THE BASSET HOUND. 



BY LAWRENCE TIMPSON. 



Basset Frangais, or the Basset Hound, as lie is 

 known to us, is undoubtedly one of the oldest 

 breeds of dogs, and has existed in France in exactly 

 the same type that he does to-day for many centuries. 

 The French, however, have kept no systematic records of 

 sports and sporting dogs, and it is only within the last few 

 years, since the English have taken up the breed, that the 

 history of the Basset Hound has been collected and written. 



They were down to the seventeenth century known in 

 France as Chiens d'Artois, but since then this name has 

 been transferred to and used only to designate the large 

 Picardy Hounds, and the breed under discussion has been 

 given the name of Basset. 



The Basset Frangais and the Basset Allemand, or, as he 

 is better known, the Dachshund, had undoubtedly a com- 

 mon origin; but the Basset Hound of to-day has main- 

 tained all the characteristics of a true Hound, whereas the 

 Dachshund has some of the attributes of a Terrier. 



The Basset Frangais is divided into two strains, the 

 smooth-coated and the rough-coated; the former coming 

 originally from the province of Artois and the latter from 

 Flanders. Both these strains are divided again into three 

 classes: (1) the crooked-legged (Basset d janibes tortues), 

 (2) the half crooked -legged (Basset d jambes demi-tortues\ 

 and (3) the straight-legged (Basset d jambes droites). 



In France, all crooked-legged dogs are spoken of by 

 the people generally as Bassets, the same as in Germany 

 such a dog would be called a Dachs; so the term sometimes 

 conveys as little (or still less) significance as the word 

 Terrier does with us. 



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