The Norman Hound is a now extinct
breed
A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...
of
scent hound
Canton_of_Bern.html" ;"title="Franz Rudolf Frisching in the uniform of an officer of the Canton of Bern">Bernese Huntsmen Corps with his Berner Laufhund, painted by Jean Preudhomme in 1785
Scent hounds (or scenthounds) are a Dog type, type of h ...
from
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
Overview
Little is known about the origins of the Norman Hound, it has been said it was developed from
St. Hubert Hounds and local hounds from
Normandy
Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy.
Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
. The breed was introduced into
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
by the
Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...
in the 11th century after
their conquest of the country, and it believed both the
Bloodhound
The bloodhound is a large scent hound, originally bred for hunting deer, wild boar, rabbits, and since the Middle Ages, for tracking people. Believed to be descended from hounds once kept at the Abbey of Saint-Hubert, Belgium, in French it is ...
and
Talbot descended from it.
The Norman Hound was said to have excellent scenting abilities, great stamina and a magnificent voice, but was extremely slow; a pack usually took between six and eight hours to hunt a
stag. The breed was very large, standing between . They came in a broad range of colours, from pure white, to tri-colour (black, tan and white), to pure black. They were said to be unintelligent and to lack initiative.
The Norman Hound was becoming rare by the 18th century as it was replaced by faster hound types, in the 1830s only one pack remained and by 1875 they were declared extinct.
See also
*
List of extinct dog breeds
The following is a list of extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capa ...
References
Scent hounds
Dog breeds originating in France
Extinct dog breeds
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