With careful selection and judicious breeding we have now produced a beautiful hound of fine smooth coat, and a rich admixture of markings, with a head of noble character and the best of legs and feet.  Their short, twinkling legs make our Bassets more suitable for covert hunting than for hunting hares in the open, to which latter purpose they have frequently been adapted with some success.  Their note is resonant, with wonderful power for so small a dog, and in tone it resembles the voice of the Bloodhound.

The Basset-hound is usually very good tempered and not inclined to be quarrelsome with his kennel mates; but he is wilful, and loves to roam apart in search of game, and is not very amenable to discipline when alone.  On the other hand, he works admirably with his companions in the pack, when he is most painstaking and indefatigable.  Endowed with remarkable powers of scent, he will hunt a drag with keen intelligence.

There are now several packs of Bassets kept in England, and they show very fair sport after the hares; but it is not their natural vocation, and their massive build is against the possibility of their becoming popular as harriers.  The general custom is to follow them on foot, although occasionally some sportsmen use ponies.  Their pace, however, hardly warrants the latter expedient.  On the Continent, where big game is more common than with us, the employment of the Basset is varied.  He is a valuable help in the tracking of boar, wolf, and deer, and he is also frequently engaged in the lighter pastimes of pheasant and partridge shooting.

The Earl of Onslow and the late Sir John Everett Millais were among the earliest importers of the breed into England.  They both had recourse to the kennels of Count Couteulx.  Sir John Millais’ Model was the first Basset-hound exhibited at an English dog show, at Wolverhampton in 1875.  Later owners and breeders of prominence were Mr. G. Krehl, Mrs. Stokes, Mrs. C. C. Ellis and Mrs. Mabel Tottie.

As with most imported breeds, the Basset-hound when first exhibited was required to undergo a probationary period as a foreign dog in the variety class at the principal shows.  It was not until 1880 that a class was provided for it by the Kennel Club.

It is to be regretted that owners of this beautiful hound are not more numerous.  Admirable specimens are still to be seen at the leading exhibitions, but the breed is greatly in need of encouragement.  At the present time the smooth dog hound taking the foremost place in the estimate of our most capable judges is Mr. W. W. M. White’s Ch.  Loo-Loo-Loo, bred by Mrs. Tottie, by Ch.  Louis Le Beau out of Sibella.  Mr. Croxton Smith’s Waverer is also a dog of remarkably fine type.  Among bitch hounds Sandringham Dido, the favourite of Her Majesty the Queen, ranks as the most perfect of her kind.