Fashionable Foxhounds: The Dangerous Of Standardisation

Alastair Jackson appeals to hound breeders to look beyond the show winners to find sires, as the foxhound gene pool is becoming ever-narrower

- Alastair Jackson

That great breeder of foxhounds, Ikey Bell, wrote a magical book of anecdotes, full of his knowledge and experiences of foxhunting. A Huntsman’s Logbook was published just after World War II. In one of the chapters, entitled “Standardisation”, he regrets that the foxhound, as a breed, had become so uniform in type.

He says: “There was a time that had I met a stray hound in the road, in most instances I could have made a shrewd guess as from what kennel he hailed. Nowadays one could not be so certain.”

In those days the fashionable hounds came from Belvoir, were dark coloured, of the heavier type, with plenty of bone. Ikey Bell would applaud the type of modern foxhound that wins at Peterborough today. This is the type he was striving for, full of quality and with far less bone than the popular Belvoir type that was the ultimate in those days.

I might add that the modern Belvoir hounds have been skilfully bred, being far more active, while retaining their bloodlines and hunting qualities.

However, on closer inspection of the hounds in most kennels today, he would be even more concerned that hounds had become too uniform. As in the days he refers to, most masters are happy to use the dog hounds that win at the major shows. One wonders how many modern hound breeders study the Foxhound Kennel Stud Book and maintain the valuable tail female lines of their own kennels.

An example is that in the 2019 edition of the studbook, North Cotswold Rallywood 16 sired some 26 litters, and Grove and Rufford Broker 15 sired 22 litters. In that year, the North Cotswold were responsible for 37 litters and the Grove and Rufford, 36.