Base colour
Generally black, white and tan (tri-colour)
- lemon and white (bi-colour)
- Any recognized hound colour acceptable
About the Basset Hound
Origin: Great Britain
- Typical life span
- 12-13 years
- Size
- Medium — from its typical weight
- Weight
- 18-30 kg
- Height
- 33-38 cm
- FCI status
- Recognised by FCI
- FCI group
- Scent hounds and related breeds
- Origin
- Great Britain
- Known hereditary risks
- 4 documented conditions, with the test for each
About
What is a Basset Hound?
Low-slung, heavy-boned scent hound with distinctive long, velvety ears, mournful expression, and loose skin. Known for powerful tracking ability and calm demeanor.
Basset Hound history and origins
Developed by French aristocrats from hounds bred at the Abbey of St. Hubert for hunting small game in dense cover. Low-slung body perfected for trailing rabbits and hare, later refined in England for pack hunting.
Basset Hound appearance and size
Typically 18-30 kg and 33-38 cm at the shoulder — published as one range rather than separately for males and females.
What the breed standard says
- Bred for
- Scent Hound
- Behaviour and temperament
“Tenacious hound of ancient lineage which hunts by scent, possesses a pack instinct and a timid. deep melodious voice. Placid, never aggressive or Affectionate”
Quoted from FCI standard n°163. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed reference from The Dog API.
Characteristics
- Size
- Medium
- Exercise needsRead from what the breed was bred to do, in the registry’s own words: “Scent Hound” That is a working purpose, not a measured exercise requirement — an individual dog’s needs depend on its age, health and household.
- 4 of 5
- Easy to train
- —
- Amount of shedding
- —
- Grooming needs
- 4 of 5
- Good with children
- —
- Cost to keep
- —
- Tolerates being alone
- —
- Intelligence
- —
- Health of breed
- 4 conditions documented
Pros & cons
Pros & cons for the Basset Hound
What you get with the Basset Hound
- Purpose stated in the standard: “Scent Hound”
- The standard describes the breed as: “Tenacious hound of ancient lineage which hunts by scent, possesses a pack instinct and a timid”
What you are taking on
- 3 serious inherited conditions are documented, mainly in bones & joints and eyes. The health guide tab has the test to ask for on each.
- High grooming needs — the standard’s own description is “Whole outline clean and free from feathering.”
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard; UFAW / Dachshund: Intervertebral Disc Disease (names Basset Hound as a chondrodystrophic breed at elevated IVDD risk). One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.
Characteristics
FCI standard · Basset Hound
Coat and colour
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording.
Coat
Smooth, short and close without being too fine.
Whole outline clean and free from feathering.
Long hair, soft coat or feathering highly undesirable
Colour
- Preferred
- Permissible
- Undesirable
- Disqualifying
Preferred, permissible, undesirable and disqualifying are FCI’s own words about the breed. They describe what the standard asks for — not an assessment of any individual dog, and not ours.
Shortened from FCI standard n°163 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Basset Hound in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
Health & screening guide for the Basset Hound
Known hereditary risks for the Basset Hound breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.
4 conditions documentedThis is breed-level literature, not veterinary advice about an individual animal — your vet knows the animal.
Health checklist (PDF)Bones & joints
Chondrodystrophy and intervertebral disc disease (IVDD)
SeriousInherent to the breed
The same class of FGF4 skeletal mutation that gives the Basset Hound its short legs and long back also predisposes it, like the Dachshund, to premature disc degeneration and herniation, which can cause severe pain or paralysis.
What to ask for
A CDDY/IVDD-risk DNA test on both parents, or a radiographic disc-calcification assessment
Eyes
Primary open-angle glaucoma
Serious
A build-up of pressure inside the eye that progressively and irreversibly damages the optic nerve, leading to blindness. Caused by either of two independent mutations in ADAMTS17 identified specifically in the Basset Hound and the Basset Fauve de Bretagne.
What to ask for
A DNA test for the ADAMTS17 mutations on both parents, plus a current ACVO eye exam
Blood
Hereditary thrombopathia
Monitor
An inherited platelet function disorder in which platelets fail to aggregate normally, causing prolonged bleeding after injury or surgery, such as oral bleeding from a cracked tooth; typically a mild-to-moderate bleeding tendency rather than spontaneous haemorrhage.
What to ask for
No OFA-registered DNA test could be confirmed; ask the breeder for documented normal clotting/platelet function screening in the sire and dam, or a specialist laboratory diagnosis clearing close relatives
Digestion & liver
Gastric dilatation-volvulus (bloat)
Serious
The stomach fills with gas and twists on itself, cutting off its own blood supply; without emergency surgery it is fatal within hours. The Basset Hound is one of the deep-chested breeds named at elevated risk, and a first-degree relative's history of the condition raises an individual dog's own risk.
What to ask for
No DNA test exists. Ask whether the sire or dam has had a prophylactic gastropexy, and whether gastric dilatation-volvulus has occurred in the litter's close relatives
How long the Basset Hound lives, in the records
Median survival 12.5 years
95% confidence interval 12.2–12.7 years, from 883 recorded deaths among 1,997 dogs
Mortality hazard 0.9 (0.84, 0.96) relative to crossbred dogs, whose median is 12.0 years.
Measured in the United Kingdom from 584,734 dogs. Median survival is not a prediction for an individual dog.
McMillan, K.M., Bielby, J., Williams, C.L., Upjohn, M.M., Casey, R.A. & Christley, R.M. (2024) Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Scientific Reports 14, 531.
Gallery
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Puppies
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