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THE SPORTING BLOODHOUND
By David Hancock

  The breed of Bloodhound is not thriving in today’s busy world, with only 62 registered with the Kennel Club in 2018, they are now listed by that body as a ‘vulnerable’ breed, or one whose numbers give anxiety over their future. It is reassuring therefore to know that the Bloodhounds in the packs are doing well in their hunting of the ‘clean boot’ and drag-hunting. It is so good to read that the newish pack, the Yorkshire Farmers Bloodhounds, only formed in 2015 is thriving. Intended to be a black and tan pack with aspirations to be shown at The Festival of Hunting at Peterborough, this pack, with real sportsmen at the helm, is going to be a leader in the Bloodhound packs. I am not surprised that the show Bloodhound is losing ground, the exhibits I see are extremely disappointing, with excessive wrinkle on the head and neck, sunken eyes, too loose a mouth and overlong ears. This is a famous scenthound breed and doesn’t need exaggeration or any feature handicapping it in the field. KC judges qualified to judge this distinguished breed have much to do. Perhaps the disappearance of the show ring dogs will save them a challenging task! In The Sportsman’s Cabinet of 1804, these words could contribute to their task: “The bloodhound, in every literary transmission to be found upon record, is unanimously admitted to have been about seven, or eight and twenty inches high, of substantial, firm, strong, compact, and muscular form; the face wide upon the forehead, gradually narrowing to the nose; the countenance attractively serene, and solicitous of attention; nostrils wide and expansive; ears large, soft, and pendulous, broad at the base, and narrowing to the tip; tail long, with an erective curve, particularly when in pursuit, with a voice awfully loud, deep, and sonorous.”

Breed Title 

 In its Illustrated Breed Standards the KC records: “The home country of the breed is Belgium and ancestry can be traced back to the monastery of St Hubert. In Belgium the Bloodhound is known by his other name of St Hubert Hound. It is most probable that this hound was one of those brought to England by the Normans in 1066.” Apart from the fact that Belgium did not become a country until 1830 and the hounds of the monastery were all-black, the great French hound expert of the nineteenth century, Count le Couteulx de Canteleu, held that all French hounds were descended from the St Hubert strain. The monastery is in the Ardennes, a region long famous for its schweisshunden but for black ones. The naming of the Bloodhound as the Chien de St Hubert, and the recognition of Belgium as its origin source, was done unilaterally by the FCI, the international kennel club based there. I think it is far more likely that the modern breed of Bloodhound was developed in Britain. The noun ‘bloodhound’ has been used loosely to describe hounds developed as far apart as Cuba and South Africa. The naming of breeds of dog has rarely been impressively accurate.

Sleuth Hound

“The sleuthhound derives its name from its readiness in tracing the sleuth, slot, or track of the deer. Gratius, who wrote before the Christian era, and Strabo, who flourished somewhat later, notices the importation of dogs of this kind from Britain into Gaul as common, in consequence of their excellence…their exquisite powers of scent were put into requisition to trace human marauders and blood-stained culprits, from which they gained the name of bloodhound in England, while they retained their appellation of sleuthhound in Scotland.”

From An Encyclopaedia of Rural Sports by Delabere Blaine, (Longmans, 1870)

 In some ways, it might have been better for the breed of Bloodhound to become our Sleuth Hound or Slough Hound, as the Scots would have it. The word ‘blood’ in its title conjures up images, for some, of a bloodthirsty attack dog rather than an amiable scenthound more interested in scent than taste! And the Bloodhound is the scenthound. In his treatise Of Englishe Dogges of 1576, Dr Caius wrote: ”For whether the beast, being wounded…and escapeth the hands of the huntsman; or whether the said beast being slain is conveyed cleanly out of the park (so that there be some signification of bloodshed) these dogs, with no less facility and easiness than avidity and greediness, can disclose and betray the same by smelling: applying to their pursuit, agility and nimbleness, without tediousness. For which consideration, of a singular speciality they deserve to be called Sanguinarii, Bloodhounds.”

Individual Breed

  Any spirited sportsman seeking a highly individual breed and one to challenge the world he lives in would be well suited to the breed of Bloodhound! Writing on ‘The Bloodhound As A Sporting Dog’ in The Badminton Magazine of Sports and Pastimes of 1902, Russell Richardson gave the view “That the bloodhound fails to occupy the high position amongst sporting dogs to which, by reason of its high qualities, it would seem to be entitled…must be a matter of surprise and regret to all who have any personal knowledge of their capabilities…” In a world where conforming is all and copying others appears the name of the game, the sheer facial appeal alone of this breed should attract the individuals left among us. Richardson went on to express the pleasure to be obtained from ‘hunting the clean boot’ with such a dog, a pursuit that can surely antagonize no one. No doubt followers of the remaining Bloodhound packs still enjoying this pastime will echo his views.

Sporting Hound

  Writing in her With Hound and Terrier of 1904, published by Blackwood, West Country sportswoman and knowledgeable dog-breeder, Alys Serrell gave an interesting view of the Bloodhound around that time: “Mr Holford’s hounds were well known, and his Matchless and Diligent were among the best specimens of their day. Another famous breeder was Mr Brough, whose kennel has had a long series of show successes. Unfortunately, the bloodhound has not been exempt from the dangers of a show career…In process of time, some of the show bench hounds became a sort of canine tadpole – all head. Legs and feet, back and loins, and all that propelling power without which a hound is not worthy of the name, were neglected as matters of small importance compared to an exaggerated wrinkle, a narrow high-peaked head, a deeply sunken eye, and a disproportionate length of ear. The bloodhound indeed was apparently doomed, because the extreme views of the fanciers would leave him neither the power to hunt nor the brains to be a companion. Then came the happy idea of making him again an instrument of sport, in the direction to which his hereditary qualities seemed to point. The leading bloodhound-owners trained their hounds to hunt the clean boot…and when the first trials were arranged, very general interest was excited.” Her summary tells you a great deal about show ring excesses penalising a sporting breed – an activity not confined to this breed.

    Historically, the Bloodhound was very much part of the chase, featuring in Landseer’s paintings of the deer hunt, with their unique tracking skills leading to their use all over the world. The ‘father’ of the breed here was Edwin Brough, whose hounds were as much admired in the show ring (where his kennel won over 700 prizes including 386 ‘firsts’), as employed as scenters by a variety of users. His hounds were sound physically, lacking the hyper-elongated ears, excess of loose skin, distressing display of haw and over-abundance of dewlap/throatiness – condemned by Alys Serrell a century ago but still seen in the show-rings today. The pack Bloodhounds are much more like Brough’s hounds, yet, show breeders recently expressed outrage when some of the former were mooted as additions to the pedigree ranks to widen the gene pool (despite the infusion of Foxhound blood after World War II). The obsession with pure breeding, even when to the detriment of a breed, is very 20th century and needs to be relegated to the history books. The blood of the Bloodhound was valued by our sporting ancestors when seeking to enhance the performance of other breeds.

Valued Blood

  The famous Foxhound Harlequin was one quarter Bloodhound and considered by the great hound expert of the 20th century, Sir John Buchanan-Jardine, as the best hound in the field he ever saw. Another great hound expert, Sir Newton Rycroft in Hounds, Hunting and Country, The Derrydale Press, 2001, wrote: “What is the potential value of such crosses both for fox- and deer-hunting? Here I believe a very sharp distinction has to be made between pure bloodhound and working bloodhound with an outcross. When first considering the pure bloodhound, the best and, I believe, only the very best have retained the nose…As regards cry, stamina and constitution, I believe the pure bloodhound of today is far too weak to be a practical proposition for crossing.” Hound expert Jack Ivester Lloyd, writing to Hounds magazine in September 1989, gave the view that the Bloodhound both before and after the Second World War was ‘all in’ after hunting a four-mile line, blaming inbreeding due to the small numbers of the breed in those times. It is worth noting that when the East Anglian Bloodhound pack was set up, they went for a three-quarter Bloodhound, together with blood from the Dumfriesshire Foxhounds and the French Gascogne and produce a more pack-orientated hound. Breeding for performance has to be the way with hounds.

 The American Leon Whitney, vet and sportsman, who probably bred more crossbred dogs than anyone before or since, wrote in his informative How to Breed Dogs, Orange Judd, 1947, lamenting the ‘rage for “bone’ in the breed by show breeders, the strange desire for ‘heavy ankles’ and the desire for ‘heavy wrinkle’, contrasting the usefulness of such dogs with the much more workmanlike hounds produced by those breeding ‘trailers’. His remarks come to mind when you have seen say the Peak pack or the Coakham hounds and compared them to show Bloodhounds. At the Richmond championship dog show of November 2011, one of the best show judges in Britain gave the view that this was the worst entry of the breed that she had ever judged, with some prizes being withheld. With tiny entry figures, some rosettes are hollow victories and I dread to think of some of the show dogs being bred from. Sadly, I have seen some show ring hounds with quite a variety of mouth and jaw faults, with both over- and undershot specimens and excessive narrowness at the muzzle. Bloodhounds ‘taste’ scent and deserve sound mouths.

Tracking Prowess

 A famous tracking pack was the Ledburn – usually about five or six couples hunting at least once a week in the winter in the Vale of Aylesbury until the outbreak of the Second World War. They were famous for their voice too. Ledburn Boswell and Ledburn Baal each, separately, hunted his man twenty-four hours cold over Corrie Common in Dumfriesshire before the Second World War and, after that war, Mrs Oldfield’s hound won the Brough Cup for hunting a six-hour cold line for 3 miles in 20 minutes. In his Dog Breaking of 1909, General Hutchinson remarks on the value of this breed in tracking poachers: “…for the fear poachers naturally entertain of being tracked to their homes at dawn of day would more deter them from entering a cover than any dread of being assailed at night by the boldest armed party.” I give many marks to those stalwarts who still carry out tracking trials for their hounds and retain the famous ability in these majestic animals. Scope for gamekeepers here!      

 The KC is viewing needless exaggeration in breeds of dog with greater scrutiny nowadays. Commendably, the KC has removed expressions like: “especially noticeable loose skin about the head and neck and where it hangs in deep folds”, and, again on head skin, deleted “appears abundant, but more particularly so when head is carried low, skin falling into loose pendulous ridges and folds, especially over forehead and sides of face.” The KC has also introduced new wording: ‘Signs of any obvious eye irritation must be heavily penalised.’ Over the last thirty years I have seen Bloodhounds in the show ring with red-raw eyes and such a superfluity of head skin that their eyesight has been impaired. And some of them won prizes! One Bloodhound exhibitor informed me, and he believed it, that it was important that the head skin hung right over the dog’s eyes ‘so that it was forced to seek scent on the ground’. When I gently reminded him that all the famous man-trailers had tight head skin and no impaired vision, he merely shrugged and strolled away. But before the devotees of pack Bloodhounds feel superior, the past seeking of heavy ankles and massive bone in Foxhounds was just as misguided. As always it is the dogs that bear the brunt of human foolishness.

St Hubert Past

 One French-Canadian enthusiast, Christiane Bernard, claims a separate strain as the genuine St Huberts, with her hounds of that name reaching as much as 34 inches at the shoulder and weighing around 145lbs. One of her male dogs was said to measure 36 inches and weigh 160lbs, but she admits he was exceptional. Big strapping black and tan, red/tan or tricolour scenthounds can be found all over Europe, from the Jura Hound in Switzerland to the Segugio type in Italy. Perhaps, in the French style, the newly-created St Hubert could become the grand size, the Hanover and Bavarian Mountain Hounds the briquet type, with even the Basset Hound becoming the petit. The name of ‘St Hubert’ in a breed title, should by itself raise interest in that breed. As hunting with scenthounds declines, any measure to heighten their profile has to be worth a shot. Their unique powers of scent should still have value for mankind.

   In the United States, their Black and Tan and Redbone Coonhounds have a St Hubert look to them, and in South America, the Fila Brasileiro embraces a strain of distinct Bloodhound type. Perhaps, as referred to earlier, the French hound expert, Count le Couteulx de Canteleu, had a point in considering the St Hubert Hound as the founder of all European hound breeds, rather than one distinct one from the Ardennes, in what became Belgium. It’s far more likely that the St Hubert strain is mainly behind just the Bleu de Gascogne, Gascon-Saintongeois, Ariegeois and Artois-Normand packs. But many French scenthound breeds have a distinct St Hubert look to them, especially in the length of their ears and their throatiness.

  It was pleasing to see hounds from the Four Shires Bloodhounds (a pack hunting the Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire country) succeeding at a recent Peterborough Festival of Hunting – the result of a clear enlightened breeding programme. The Bloodhounds ‘of the packs’ contain valuable breeding material, especially for the widening of the gene pool in the show kennels. Their unforgettable ‘voice’ has long been treasured, with some sportsmen in France long favouring this breed in the hunting field. I have a distant memory, when working in Germany over half a century ago, of a British cavalry regiment to the south having a Bloodhound pack, called, I think, the Weser Vale Bloodhounds. In the best interests of this breed’s survival, it make so much sense for the show breeders to reinvigorate their breed with valuable blood, and unexaggerated hounds from the packs. These are very special hounds, so much a keystone of all hound work and so worth conserving.      

 “No breed can vigorously thrive on the strength of past greatness, nor can it always rely on finding financially able and generous backers as it has in the past. The breed cannot thrive solely by its presence at dog shows and occasional Field Trials. Those who love these hounds must breed for good temperament, for active brains, and for the ability to fit into the home life of to-day. In order to do so some exaggerations of type may have to be swept away, but this price would prove well worth while.”

From The Bloodhound Handbook by Douglas H Appleton, (Nicholson & Watson, 1960).