kelpiecuddles

An interesting difference between them is the description of the feet which in the ANKC standard(which I understand stems from the british standard) feet may point straight ahead OR be turned out slightly whereas in the AKC there is not mention of feet that may point straight ahead. My understanding is that the outward pointing feet help balance the weight of the heavy chest of the basset so it's an interesting addition to the standard and something I may research more to find the reasoning behind this addition.

Which in reality is pretty much the same thing, 13-15 implies that 14 is what you are aiming for ultimately. There are a few wording differences but the standards are very close to each other.

I have been reading a bit here and there, I do find it very interesting, just hard to get time to actually sit down and concentrate on one thing for long enough with the kiddies home at the moment. One day when my house becomes sane!

Interesting that you have height limits Vs weight limits between here and the US Rebanne, in greys I could imagine that could cause some interesting variation, is it regulated in other ways that attain a similar height such as leg length/body depth ratio or anything like that?

The heights for the AKC and ANKC are the same, I believe that the standard for bassets is pretty much an international standard.

The most current standard is I believe the british standard so I would guess that's what the French use although I haven't really gone too far in to the international side of the history

I've been hunting for a side on photo of Josie but this is really the only one I could find and she's unfortunately wearing a coat but you can see that there is a fair amount of 'daylight' under her, she isn't bred or raised to be stodgy or with her belly just about touching the ground, she still fits within the requirements of the breed standard but she is long and lean with a body type suited for endurance. She comes from a well regarded Australian breeder with champion local and imported bloodlines who is definitely on my list for who I may look to for future dogs. Every single vet that has met her has commented on her wonderful condition and health and how good it is to see a basset in good nic. Edited because it helps if I include the photos LOL

This was when the original modern standard was created in the states, I'm sorry Rebanne I'm typing one handed while talking to my husband and trying to make my children go to bed Multi tasking is not my strong point tonight LOL The essential characteristics of the two standards are very close though otherwise we could not import their dogs and show them here.

Yes but bassets do something very different to petits ;)

I'm going to add one final link which is a discussion of the most recent standard changes by Czech Judge Iva Černohubova, it's quite interesting reading and talks about the way that standards should be interpreted in order to ensure soundness of animals that remain true to their original purpose. Lots of interesting photos too.

You might just as well say, what's the point of having tollers, we've got Labradors that can do the job of retrieving birds so why bother having another breed.

Petits are considered to be good hunters on small game like rabbits and things of that nature, maybe the type of trialling that is common there suited the PBGV, as they said they were moving towards faster moving more exciting breeds to hunt with so I suppose if the breed you are working with doesn't provide the speed and agility you want then you move on to a leggier one. There are many hound breeds from basset hounds up to fox hounds and bloodhounds, all have their own purpose and reason or we wouldn't have ended up with so many breeds would we.

In later years they were yes, I was merely including some pictures which I had found in my travels that I thought were interesting, it seems that a lot of the hunting kennels did cross their dogs fairly heavily but I suppose that this is how our current breeds were developed, the basset hound club of America created the modern breed standard in 1963 although there were other standards used in breeding before that but this is the one we now work with.

Similar amount of daylight as my basset who is from champion show lines. Even within show dogs there is variation otherwise showers wouldn't talk about how different judges prefer different types of dogs within the standard. Some of those dogs are crossed with longer legged hounds but there are certainly plenty of short legged ones. I'm not sure what relevance the fact that there are only three pictures on there has? the previous person supplied one picture, is there some sort of competition here I missed? Longer legged dogs were bred to make the hunt faster paced and more 'exciting' which isn't in my list of priorities.

There are some great old photos from the 40s of Skycastle hunting bassets of a few different types in this link, you can see that in those photos they are very similar to the basset I have in my backyard, certainly not leggy like the one shown earlier. Beautiful dogs doing the job they were bred for and doing it well. http://www.skycastlefrenchhounds.com/60anniv.php

I did say that somewhere back in the thread too. there is a pack of working bred bassets in the link I posted in post 80. They are very much like my current girl and much closer to the show standard but they are still working dogs.

I didn't once say that I didn't care about the standard, in fact I've said just the opposite many time pretty clearly I thought. Someone put up a photo of a dog that isn't a basset bred to standard and basically stated that a basset bred to standard wouldn't be able to do their job because this is what some bloke over in the UK breeds for his purposes, all I said was that is what HE breeds not what I intend to breed.

It's definitely on the cards Steve, as I said breeding is a long way off yet, my first dogs will be purpose trained. Right now I'm not in the right place to breed and as such it's not something I will be doing just yet :)

True Diva, it does make it a very long term breeding goal though doesn't it, which is a good thing but it's a bit like asking politicians to look past their four years LOL

Because there will always be people that breed whatever the hell they want Bjelkier. What do you think people who breed oodles are doing, they are breeding what they perceive as a good dog for whatever reasons they like. Doesn't mean people breeding to standard approve of it but it happens everywhere as we know. It's generally tolerated in farm dogs because farmers are breeding for their own purpose and generally only to replace their dogs over the years and/or to supply other locals with good working animals. ETA: It's also how breeds were developed over the years, people working their dogs found the available animals didn't suit their needs and so they tweaked them by cross breeding to create a dog that did suit. It used to be that the measure of a dog was how well it did the work, now it's does it fit the standard.

The ones on this page are working bassets and much closer to the standard, very similar to the type of my girl. Not keen on the one at the very front, looks a little roached but could just be the way the dog was standing when the pic was taken. http://www.hertsshow.com/attraction_details.php?attractionid=24721

Plus if a breed has very low numbers it only takes just a few animals dying young to muck things up. How much of it is environmental do you think? My dogs are lean and fit and everyone is very surprised when I say my kelpie is nearly ten and my basset is 5, most people seem to place my basset at around 2 and the kelpie at around 4. I credit the way I keep them as the reason for their health and 'youthful good looks' LOL. I will be interested to see what sort of lifespan they have because neither have shown any signs of age related issues or slowing down any time soon.

There are some great illustrations on this page of what a good basset should look like for anyone interested: http://judgesl.com/Basset/basset.htm I think it is important to understand that people who are breeding outside of the standard are breeding for their own reasons, if you went to a random non ANKC registered farmer in Aus who breeds his own working dogs for his own use and asked him why he bred X dog to Y dog he's probably going to tell you because they are his best workers, which simply means they are the best animals for his climate, topography and the type of animal they are herding. A standard bred basset doesn't suit every type of terrain, which is why I say I feel they are unsuited to USAR work(which would require them to traverse building rubble and similar) People who breed outside of the standard are breeding the type of dog THEY like, for THEIR conditions, for the type of hunting THEY are doing and the way THEY are doing it. That doesn't mean that a standard bred basset is unsuited to hunting or tracking work it just means that they prefer a different type of dog.

We live on the edge of bushland, so my basset exercises in bushland all the time and has never had problems with her ears doing so, the only time she's ever cut her ear was when her kelpie sister and her were playing and got a bit rough :p I'm not sure why the one you see has so much trouble minimax, Josie's certainly get grotty but washing the ends of her ears isn't the end of the world and is more often a factor of the way she eats or them getting drool on them LOL

And I'm referring to fit for MY purpose, I feel that a dog like Josie who is bred to standard IS fit for purpose, that being the one I am using her for. I don't have a clue what purpose the person is using that dog for, maybe they need a faster dog that can cover ground quickly so that may be the type he needs to be fit for his purpose therefore he has chosen to deviate from a show standard. I need dogs that will track on lead at human pace and 5 1/2 years of working with my basset tells me that she is more than capable of that. I know a person who used to own a standard dachshund who did endurance and cross country events with him, it was a beautiful dog from show lines but was still capable of what he asked of him despite his short legs.