Basset hound

Basset hounds are great hunters with excellent scent who need to sniff everything, especially new things. They love to walk, and they need long walks. These dogs are quite agile, and also reckless, they show a keen interest in everything.
Appearance
Basset Hound is a charming hound with an elongated body on short legs and incredibly long ears. A basset has dense bones, and with a height of, for example, 35 cm, it weighs as much as a Labrador with a height of 55 cm.
As a rule, the height at the withers of the basset reaches 38 cm, weight – 27 kg.
The basset-hound has a massive but balanced physique, the back is rather wide and straight, the withers and the sacrum are approximately at the same level, the loin is often slightly convex, the chest is protruding, but not narrow and not pronouncedly deep, the limbs are short and massive, the legs are also massive. The neck is muscular, with a suspension, the head with a moderate transition from the forehead to the sea, the lines of the forehead and muzzle are almost parallel. Jaws strong, scissors bite. The eyes are rhomboid, dark. The nose is black, in dogs with a light color it may be brown. The ears are set below the eye line, they are long, thin, narrow along the entire length. The tail is long, strong at the base and tapering to the tip, does not twist, in the active state it holds above the back, takes the shape of a saber. The coat is short, smooth and dense. Color, as a rule, red-white or black and white in blush.
Character
Bassets are known as clowns in the canine world. This title breed endowed by the desire to always amuse and delight their masters. Indeed, the bassets are ideal pets, incredibly sociable, loyal, friendly. By the way, the basset’s friendliness extends to everyone: to family members and new acquaintances, to other dogs and even to cats. In addition, the bassets are ideal nannies, they love to play with children. They always strive to be part of the family and hate loneliness. It is not recommended to leave the basset for a long time alone, and if you are often absent, another dog or cat will help brighten up the loneliness of the pet.
Bassetts also love to eat and quite often play pranks while stealing food. Moreover, the basset never misses the opportunity to climb on the table and lick the plates, and can even do it not in a gentleman’s way, sneaking a treat from the hands of a defenseless child.
Despite the fact that the basset is quite mobile hunting dogs, they prefer not active games, but measured, slow, but long walks. They also love to be lazy and can bask on their favorite bed for hours.
As for the training, due to the natural stubbornness of basset is quite difficult to train. If the basset does not want to execute the command, it will not execute it. Therefore, the owner will have to be patient and in no way offend the dog, otherwise it will no longer respect the owner – and then you can definitely forget about the training.
Health
Basset Hounds – dogs with excellent health, who feel great in almost any climate. The only problems that are periodically observed in the breed are swelling, back pain and ear infections, the tendency to which is explained by the structure of the dog’s body.
As for the content, the ideal option for a basset is a country house with a fenced area, but if there are long walks 2 times a day, the basset feel great in the apartment.
Since bassets have low stature, they often get dirty during walking, therefore, they need to be washed more often than other dogs.
During moulting, combing dogs is recommended with special tools approximately 4 times a week.
Story
Basset Hounds were bred in the UK. According to one version, their ancestors were the Bloodhounds. It is believed that the breed has a long history, since even William Shakespeare described in his works the basset hounds, knocking their dew down with their long ears.
The breed was recognized by the English Club in 1883, after which work began on improving the breed, thanks to which the basset became not only hounds, but also decorative dogs.
Basset hounds were used and used for hunting pheasants, opossums, hares and even foxes. These dogs have an excellent scent, moreover, despite their size, they run very fast.
This is a breed of dogs in the 6th group of the IFF The external standard of dogs is defined by FCI No. 163 dated March 5, 1998.
Interesting Facts
The name of the breed includes 2 words: “bass” – low and “hound” – hound.
The long ears of the basset hound are not a funny trait of appearance, but a hunting quality. Touching the ground and plants, long ears collect odors and help the dog not to lose track.
Bassetts owe their great paws for their excellent stability on rough terrain.
Basset has the best nose in the world! More precisely, almost the best: the best nose of a basset is only the nose of the Bloodhound. These are not just noses, but precise instruments that capture all odors. There are 20 million olfactory receptors in the nose of the basset! Just compare – a person has only 5 million of them.