The Norman Hound was a now extinct
breed
A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...
of
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 ...
from
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
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
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 ...
. The breed was introduced into
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
by 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 ...
in the 11th century after
their conquest of the country, and it believed both the
Bloodhound
The bloodhound is a large scent hound, originally bred for hunting deer, wild boar and, since the Middle Ages, for tracking people. Believed to be descended from hounds once kept at the Abbey of Saint-Hubert, Belgium, in French it is called, ''l ...
and
Talbot
Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talbot ...
descended from it.
The Norman Hound was said to have excellent scenting abilities, great stamina and a magnificent voice, but was extremely slow; a pack usually took between six and eight hours to hunt a
stag
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 ...
. The breed was very large, standing between . They came in a broad range of colours, from pure white, to tri-colour (black, tan and white), to pure black. They were said to be unintelligent and to lack initiative.
The Norman Hound was becoming rare by the 18th century as it was replaced by faster hound types, in the 1830s only one pack remained and by 1875 they were declared extinct.
See also
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List of extinct dog breeds
The following is a list of extinct dog breeds, varieties, landraces and types.
List of extinct dog breeds, varieties, landraces and types
References Citations
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dog bre ...
References
Scent hounds
Dog breeds originating in France
Extinct dog breeds
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