- White and orange, with dominance of one or the other colour and distributed in irregular markings, well defined and without ticking.
- The orange colour may vary from a lighter shade (lemon) to an intense russet-brown
About the Spanish Hound
Origin: SpainSpanish Hound
- FCI status
- Recognised by FCI
- FCI group
- Scent hounds and related breeds
- Origin
- Spain
- Also called
- Sabueso Espanol
- Known hereditary risks
- Not researched yet
About
What the breed standard says
- Bred for
- Hunting hound for small game, although he is not averse to big game hunting, be it boar, stag, deer, fox, wolf or the bear. The hunter, instructed by the dog’s voice and its modulations, will recognize the sequence of events of the hunting and its incidents such as : Cold or fresh line of scent, double scent lines, firmness on line or « halali » (kill). The Sabueso español (hound) is a great specialist in hunting the hare with his doubling habit and he is most efficient in blood tracking (searching of wounded big game)
- Behaviour and temperament
“He is an affectionate and calm dog which, when out hunting big game, shows extraordinary courage and bravery”
Quoted from FCI standard n°204. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Characteristics
- Size
- —
- Exercise needsRead from what the breed was bred to do, in the registry’s own words: “Hunting hound for small game, although he is not averse to big game hunting, be it boar, stag, deer, fox, wolf or the bear. The hunter, instructed by the dog’s voice and its modulations, will recognize the sequence of events of the hunting and its incidents such as : Cold or fresh line of scent, double scent lines, firmness on line or « halali » (kill). The Sabueso español (hound) is a great specialist in hunting the hare with his doubling habit and he is most efficient in blood tracking (searching of wounded big game)” 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
- 2 of 5
- Good with children
- —
- Cost to keep
- —
- Tolerates being alone
- —
- Intelligence
- —
- Health of breed
- Not researched yet
Pros & cons
Pros & cons for the Spanish Hound
What you get with the Spanish Hound
- Purpose stated in the standard: “Hunting hound for small game, although he is not averse to big game hunting, be it boar, stag, deer, fox, wolf or the bear”
- The standard describes the breed as: “He is an affectionate and calm dog which, when out hunting big game, shows extraordinary courage and bravery”
- Low grooming needs, fitting for a busy owner — the coat is “Dense, short, fine and smooth (flat)”
What you are taking on
Nobody has written this side yet. It is a judgement rather than data, so it waits for a person — not for a missing source.
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 · Spanish Hound
Coat and colour
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording.
Coat
Dense, short, fine and smooth (flat).
Covering the whole of the body down to the interdigital spaces
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°204 — 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 standard penalises
What a judge marks the Spanish Hound 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.
- Length of the body equal or below that of the height at withers.
- Split nose.
- Excessively overshot mouth; undershot bite in any degree.
- Hair hard and long; woolly coat which indicates cross-breeding.
- Tri-coloured dogs or with tan markings on the muzzle and the legs
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Spanish Hound in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
What to ask for in a Spanish Hound
No breed-specific health panel has been written up for the Spanish Hound 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.
Gallery
No photographs yet
This is where Spanish Hound owners’ own photographs will go, from the pet profiles they keep here. Nobody has added one to a public page yet.
A photograph in a pet profile stays private to its owner. We will not put one here unless they ask us to.
Puppies
No puppies listed right now
No Spanish Hound 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.