660 The Dog Book 



As all abnormally long-bodied and short-legged dogs have a tendency 

 to crooked forelegs in order to get balance, there is no reason to believe that 

 the basset got his crooked legs from rickets any more than neglected short- 

 legged dogs, where selection of straight legs is made essential, become bad 

 fronted when selection is not attended to. 



Colonel Thornton on his visit to France at the close of the eighteenth 

 century saw these bassets and called them bloodhounds, described how they 

 were led in tracking game to their resting places, and the one illustrated in 

 his book he bought at the St. Germains kennels and took to England 

 with him. 



Mr. Millais introduced the basset to English dog shows in 1875, but it 

 was not until Wolverhampton show of 1880 that they got their real start 

 there. At that show Mr. Millais made a large entry and they attracted 

 great attention. The late George R. Krehl then took up the breed and it 

 became slightly popular, on account of its quaintness, and "There is such a 

 lot to breed for," Mr. Krehl explained. This difficulty in breeding good 

 dogs caused many to give them up in England, and except at the large 

 shows the basset is relegated to the variety classes. 



In America very few have been shown. Occasionally a new hand gets 

 a brace or two and secures classes at New York show and then drops out 

 after a brief trial. Mr. Higginson was the last to try them and got two 

 couples of the rough variety to see whether they would not do as well as 

 the beagles used by the Middlesex Hunt of Massachusetts, but they did not 

 give satisfaction and the hunt graduated to English foxhounds. 



The simplest way to describe the basset is to say he is a large dachshund 

 with a head much like a bloodhound. The illustrations we give are suffi- 

 cient to show what the dog was and now is without any descriptive particulars. 



