Bavarian Red Dog Breed Origins and Caracteristics
The blood tracker dogs form a very ancient group. In its origins, they had to direct the hunter to the prey, but after the invention of firearms, they became experts in following the trail of wounded animals, especially blood trails. In the Bavarian Alps, a difficult-access place where the chamois is hunted, a type of lighter blood tracker dog was created, the Bavarian Red Dog. They come from Pointers and Hannover Red Dog. This last one comes from different types of dogs used in the 17th century by German hunters to follow the blood trails.
The blood tracker dogs are used exclusively for large game hunting that is why its propagation and use is limited nowadays to the regions where the large game hunting is very abundant. The training lasts several years and requires a lot of patience and perseverance, but a well-trained specimen is able to follow a trail more than 24 hours during many kilometers. These dogs normally work as bloodhounds, tied to a leash. If they are let free, they must come to its master after having found the piece announcing its discovery with a sign and barking when its master comes. If the piece is only wounded, the dog must keep it in the site until its master arrives.
Bavarian Red Dog. Size: 45-50 cm. Weight: 25 kg approximately. Colors: dark red, reddish brown, reddish yellow (1), ocher yellow, light wheaten, grayish yellow, always darker on the back and with a dark (black) mask in some cases of dark wheaten.
Hannover red Dog. Size: 50-60 cm. Weight: 25-30 kg. Colors: dark red to light red, reddish brown (2), generally wheaten, also grayish brown, sometimes brown with two small dark patches. On the head and the ears there is a mask more or less defined and sometimes a dark strip on the back.
When they work with a leash the blood tracker dogs have a wide collar from which a long rope is tided. So that it may be stretched or rolled depending on the work, the rope is rolled in a peculiar traditional way.
