Roots of the Bloodhound

All modern hound breeds owe their nose to the Bloodhound.

Posted: Sun Jun 5 00:00:00 PDT 2005

All modern hound breeds owe their nose to the Bloodhound. This ancient hunting and tracking master has been around since the seventh century, when Saint Hubert, the patron saint of the hunter, crossed his big game hounds with white hunting hound of the Ardennes region of France.

The Bloodhound was refined in England after William the Conqueror brought several pairs to the British Isles in the 11^th century.

In the 16^th century, Bloodhounds became popular for tracking humans. Their performance was so highly regarded they had the legal right to follow a scent trail across private property and even into homes and businesses.