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About the Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen

Origin: France
Typical life span
12-15 years
Size
Medium — from its typical weight
Weight
18-20.5 kg
Height
39-46 cm
FCI status
Recognised by FCI
FCI group
Scent hounds and related breeds
Origin
France
Also called
Gran Basset Grifon Vendeano
Known hereditary risks
Not researched yet

About

What is a Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen?

Medium-sized, long-backed, short-legged French scent hound with a rough, shaggy coat, noble head, and cheerful, independent personality bred for hunting hare and rabbit over rough terrain

Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen history and origins

Developed in the Vendée region of France centuries ago from selective breeding of larger French scent hounds and the Grand Griffon to hunt small game over rough local terrain. The 'Grand' distinguishes it from the smaller Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen.

Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen appearance and size

Typically 18-20.5 kg and 39-46 cm at the shoulder — published as one range rather than separately for males and females.

What the breed standard says

Bred for
It is the perfect assistant for the hunter with a gun in territories of moderate size. Fastest of all the scenthound bassets, tenacious, courageous, and a little stubborn. It must, from an early age, be accustomed to obeying; its training implies will and punishment, for which he will bear no grudge
Behaviour and temperament
Behaviour: Fast, well voiced, a passionate hunter; courageous, loves bramble and scrub. Temperament: A little stubborn but nevertheless well behaved. It is up to the master to take command

Quoted from FCI standard n°33. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.

Breed reference from The Dog API.

Characteristics

Size
Medium
Exercise needs
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
Not researched yet

Pros & cons

Pros & cons for the Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen

What you get with the Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen

  • Purpose stated in the standard: “It is the perfect assistant for the hunter with a gun in territories of moderate size”
  • The standard describes the breed as: “Behaviour: Fast, well voiced, a passionate hunter”

What you are taking on

  • High grooming needs — the standard’s own description is “The fringes should not be too abundant”

Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard. 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 · Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen

Coat and colour

As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording.

Coat

Hard, not too long and flat, never silky or woolly.

The fringes should not be too abundant

the belly and inside of the thighs must not be bare

eyebrows well pronounced but not covering the eye

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.

Base colour

Black with white spotting (white and black)

  • Black with tan markings (black and tan).
  • Black with light tan markings.
  • Fawn with white spotting (white and orange).
  • Fawn with black mantle and white spotting (tricolour).
  • Fawn with black overlay.
  • Pale fawn with black overlay and white spotting.
  • Pale fawn with black overlay.
  • Traditional names: hare colour, wolf colour, badger colour or wild boar colour

Shortened from FCI standard n°33 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.

What the breed standard says

Size
Height at withers: Males from 40 to 44 cm. from 39 to 43 cm. Females With a tolerance of 1cm more or less
FCI states a tolerance around the figure.

Quoted from FCI standard n°33. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.

What the standard penalises

What a judge marks the Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen down for, and what puts one out of the ring, in the registry’s own words. This describes the breed standard — it is not a checklist for the animal in front of you, and a pet with a disqualifying fault is an unshowable dog rather than an unhealthy one.

Disqualifying faults

Puts an animal out of the ring altogether.

  • Lack of type.
  • Prognathism (overshot or undershot mouth).
  • Wall eye. Eyes of different colours (Heterochromia).
  • Lack of room in the sternal region; ribs narrow towards the lower part.
  • Kinky tail.
  • Crooked or half-crooked forelegs.
  • Woolly coat.
  • Self-coloured coat black or white.
  • Important depigmentation.
  • Size outside the standard.
  • Noticeable invalidating fault. Anatomical malformation

FCI standard n°33

Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen in general; any individual animal can differ.

Health guide

What to ask for in a Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen

No breed-specific health panel has been written up for the Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen on this platform yet. That is a gap in our records, not a clean bill of health — ask the breeder which hereditary conditions their lines are tested for, and ask to see the results for both parents, dated and from a named laboratory.

Puppies

No puppies listed right now

No Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.

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