennis Piper suggested five alleles in the pattern-marking gene, producing variants from the red or saddleless hound through three different types of progressively greater saddle marking to the 'blanket' type. However, more modern study attributes the variation to three different alleles of the
agouti gene Agouti-signaling protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ASIP gene. It is responsible for the distribution of melanin pigment in mammals. Agouti interacts with the melanocortin 1 receptor to determine whether the melanocyte (pigment ...
. Ay produces the non saddle-marked "red" hound, As produces saddle-marking, and at produces the blanket or full-coated hound. Of these Ay is dominant, and at is recessive to the others. The interaction of these variants of the two genes produces the six basic types shown below. File:Bloodhound black and tan 'blanket'.jpg, ''Black and tan, 'blanket' or full-coat type'' File:Bloodhound liver and tan 'blanket'.jpg, ''Liver and tan, 'blanket' or full-coat type'' File:Bloodhound black and tan.jpg, ''Black and tan saddle type'' File:Bloodhound liver and tan.jpg, ''Liver and tan saddle type'' File:Bloodhound red black pigmented.jpg, ''Red, black-pigmented type'' File:Bloodhound red liver pigmented.jpg, ''Red, liver-pigmented type'' Another source does not recognise as as a separate variant. Instead, it says "at includes tan point and saddle tan, both of which look tan point at birth. Modifier genes in saddle tan puppies cause a gradual reduction of the black area until the saddle tan pattern is achieved." 'Tan point' refers to the blanket type from the typical tan eyebrows, muzzle, and socks. It is likely that a third gene determines whether or not there is a
melanistic mask A melanistic mask (also referred to as a mask or masking) is a dog coat pattern that gives the appearance of a mask on the dog's face. The hairs on the muzzle, and sometimes entire face or ears, are colored by eumelanin instead of pheomelanin pi ...
. Em, the
allele An allele (, ; ; modern formation from Greek ἄλλος ''állos'', "other") is a variation of the same sequence of nucleotides at the same place on a long DNA molecule, as described in leading textbooks on genetics and evolution. ::"The chro ...
for a mask, is dominant over E, the allele for no mask.


Health


Illnesses

Compared to other purebred dogs, Bloodhounds suffer an unusually high rate of gastrointestinal ailments, with
gastric dilatation volvulus Gastric dilatation volvulus (GDV), also known as gastric dilation, twisted stomach, or gastric torsion, is a medical condition that affects dogs in which the stomach becomes overstretched and rotated by excessive gas content. The word bloat is o ...
(bloat) being the most common type of gastrointestinal problem. The breed also suffers an unusually high incidence of eye, skin, and ear ailments; thus these areas should be inspected frequently for signs of developing problems. Owners should be especially aware of the signs of bloat, which is both the most common illness and the leading cause of death of Bloodhounds. The thick coat gives the breed the tendency to overheat quickly.


Lifespan

Bloodhounds in a 2004 UK Kennel Club survey had a median longevity of 6.75 years, which makes them one of the shortest-lived dog breeds. The oldest of the 82 deceased dogs in the survey died at the age of 12.1 years. Bloat took 34% of the animals, making it the most common cause of death in Bloodhounds. The second leading cause of death in the study was cancer, at 27%; this percentage is similar to other breeds, but the median age of death was unusually young (median of about 8 years). In a 2013 survey, the average age at death for 14 Bloodhounds was 8.25 years.


History


Chien de Saint-Hubert

The St. Hubert Hound was, according to legend, first bred ca. AD 1000 by monks at the Saint-Hubert Monastery in Belgium; its likely origins are in France, home of many of modern
hound A hound is a type of hunting dog used by hunters to track or chase prey. Description Hounds can be contrasted with gun dogs that assist hunters by identifying prey and/or recovering shot quarry. The hound breeds were the first hunting dogs. T ...
s. It is held to be the ancestor of several other breeds, like the extinct
Norman Hound The Norman Hound was a now extinct breed of scent hound from France. Overview Little is known about the origins of the Norman Hound, it has been said it was developed from St. Hubert Hounds and local hounds from Normandy. The breed was introduc ...
, and Saintongeois, and the modern
Grand Bleu de Gascogne The Grand Bleu de Gascogne is a breed of hounds of the scenthound type, originating in France and used for hunting in packs. Today's breed is the descendant of a very old type of large hunting dog, and is an important breed in the ancestry of ma ...
,
Gascon Saintongeois The Gascon Saintongeois is a breed of dog of the scenthound type, recognised in two varieties, ''Grand'' (large) and ''Petit'' (smaller than the Grand, but ''not'' a small dog). Originating in France, the breed is used for hunting in packs and ...
, Ariegeois and Artois Normande, as well as the Bloodhound. It has been suggested that it was a dog of mixed breeding, not at all uniform in type. Whether they originated there, or what their ancestry was, is uncertain, but from ca. 1200, the monks of the Abbey of St. Hubert annually sent several pairs of black hounds as a gift to the King of France. They were not always highly thought of in the royal pack. Charles IX 1550–74, preferred his white hounds and the larger Chiens-gris, and wrote that the St. Huberts were suitable for people with gout to follow, but not for those who wished to shorten the life of the hunted animal. He described them as pack hounds of medium stature, long in the body, not well sprung in the ribs, and of no great strength. Writing in 1561, Jaques du Fouilloux describes them as strong of body, but with low, short legs. He says they have become mixed in breeding so that they are now of all colors and widely distributed. Charles described the 'true race' of St. Hubert as black, with red/tawny marks above the eyes and legs usually of the same color, suggesting a 'blanket' black and tan (see the section on colour types above). To De Fouilloux, the 'pure black' was the best of this mixed breed. Both writers thought them only useful as leash hounds. They both refer to a white hound, also a St. Hubert, which by their time had disappeared, having been interbred with another white hound, the greffier, to produce the king's preferred pack hound, sometimes called ''le chien blanc du roi'', "the white dog of the king". They appear to have been more highly thought of during the reign of Henry IV (1553–1610), who presented a pack to
James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the Union of the Crowns, union of the Scottish and Eng ...
. By the end of the reign of
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...
(1715), they were already rare. In 1788, D'Yauville, who was master of the Royal hounds, says those sent by the St. Hubert monks, once much prized, had degenerated, and scarcely one of the annual gift of six or eight was kept. Upon the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
of 1789, the gifts ceased, and hunting in France went into a decline until the end of the
Napoleonic wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. When it recovered during the 19th century, huntsmen, with many breeds to choose from, seem to have had little interest in the St. Hubert. An exception was Baron Le Couteulx de Canteleu, who tried to find them. He reported that there were hardly any in France, and those in the Ardennes were so crossbred that they had lost the characteristics of the breed. Writers on the Bloodhound in the last two centuries generally agreed that the original St. Hubert strain died out in the 19th century, and that the European St. Hubert owes its present existence to the development of the Bloodhound.


Bloodhound

References to Bloodhounds first appear in English writing in the early to mid-14th century, in contexts that suggest the breed was well established by then. It is often claimed that its ancestors were brought over from
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
by
William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
, but there is no actual evidence for this. That the
Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...
brought hounds from Europe during the post-Conquest period is virtually certain, but whether they included the Bloodhound itself, rather than merely its ancestors, is a matter of dispute that probably cannot be resolved on the basis of surviving evidence. In
Medieval hunting Throughout Western Europe in the Middle Ages, humans hunted wild animals. While game was at times an important source of food, it was rarely the principal source of nutrition. All classes engaged in hunting, but by the High Middle Ages, the necess ...
, the typical use of the Bloodhound was as a '
limer A limer, or lymer , was a kind of dog, a scenthound, used on a leash in medieval times to find large game before it was hunted down by the pack. It was sometimes known as a lyam hound/dog or lime-hound, from the Middle English word ''lyam'', meani ...
', or 'lyam hound', that is a dog handled on a leash or 'lyam', to find the
hart Hart often refers to: * Hart (deer) Hart may also refer to: Organizations * Hart Racing Engines, a former Formula One engine manufacturer * Hart Skis, US ski manufacturer * Hart Stores, a Canadian chain of department stores * Hart's Reptile W ...
or
boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is no ...
before it was hunted by the pack hounds (
rache Rache , also spelled racch, rach, and ratch, from Old English ''ræcc'', linked to Old Norse ''rakkí'', is an obsolete name for a type of hunting dog used in Great Britain in the Middle Ages. It was a scenthound used in a pack to run down and kil ...
s). It was prized for its ability to hunt the cold scent of an individual animal, and, though it did not usually take part in the kill, it was given a special reward from the carcass. It also seems that from the earliest times the Bloodhound was used to track people. There are stories written in medieval Scotland of
Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventual ...
(in 1307), and
William Wallace Sir William Wallace ( gd, Uilleam Uallas, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army a ...
(1270–1305) being followed by 'sleuth hounds'. Whether true or not, these stories show that the
sleuth hound The sleuth hound (, from Old Norse ''slóð'' "track, trail" + hound) was a breed of dog. Broadly, it was a Scottish term for what in England was called the Bloodhound, although it seems that there were slight differences between them. It was ...
was already known as a man-trailer, and it later becomes clear that the sleuth hound and the Bloodhound were the same animal. In the 16th century,
John Caius John Caius (born John Kays ; 6 October 1510 – 29 July 1573), also known as Johannes Caius and Ioannes Caius, was an English physician, and second founder of the present Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Biography Early years Caius was ...
, in the most important single source in the history of the Bloodhound, describes its hanging ears and lips, its use in game parks to follow the scent of blood, which gives it its name, its ability to track thieves and poachers by their foot scent, how it casts if it has lost the scent when thieves cross water, and its use on the Scottish borders to track cross-border raiders, known as
Border Reivers Border reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border ...
. This links it to the sleuth hound, and from Caius also comes the information that the English Bloodhound and the sleuth hound were essentially the same, though the Bloodhound was slightly bigger, with more variation in coat color. The adjacent picture was published in Zurich in 1563, in
Conrad Gesner Conrad Gessner (; la, Conradus Gesnerus 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his tale ...
's ''Thierbuch'' (a compendium of animals) with the captions: 'Englischen Blüthund' and 'Canis Sagax Sanguinarius apud Anglos' (English scent hound with associations of blood). It was drawn by, or under the supervision of, John Caius, and sent to Gesner with other drawings to illustrate his descriptions of British dogs for European readers. It is thus the earliest known picture published specifically to demonstrate the appearance of the Bloodhound. We are told it was done from life, and detail such as the soft hang of the ear indicates it was carefully observed. Fully accurate or not, it suggests changes between the Bloodhound of then and today. The collar and long coiled rope reflect the Bloodhound's typical functions as a limer or leashed man-trailer in that period. The earliest known report of a trial of the Bloodhound's trailing abilities comes from the scientist
Robert Boyle Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of ...
, who described how a Bloodhound tracked a man seven miles along a route frequented by people, and found him in an upstairs room of a house. With the rise of fox hunting, the decline of deer hunting, and the extinction of the wild boar in Great Britain, as well as a more settled state of society, the use of the Bloodhound diminished. It was kept by the aristocratic owners of a few deer parks and by a few enthusiasts, with some variation in type, until its popularity began to increase again with the rise of dog shows in the 19th century. Numbers, however, have remained low in Britain. Very few survived the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, but the gene pool has gradually been replenished with imports from America. Nevertheless, because of UK
quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...
restrictions, importing was expensive and difficult throughout the 20th century, and in the post-war period exports to the US, and to Europe where the population had also been affected by the war, considerably exceeded imports. During the later 19th century, numbers of Bloodhounds were imported from Britain by French enthusiasts, who regretted the extinction of the ancient St. Hubert. They wished to re-establish it, using the Bloodhound, which, despite its developments in Britain, they regarded as the St. Hubert preserved unchanged. Many of the finest specimens were bought and exhibited and bred in France as Chiens de Saint-Hubert, especially by Le Couteulx de Canteleu, who himself bred over 300. Whatever few original St. Huberts remained either died out or were absorbed into the new population. As a result, the Bloodhound became known on parts of the Continent as the Chien de Saint-Hubert. In the mid-20th century, the Brussels-based FCI accepted the claim of Belgium to be the country of origin. There are now annual celebrations in the town of Saint-Hubert, in which handlers in period dress parade their hounds. In Britain, the Bloodhound has continued to be seen as a native breed, with European St. Huberts being accepted by the UK KC as Bloodhounds. In Le Couteulx' book of 1890, we read that 'Le Chien de St Hubert actuel' is very big, from 69 cm to 80 cm (27½–31½in) high. This does not accord with the 16th century descriptions of the St. Hubert given above, nor with the FCI standard, but the idea that the St. Hubert is much bigger (up to 91.5 cm, 36 in) than the Bloodhound persisted well into the 20th century, even among some St. Hubert enthusiasts. When the first Bloodhounds were exported to the US is not known. Bloodhounds were used to track
runaway slaves In the United States, fugitive slaves or runaway slaves were terms used in the 18th and 19th century to describe people who fled slavery in the United States, slavery. The term also refers to the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, Fugitive Slave ...
before the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, but it has been questioned whether the dogs used were genuine Bloodhounds. However, in the later part of the 19th century, and in the next, more pure Bloodhounds were introduced from Britain and bred in America, especially after 1888, when the English breeder, Edwin Brough, brought three of his hounds to exhibit at the
Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is an all-breed conformation show, traditionally held annually at New York City's Madison Square Garden. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is one of a handful of benched shows in the United States. Dogs ...
in New York City. He went into partnership with Mr. J. L. Winchell who, with other Americans, imported more stock from Britain. Bloodhounds in America have been more widely used in tracking lost people and criminals – often with brilliant success – than in Britain, and the history of the Bloodhound in America is full of the man-trailing exploits of outstanding Bloodhounds and their expert handlers, the most famous hound being Nick Carter. Law enforcement agencies have been much involved in the use of Bloodhounds, and there is
National Police Bloodhound Association
originating in 1962. In Britain, there have been instances from time to time of the successful use of the Bloodhound to track criminals or missing people. However, man-trailing is enjoyed as a sport by British Bloodhound owners, through national working trials, and this enthusiasm has spread to Europe. In addition, while the pure Bloodhound is used to hunt singly, Bloodhound packs use Bloodhounds crossed with
foxhound A foxhound is a type of large hunting hound bred for strong hunting instincts, a keen sense of smell, and their bark, energy, drive, and speed. In fox hunting, the foxhound's namesake, packs of foxhounds track quarry, followed—usually on hor ...
s to hunt the human scent. Meanwhile, the Bloodhound has become widely distributed internationally, though numbers are small in most countries, with more in the US than anywhere else. Following the spread of the Bloodhound from Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries, imports and exports and, increasingly, artificial insemination, are maintaining the world population as a common breeding stock, without a great deal of divergence in type in different countries. During the late 19th century, Bloodhounds were frequent subjects for artists such as
Edwin Landseer Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However, his best-known works are the lion sculptures at the bas ...
and
Briton Riviere British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mo ...
; the dogs depicted are close in appearance to modern Bloodhounds, indicating that the essential character of the Bloodhound predates modern dog breeding. However, the dogs depicted by Landseer show less wrinkles and
haw Haw or HAW may refer to: Fruit * many species of hawthorn (''Crataegus'') ** Haw flakes, Chinese sweets made from the fruit of the Chinese hawthorn, ''Crataegus pinnatifida'' * several species of ''Viburnum'', including: ** '' Viburnum rufidulu ...
s than modern dogs.


Origin issues

Throughout most of its history the Bloodhound was seen as a dog of
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
or
Anglo-Scottish Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people o ...
origin, either of unknown
ancestry An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...
, or, more recently, as developed in part from the St. Hubert. It was only in the 19th century that it was claimed, primarily by Le Couteulx, to be the St. Hubert itself. Medieval hunting pictures show raches and limers, of the general sagax type, with hanging ears and lips, but not having the specific characteristics of the Bloodhound. 16th century descriptions of the St. Hubert as short-legged, and only medium-sized have led to speculation that the main European antecedent of the Bloodhound was rather the Norman hound, which was very large, than the St. Hubert. Others, such as the sleuth hound, the
Talbot Hound The Talbot was a type of hunting hound common in England during the Middle Ages. It is depicted in art of the period as small to medium-sized, white in colour, with short legs, large powerful feet, a deep chest with a slender waist, long dr ...
, the
dun hound The Chien-gris a.k.a. Gris de Saint-Louis (''Grey Saint Louis Hound'') is an extinct breed of dog which originated in Medieval times. Like the Chien de Saint-Hubert, it was a scent hound, and formed part of the royal packs of France, which were ...
and the
Southern Hound The Southern Hound was a breed of dog that existed in Britain probably until sometime in the 19th century, now extinct. The exact date of its extinction is not known; it is likely that it was gradually interbred with other breeds until the genuine ...
, as well as pack hounds, have also been supposed to have contributed to its make-up. Some writers doubt whether anything certain can be said about specific breed ancestry beyond the last few centuries. The picture given by Le Couteulx and D'Yauville of the St. Hubert was that it changed considerably through mixed breeding, and perhaps degenerated, before its disappearance, while the Bloodhound which replaced it preserved its original character. However, it is apparent from 16th century pictures that the Bloodhound itself has changed considerably. The modern St. Hubert is the English Bloodhound, in descent and type. Generally, national and regional variants of hounds, terriers, spaniels, etc. have been recognised as separate breeds, France in particular having many regional breeds of hound; the Bloodhound's identification as the St. Hubert makes it an anomaly in this respect. Whether the Bloodhound is British or Belgian in origin is ultimately not something one can prove historically, depending as it does on whether one chooses to regard two related animals differing in tradition, and history, and somewhat in type, as separate breeds, or variants of the same one.


Breed standard

Descriptions of the desirable physical qualities of a hunting hound go back to medieval books on hunting. All dogs used in the hunting field were 'gentle', that is of good breeding (not necessarily pure breeding), and parents were carefully chosen to maintain and improve conformation. In 1896, making some use of wording found in earlier descriptions, Edwin Brough and Dr. J. Sidney Turner published ''Points and Characteristics of the Bloodhound or Sleuth-Hound''. This was adopted by the newly formed Association of Bloodhound Breeders, and ultimately became, with very little change, the 'official' breed standard of the KC and the AKC. Meanwhile, the Belgian or Dutch Comte Henri de Bylandt, or H A Graaf van Bylandt, published ''Races des Chiens'' in 1897, a huge and very important illustrated compilation of breed descriptions, or standards. In this French edition, the Bloodhound appears as the Chien de St. Hubert, although the pictures illustrating the standard are all of British Bloodhounds, many of them those of Edwin Brough. The book was revised and reprinted in four languages in 1904, and in this edition the English text of the standard is that of the Association of Bloodhound Breeders, while the French text is closely based on it. However, the present FCI standard uses a quite different layout and wording. The AKC standard has hardly been altered from the original of 1896, the principal change being that the colours, 'black and tan', 'red and tan', and 'tawny', have been renamed as 'black and tan', 'liver and tan', and 'red', but the British KC has made considerable changes. Some of these were simply matters of presentation and did not affect content. However, responding to the view that the requirements of some breed standards were potentially detrimental to the health or well-being of the animal, changes have been made affecting the required eye shape and the loose skin, the most recent revision being 2008–9.


Etymology

The word 'bloodhound' is recorded from c. 1330.'''' Most recent accounts say that its
etymological Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words and ...
meaning is 'hound of pure or noble blood'. This derives from an original suggestion of Le Couteulx de Canteleu in the 19th century, which has been enthusiastically and uncritically espoused by later writers, perhaps because it absolved this undoubtedly good-natured dog from suggestions of bloodthirstiness. Neither Le Couteulx nor anyone since has offered any historical evidence to support this view. The suggestion sometimes seen that the word derives from 'blooded hound' is without basis, as the expression does not appear in early English, and 'blooded' in this meaning is not found before the late 18th century. Before then, 'bloodhound' had been taken to mean, 'hound for blood', or 'blood-seeking hound'. This was the explanation put forward by John Caius, who was one of the most learned men of his time, and had an interest in etymology, in the 16th century. It is supported by considerable historical linguistic evidence, which can be gleaned from such sources as the ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'' (''OED''): the fact that first uses of the word 'blood' to refer to good breeding in an animal postdate the first use of 'bloodhound'; that other comparable uses, as in 'blood horse' and 'blood stock' appear many centuries later; and that derogatory uses of the word 'bloodhound', which any suggestion of noble breeding would sadly weaken, appear from as early as c. 1400. Other early sources tell us that hounds were supposed to have an interest in blood, and that the Bloodhound was used to follow the trail of a wounded animal. In the absence of anything in early usage, or any historical evidence whatsoever, to support the modern explanation, the older must be regarded as correct.


Working the Bloodhound


Scenting ability

The Bloodhound's physical characteristics account for its ability to follow a scent trail left several days in the past. The
olfactory bulb The olfactory bulb (Latin: ''bulbus olfactorius'') is a grey matter, neural structure of the vertebrate forebrain involved in olfaction, the sense of odor, smell. It sends olfactory information to be further processed in the amygdala, the orbitof ...
in dogs is roughly 40 times bigger than the olfactory bulb in humans, relative to total brain size, with 125 to 220 million
olfactory The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the special sense through which smells (or odors) are perceived. The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste. In humans, it ...
receptor Receptor may refer to: * Sensory receptor, in physiology, any structure which, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse *Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and responds to a ...
s. Consequently, dogs have an olfactory sense 40 times more sensitive than that of a human. In some dog breeds, such as Bloodhounds, the olfactory sense has nearly 300 million receptors. The large, long pendent ears serve to prevent wind from scattering nearby skin cells while the dog's nose is on the ground; the folds of wrinkled flesh under the lips and neck—called the shawl—serve to catch stray scent particles in the air or on a nearby branch as the Bloodhound is scenting, reinforcing the scent in the dog's memory and nose. However, not all agree that the long ears and loose skin are functional, some regarding them as a handicap.


Human trailing

There are many accounts of Bloodhounds successfully following trails many hours, and even several days old, the record being of a family found dead in Oregon, in 1954, over 330 hours after they had gone missing. The Bloodhound is generally used to follow the individual scent of a fugitive or lost person, taking the scent from a 'scent article' – something the quarry is known to have touched, which could be an item of clothing, a car seat, an identified footprint, etc. Many Bloodhounds will follow the drift of scent a good distance away from the actual footsteps of the quarry, which can enable them to cut corners and reach the end of the trail more quickly. In America, sticking close to the footsteps is called 'tracking', while the freer method is known as 'trailing' (in the UK, 'hunting'), and is held to reflect the Bloodhound's concentration on the individual human scent, rather than that of, say, vegetation crushed by the feet of the quarry. Having lost a scent, a good Bloodhound will stubbornly cast about for long periods, if necessary, in order to recover it. The Bloodhound is handled on a tracking harness, which has a metal ring above the shoulders, to which a leash is attached, so that the hound's neck is not jerked up when the leash becomes taut, as it would with a collar. The leash is at least long enough to allow the hound to cross freely in front of the handler, some handlers preferring quite a short leash, giving better communication with the hound, others liking something longer, maybe 20 or 30 feet.


Training

It is generally agreed that the basis of initial training is to make the experience enjoyable for the puppy or young hound to keep its enthusiasm high. Whitney preferred waiting till the hound is 18 months old, to start training, but others start as young as possible; say, three months. Training can be started by running short trails on a family member whom the puppy sees walk away, at first remaining visible, and later going out of sight. Even though familiar with the scent of the 'runner', it can be given a scent article to sniff, and given the command to follow. It can also be introduced to the tracking harness, which is put on just before the trail starts, and removed as soon as it is finished. On reaching the runner, the puppy is given lavish praise and perhaps a reward. Generally in training, the handler must know exactly where the runner went, so that he does not encourage the hound when it is wrong, or 'correct' it when it is on the scent, but he should not be too ready with his corrections if the hound goes astray, or it may come to rely on him. He should give the hound time to realise its mistake and put itself right, if possible. As training progresses the handler learns to 'read' his hound's behaviour. The hound must trust its nose and the handler must trust the hound. From early hot trails on a familiar person, the young hound progresses to colder trails on the scents of strangers. Later training can be designed to teach particular lessons: crossing trails with false scents, having the runner start out with a companion, who leaves him somewhere along the trail, laying a trail on ground frequented by wild animals. This will teach the hound not to change on to other humans, or riot on animal scents (known as 'staying clean' S or 'freedom from change' K. It also needs to work over a variety of ground and learn to cope with distractions of many kinds, as well as being introduced to 'negative trails': given a scent article which has not been handled by anyone in the area, so that it will learn to indicate to a handler that the required scent is not there. If it is becoming discouraged it can revert to simpler tasks to recover enthusiasm.


Identification

Canine identification of a suspect can help police with their inquiries, and evidence of identification is accepted in some courts. The most approved method of identification is for the hound to jump up, and place its paws on the subject's chest. In the case of a lost person or a known fugitive identification will not be significant, and in the case of a potentially violent, possibly armed, fugitive, a Bloodhound handler will not want his dog to approach the quarry for fear of injury to the Bloodhound. Many Bloodhounds reaching the end of a trail will show no interest in the person they have been trailing, and are difficult to train to identify. Leon Whitney recommended a method of initial training in which identification was the first thing learned, based on giving the young hound a scent article from someone who walks a very short distance out of sight into a barn, where he stands with a piece of liver, while another person, also smelling of liver, stands nearby. The hound is led along the 'trail', and if it shows an inclination to go to the wrong person, it is chastised, but it gets the liver if it goes to the right one. When the hound goes to the right person almost infallibly, the number of people is increased, making the choice more difficult, and eventually the brief walks are extended into full trails.


Voice

A common misconception is that Bloodhounds are employed in packs; while this is sometimes the case in Britain, where foxhound blood is mixed into them to increase speed, in North America, Bloodhounds are used as solitary trackers. When they are on a trail, they are usually silent and do not give voice as do other scent hounds. The original use of the Bloodhound as a leash-hound, to find but not disturb animals, would require silent trailing. Nevertheless, the Bloodhound bay is among the most impressive of hound voices. When hunting in a pack, they are expected to be in full cry. They are more likely to 'give tongue,' 'throw their tongue,' or 'speak' when hunting in a pack than when hunting singly, and more when hunting free than when on the leash. The quality of 'speaking to the line', that is giving tongue when on the correct scent while remaining silent when off it, is valued in British Bloodhound circles, on aesthetic grounds and because it makes it very easy to 'read' the hound's tracking behaviour. As a result, special trophies for speaking to the correct line are on offer at British working trials (where hounds hunt singly), although rarely awarded.


Trials in Britain

Bloodhound Working Trials, first held in 1898, take place in Britain four times a year, under Kennel Club rules, organised by eithe
the Association of Bloodhound Breeders
, o
The Bloodhound Club
They are run over farm land by permission of the landowners. A line walker (runner) is given a map, and sets off to follow a course marked on it, leaving a scent article ('smeller') attached to a flag marking the beginning of the trail. A hound and its handler start a set time later, and try to follow his trail, while the judge, equipped with a copy of the map, follows behind assessing their performance. When each of the entered hounds has completed a trail, he picks a winner. There are a series of 'stakes' of increasing difficulty, the simplest being 1 mile long, ½ an hour cold, and the hardest 3 miles long, 2 hours cold. On winning a stake, a hound moves up to the next one. Hounds may work unleashed if they have passed a test showing they will not bother livestock, especially sheep. Special prizes are on offer for identification and voice ('speaking to the line'). The best hounds may be invited to take part in special stakes, the most difficult being 3 miles long, 24 hours cold.


Bloodhound packs

The medieval Bloodhound was not primarily a pack hound, but a leash hound, though there may have been packs in different places or at different times. Up to the 19th century, a single hound or a brace was used on deer parks, to find deer for the gun. However, mid-century two packs appeared, that of Thomas Neville, who hunted in the
New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...
area, and who preferred very black hounds, and that of Lord Wolverton. Both of these hunted semi-domesticated deer ('carted deer'), which were recaptured on being brought to bay and returned home. It was said of Lord Wolverton's hounds that he found it difficult to get them to hunt as a pack, because each liked to follow the scent on his own. Eventually, many were sold to Le Couteulx de Canteleu and taken to France. Around the start of the 20th century, several packs existed briefly, following either deer, or the 'clean boot' – individual human scent without any enhancement such as animal blood or aniseed. Since the Second World War there have been several packs, including that of Eric Furness, who introduced a cross to a Dumfriesshire Black and Tan Foxhound into his Peak Bloodhounds. Generally, masters of Bloodhounds since then maintain a level of out-cross breeding in their packs to improve speed and agility, while retaining Bloodhound type. These packs hunt the clean boot and are followed by a field on horseback.


Noteworthy Bloodhounds

Grafton was the Bloodhound in Landseer's famous painting ''Dignity and Impudence''. Both dogs in the picture belonged to Jacob Bell. Mr. T. A. Jennings' Ch Druid, known as 'Old Druid' was the first Bloodhound champion. Born in 1857, he was later bought by Emperor
Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
for his son, Prince Eugene Louis Jean Joseph, and taken to France. Photographs of him, of another famous hound, Cowen's Druid, and a bitch named Countess, appear in a rare book from 1865 in the British Library

and may be the oldest photographs of Bloodhounds to have survived. A Bloodhound named Nick Carter is frequently cited as the archetype of the trailing Bloodhound and the extensive publicity this dog received may be the source of much Bloodhound-related folklore. Born in 1900, Nick Carter was owned and handled by Captain G. V. Mullikin of
Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
; he is credited with more than 650 finds, including one that required him to follow a trail 300 hours old; that is, 12 days. Ch. Heathers Knock on Wood, known as Knotty, was one of the most awarded Bloodhounds of all time. He received more Best-in-Shows than any other Bloodhound, and is the first liver-and-tan Bloodhound ever to win a Best-in-Show. Knotty was awarded Best-in-Show at the Eukanuba Tournament in 2005 and won the Hound Group in the
Westminster Kennel Club The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is an all-breed conformation show, traditionally held annually at New York City's Madison Square Garden. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is one of a handful of benched shows in the United States. Dogs ...
Show the same year. Knotty's offspring have also been show dogs, and as a result of many of his puppies receiving the title of "Champion" by the AKC, Knotty was inducted into the AKC's Stud Dog Hall of Fame. He died in the spring of 2008, from a
rattlesnake Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting small anim ...
's
bite Biting is a common zoological behavior involving the active, rapid closing of the jaw around an object. This behavior is found in toothed animals such as mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish, but can also exist in arthropods. Myocytic con ...
, which he suffered while trying to protect his owner from the snake. On the popular 1960s sitcom ''
The Beverly Hillbillies ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor, backwoods family from ...
'', veteran canine actor Stretch portrayed Jed Clampett's Bloodhound, Duke. Ladybird on the popular animated sitcom ''
King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...
'' is a purebred Georgia Bloodhound belonging to the Hill family. The
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
615th Military Police Company's mascot is a Bloodhound named for the company's pet and mascot during
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
named Andy.
McGruff the Crime Dog McGruff the Crime Dog is an anthropomorphic animated bloodhound created by Dancer Fitzgerald Sample advertising executive Jack Keil (who also voiced the character) through the Ad Council and later the National Crime Prevention Council to increas ...
is the mascot of the US
National Crime Prevention Council National Crime Prevention Council is an American educational 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C. whose mission is to enable people to create safer and more caring communities by addressing the causes of crime, drugs and violence an ...
. File:Bloodhund rf54.jpg, Bloodhound in Poland File:Bloodhound 423.jpg, Bloodhound File:Beulah at Five & A Half Weeks on Jan Coffman's Farm, Walkerville, MD June 1999 by Asilverstein.jpg, Bloodhound puppy File:Hameau Jouas bloodhound.jpg, Bloodhound File:Bloodhound portrait.jpg, Bloodhound File:Bloodhund 767.jpg, Bloodhound File:Chiots de Cleopatre du hameau Iouas appartenant à Regis Piat.jpg, Bloodhound puppies File:Bloodhound Trials Alton 2008.jpg, Bloodhound trials, Alton


See also

* Dogs portal *
List of dog breeds This list of dog breeds includes both Neontology#Extant taxa versus extinct taxa, extant and extinct dog breeds, Designer breed, varieties, landraces, and dog types. A research article on genomics, dog genomics published in Science/AAAS defines m ...
*
Dog type Dog types are broad categories of domestic dogs based on form, function, or style of work, lineage, or appearance. Some may be locally adapted dog types (or ''landraces'') that may have the visual characteristics of a modern purebred dog. In c ...
*
Hunting the Clean Boot Hunting the clean boot is a term that has been used in Britain to refer to the use of packs of bloodhounds to follow a natural human scent trail. The 'clean boot' refers to the absence of either an artificial scent such as aniseed, as used in drag ...
* Northern (
North Country Beagle The North Country Beagle, Northern Hound or Northern Beagle was a breed of dog that existed in Britain probably until early in the 19th century. The exact date of its extinction is not known; it is likely that it was gradually interbred with othe ...
) and
Southern Hound The Southern Hound was a breed of dog that existed in Britain probably until sometime in the 19th century, now extinct. The exact date of its extinction is not known; it is likely that it was gradually interbred with other breeds until the genuine ...
s


References


Further reading

* Barwick, M.
''Aspects of Bloodhound History''
* Boitard, Jean-Pierre, ''Le Chien de Saint-Hubert'', éditions Artémis 2002. * Dalziel, Hugh.

' Ch IX * * *


External links


"Training Bloodhounds for Police Work"
''Popular Science'', June 1942, pp. 117–119.
Dalziel, Hugh: ''British Dogs'' 1879
* {{Authority control FCI breeds Dog breeds originating in Belgium Scent hounds Dog breeds originating in England Dog breeds originating in Scotland Dog breeds originating in France Hunting with hounds