BASSET HOUNDS ARE TECHNICALLY DWARVES
All basset hounds have achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism in humans and sometimes dogs, that's characterized by genetically abnormal bone and cartilage growth. For most dog breeds, achondroplasia is considered a defect. In basset hounds, the trait is essential and defining.
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BASSET HOUNDS WERE BRED TO HUNT IN PACKS
Basset hounds were designed not only to hunt small game, but to do it in packs. Through teamwork, basset hounds hunting together in a pack can more easily drive a rabbit or other prey out from cover. This breeding instills a highly social personality in even non-hunting basset hounds. Bassets love to be around people, children, dogs and other animals.
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MODERN BASSET HOUNDS ARE DIFFERENT FROM EARLY BASSETS
Dogs described as "bassets" date back at least to the 16th century, when "low" hounds gained popularity as hunting companions, particularly in France. But basset breeding was not strictly codified, and underwent many changes over time. It wasn't until the late 19th and early 20th centuries that breeders crossed bassets with bloodhounds to increase the small dog's size, incidentally adding the bloodhound's typically droopy jowliness to the basset countenance.
Pictured: 19th-century color engraving of a basset hound. Photographed from the book title "Oeuvres Completes de Buffon," published in France in 1830-1832.
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BASSET HOUNDS' FLOPPY EARS HELP THEIR SCENT TRAILING
Although they are adorable, a basset hound's floppy ears also serve a practical purpose. Bassets have one of the best senses of smell of all breeds (second only to bloodhounds), and their ears have a lot to do with it. When a basset hound tracks its prey, its ears sweep the scent up toward the dog's nose. The loose skin at the basset hound's throat, aka the dewlap, also helps trap the scent to amplify the dog's already powerful olfactory ability.
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TIME MAGAZINE POPULARIZED BASSET HOUNDS IN AMERICA
Already popular in France and the U.K., basset hound's experienced slower acceptance among American dog lovers in the 20th century's early decades. But the breed enjoyed a significant bump in public awareness and popularity when Time magazine feature a basset hound puppy on its Feb. 27, 1928, cover to accompany an article about the Westminster dog show.
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ELVIS PRESLEY'S "HOUND DOG" WAS A BASSET HOUND
Leiber and Stoller's song "Hound Dog" is not about an actual dog at all, of course. But when Elvis recorded the song in 1956, he performed a version that changed the lyrics significantly, so it didn't seem like such a stretch when, performing on "The Steve Allen Show," he sang the song to a basset hound wearing a top hat. Elvis later called this "the most ridiculous performance of my entire career."
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