St. Hubert Hound or Bloodhound

This breed belongs to a group of tracker dogs that work only with the sense of smell. They are characterized by their drop ears. The Bloodhound is considered as the descendent of the Celtic tracker dogs, and it also has the blood of a mastiff. In the 7th century there were already texts about how to breed these animals. The most known dogs come from the Saint Hubert abbey, in Ardenas, which is famous for breeding these dogs. Even today this breed is being called Saint Hubert dog. These dogs were introduced in England in 1066 by James the Conqueror. The English name of the Bloodhound means that this is a noble dog, a pure-bred. The Saint Hubert has an excellent sense of smell and it can keep not recent trails (it can track trails with more than 48 hours). That is why it was used to track the prey. In England, during the 16th and 17th centuries, it was used as an auxiliary to the guardians of the law and to chase poachers and thieves that attacked the old travelers.

The Bloodhound is calm and it has a good character; it is also a good companion at home, but it is a bad guardian. It barks to intruders but it does pay attention to them.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the Saint Hubert was taken to Virginia, the first English colony of North America. In the 18th century it was crossed with the Foxhound and it may have also been crossed with many terriers; thus a new breed of dogs was used mainly for hunting raccoons. It is called Coonhound (because of "raccoon").

Bloodhound. Size: male 67 cm maximum; female 64 cm. Weight: 35-50 kg. Colors: black and tan, red (1), from beige to mahogany, with the black coat that extends on the back, the flanks, the upper part of the neck and the head. The skin is relatively fine, especially on the head where there are some typical wrinkles on the forehead and the cheeks. The very long snout is ascendant; in the lip commissures, it can fall up to 5 cm under the jaw. The ears are also long that they are kept low and they fall in light folds even lower than the snout. On the ears the skin is very fine. In the neck the skin forms a very marked double chin.

Coonhound (2). Size: 58-68 cm. Weight: 25-35 kg. Color: black and tan.