Scent hounds

The Traditional Tracker

Scent hounds hunt by relying on their very powerful sense of smell, as they have probably the most sensitive noses of all dogs. They have been used for hunting game, vermin and people for hundreds of years.

These breeds specialize in following a smell or scent. Most of these dogs have long, drooping ears, which it is believed helps to channel the scent to the nose and face. Scent hounds have comparatively large nostrils, to further improve their ability to retain and follow the scent. They also have loose, moist lips for trapping particles of scent.    

Most of these breeds have deep, booming voices and bay enthusiastically when chasing a prey, or even when they are just running. This can be a distinct disadvantage in a domestic situation or in an urban area but is an essential trait if the dog is used in tracking, to enable the handler to follow the dogs even when they are out of sight.

Scent hounds are built for endurance, so they have nothing like the speed and agility of sighthounds because they do not need to keep prey in sight. Many of the scent hounds are built low to the ground, like the Beagle, the Dachsund and the Basset Hound, because they spend a lot of their time with their nose to the ground.  The very best scent hounds can follow a scent trail even across running water and even when it is several days old.

Alpine Dachsbracke   American Foxhound   Anglo-Français de Petite Vénerie   Ariegeois
Artois Hound    Austrian Black and Tan Hound    Basset Bleu de Gascogne
Basset Fauve de Bretagne   Bavarian Mountain Hound    Beagle    Beagle-Harrier
Berner Laufhund    Blackmouth Cur   Bloodhound   Brachet   Bouge Linda
Coonhound    American English Coonhound   Black and Tan Coonhound
Redbone Coonhound   Red Tick Coonhound   Bluetick Coonhound    English Coonhound
Treeing Walker Coonhound   Plott Hound   Dachshund   Drever    Dunker
Finnish Hound   Foxhound   Francais Blanc et Noir   Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen (GBVB)
Grand Bleu de Gascogne   Hamiltonstovare   Hanover Hound   Harrier    Hungarian Hound
Kerry Beagle    Kritikos Ichnilatis (Cretan Hound)   Norwegian Elkhound   Norwegian Lundehund
Otterhound   Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen    Polish Hound (pl.Ogar Polski )
Polish Scenthound (pl.Gonczy Polski )    Porcelaine    Segugio Italiano     Serbian Hound
Serbian Tricolour Hound     Schweizer Laufhund     Smellhound Sherratt