Grand Bleu de Gascogne puppies

About the Grand Bleu de Gascogne

The Grand Bleu de Gascogne is the tall aristocrat of the French scent hounds, an old breed that ran in the fourteenth century packs of Gaston Phoebus after wolf, bear and boar. Modern dogs mostly work hare. The name comes from the coat: black and white hairs mottled so evenly that the dog looks slate blue, with black patches over each side of the head. Males stand 65 to 72 centimetres, and the Kennel Club lists it in the Hound group.

Everything about this hound is built for a long day at a steady pace, and the Kennel Club puts exercise at more than two hours daily. Grooming is a weekly brush of a short coat. The temperament is calm and biddable by hound standards, but the voice is deep and loud and the nose is in charge, so a secure garden and serious recall work are not optional. People buy the looks and are then surprised by the sheer size and the baying.

What to expect at eight weeks

At eight weeks a Grand 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 large breed puppy at eight weeks looks deceptively normal sized and will roughly double every few weeks for a while. Keep exercise short and low impact, the growth plates are wide open. This is a high energy breed. At eight weeks that shows up as intensity rather than stamina, and it will need a job to do long before it needs 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 it meets calmly now, from vacuum cleaners to men in hats, is easier for the rest of its life.

Health worth knowing about

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

• Loose lower eyelids, which the breed standard notes as typical and which a vet should check for irritation at a routine examination
• Ear infections under long, low set leathers, found by lifting and checking the ear canal each week
• Joint and growth problems in a very tall hound, which are picked up by keeping puppies lean and having a vet investigate any early lameness
• A small United Kingdom gene pool, which the Kennel Club asks breeders to handle by prioritising genetic diversity before a mating

From Grand Bleu de Gascogne breed information at https://www.royalkennelclub.com/search/breeds-a-to-z/breeds/hound/grand-bleu-de-gascogne-imp/. Discuss any of these with your own vet.

Your Grand 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 Large for a Grand Bleu de Gascogne.
• Adult size predictor, to check growth against the Not published adult range.
• Puppy names and the first week checklist.

Other large breeds

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