What's a Basset Hound?

When we went to the beach this weekend, we had a lot of people stop and ask us about the dogs. Most people just want to pet and touch them. We had several requests for people who just wanted to pet their ears because they 'looked so soft'. Which they are.

While we're walking the dogs around we also hear a lot of comments. "Oh my gosh, what kind of dogs are those."
"Look at the weiner dogs!" Are you kidding me? "Oh, can we pet your beagles?"

"Those are bloodhounds right?"

So I decided to put together this helpful guide to help you tell the difference between those breeds of dogs, and the basset hound.

This is a basset hound:

Angus is fairly deceptive because he's whats known as a 'long legger'. Notice the long body, short legs, long wide muzzle, very long ears, and the very saggy skin. He has all of those things to help him scent.

Now for those breeds that aren't basset hounds:

This is a Dachshund.

Much shorter legs, shorter ears, long pointy muzzle. The only thing these two have in common is the long body. Not even close to the same dog.

Bloodhound:

Much taller, not so long bodied, same long ears, but clearly not a basset hound.

Beagle:

This is a bit trickier. Both are short, both have longer ears, but there is one major difference: the length of the body. While beagles are short with longish ears, basset hounds are much longer in the body, have much longer ears, and much shorter legs.

Just to summarize:

These are basset hounds:


These are not basset hounds:


Now the next time you see a basset in public, you will definitely be able to tell that it is in fact a basset and not a beagle, bloodhound, or dachshund.