Basset Bleu de Gascogne puppies

About the Basset Bleu de Gascogne

The Basset Bleu de Gascogne is a short legged scent hound from the south west of France, bred down from the larger Gascony blues to work at a walking pace after rabbit and hare. The coat is the giveaway: black and white hairs mottled so finely that the whole dog reads as slate blue, usually with black patches over the ears and eyes. They stand 34 to 38 centimetres, and the Kennel Club recognises them as an imported breed in the Hound group.

The legs are short but the engine behind them is not. The Kennel Club puts exercise at more than two hours a day, and a hound built to trail for hours will use every minute. Grooming is a weekly going over of a short, dense coat that still sheds. Recall is the real work, because a nose this good overrules a voice, and the breed bays. They are neither quiet nor suited to a small garden, which is what catches people out.

What to expect at eight weeks

At eight weeks a Basset Bleu de Gascogne puppy is sleeping around 18 to 20 hours a day, is not house trained, and cannot hold on for more than an hour or two at a stretch. A medium breed puppy at eight weeks is a manageable armful that will not stay that way. Most of the growth happens between now and six months, so buy for the adult dog where you can. This is a high energy breed. At eight weeks that shows up as intensity rather than stamina, and they will need a job to do long before they need long walks. Grooming is straightforward, but start handling the coat, feet and ears in week one anyway so it is never a fight later. The socialisation window is open and closing: everything they meet calmly now, from vacuum cleaners to men in hats, is easier for the rest of their life.

Health worth knowing about

Conditions this breed is reported to be predisposed to. Predisposed does not mean inevitable, it means ask about it.

• Ear infections under long leathers that reach past the end of the nose, found by lifting and checking the ear every week
• Back and joint strain from a long body on short legs, managed by keeping the dog lean and having a vet assess any change in gait
• Weight gain in a greedy hound with a low frame, tracked by regular weighing and body condition scoring at the vet
• A small United Kingdom gene pool, which the Kennel Club asks breeders to manage by prioritising genetic diversity and checking inbreeding coefficients before a mating

Your Basset Bleu de Gascogne puppy's first six months

• Vaccination schedule, dated for your country.
• Worming and parasite schedule.
• Feeding calculator. Set expected adult size to Medium for a Basset Bleu de Gascogne.
• Adult size predictor, to check growth against the Not published adult range.
• Puppy names and the first week checklist.

Kit sizes: chew toys made for medium breeds. Worked out the same way as the crate size calculator. PetMD bases a crate on the dog's own measurements, not weight or breed alone, so measure once the puppy is home.

Buying guides for this

• Best crate for a puppy: wire, plastic or soft, and how to size one with a divider

Other medium breeds

Previous: Basenji · Next: Basset Fauve de Bretagne

Sources

• fci.be for adult weight and height and coat type
• fci.be for life expectancy and country of origin
• royalkennelclub.com for energy, grooming and the temperament ratings
• royalkennelclub.com for health notes
• Health notes from Basset Bleu de Gascogne breed information at https://www.royalkennelclub.com/search/breeds-a-to-z/breeds/hound/basset-bleu-de-gascogne-imp/. Discuss any of these with your own vet.

No published figure for adult weight and life expectancy, so nothing is shown rather than a guess.

Photo: M.W. Reichert, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped. All photographers are listed on the photo credits page.