Bloodhound History

I   HISTORY OF THE BLOODHOUND

A Summary

The Bloodhound is one of the oldest British breeds of dog, first referred to in literature in the mid 14th Century, and probably in existence and use for many years before that.  How long it had existed, and its ultimate origins, are quite uncertain.

It is often claimed that its ancestors were brought over from Normandy by William the Conqueror, but there is no evidence for this.  That the Normans brought some hounds from France during the post-Conquest period is almost certain, but what they were, and how they mingled with stock already here is not known.

The typical use of the Bloodhound, in hunting deer and boar, was as a ‘limer’, or ‘lyam-hound’.  That is, it was handled on a leash or ‘lyam’, and hunted the cold scent of the animal.  When it had ‘harboured’ the hart or boar (that is discovered where it was browsing or resting) the handler reported back to his lord, who then brought the pack hounds (‘raches’) to pursue the quarry on its hot scent, when it was ‘unharboured’, or ‘upreared’.  So the bloodhound was much valued for its ability to hunt the cold scent of an individual animal, and, though it did not usually take part in the kill, it was given a special reward from the carcase.

It also seems that from the earliest times the Bloodhound was used to track people.  There are stories written in the Medieval period of Robert the Bruce (in 1307), and William Wallace (1270-1305) being followed by ‘Sleuth-hounds’.  Whether true or not, these stories show that the Sleuth-hound was already known as an animal which could follow a human scent almost infallibly, and it later becomes clear that the (Scottish) Sleuth-hound and the Bloodhound were the same animal.  Around the 16th century the Bloodhound, Sleuth-hound, or ‘Slough-dog’ was much used on the Scottish borders to track cross-border raiders.  In the 17th century there is a fascinating account of a test of the Bloodhound's man-tracking prowess, written by the great scientist Robert Boyle (1627-91). 

With the rise of fox-hunting, the decline of deer-hunting, and the extinction of the wild boar, as well as a more settled state of society, the use of the Bloodhound diminished.  It was kept on a few deer-parks and by a few enthusiasts, with some variation in type, until its popularity began to increase again with the rise of dog-showing in the 19th Century.  Numbers, however, have remained low in Britain.  Very few survived the second world war, but the gene-pool has gradually been replenished with imports from America.

During the later 19th century numbers of Bloodhounds were exported to the Continent to French enthusiasts, who regretted the extinction of an ancient French breed, the St Hubert, which had died out towards the end of the 18th Century, and was rather similar in appearance to the Bloodhound.  They wished to re-establish it, using the Bloodhound.  As an unfortunate result, the Bloodhound became known on parts of the Continent as the Chien de Saint Hubert, and is recognised under that name by the FCI.

Also, in the later 19th century, the idea was put forward that the name ‘Bloodhound’ originally meant ‘hound of pure blood’, not ‘blood-seeking hound’.  Though this idea was only a guess, totally unsupported by evidence (and in fact all the available evidence points the other way!) it has somehow gained credence, and is often given as the correct derivation in literature about the Bloodhound.

When the first Bloodhounds were exported to the USA is not known.  Bloodhounds were used to track runaway slaves before the Civil War, but it has been questioned whether the dogs used were genuine Bloodhounds.  However, in the later part of the century, and in the next, more pure Bloodhounds were introduced and bred in America, and they were much more widely used in tracking lost people and criminals — often with brilliant success — than in Britain.  However, in Britain there have been instances from time to time of the successful use of the Bloodhound as a tracking animal, and currently, for the first time for many years, the Police are showing a real interest in making use of the breed.

The first Bloodhound breed society, the Association of Bloodhound Breeders, was established in 1897, followed at the beginning of the next century by the Bloodhound Hunt Club, which developed into the Bloodhound Club.  These societies both organise Bloodhound trials, under Kennel Club rules, in which the hound hunts ‘the clean boot’, that is the human scent, ‘clean’ of any artificial aids (like aniseed, or animal blood smeared on the boot).  This used to be known as 'hunting dry-foot' in the old days.  This is a sport, requiring a great deal of land and organisation, for the pleasure of a small number of dedicated Bloodhound owners.

Meanwhile the Bloodhound has become a truly international breed, though numbers are small in most countries except the USA.  There and here the Bloodhound has always had an amount of exposure in the media, because of its distinctive appearance, out of proportion to its numbers, and there is currently some concern over there that the breed may become too popular.