Dogs of the World – The Grand and Petit Bleu de Gascogne of France

Black and Tan Coonhound

Blue Ticking Dog Coat Color

I wish I had a good photo of the Grand or Petit Bleu do Gascogne, but with copyright issues, I couldn’t use one from another site without permission.  So picture the Black and Tan Coonhound with blue ticking coloring on the lower body.  You can see a good photo at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petit_Bleu_de_Gascogne.

Ancient France was well known for their development of the scenthounds.  Many scenthound dog breeds today have origins in France.  One such French scenthound is the Grand and Petit Bleu de Gascogne.  Gascogne is Gascony and these dogs are also known as the Large Blue Gascony Hound and the Small Blue Gascony Hound.  The Grand Bleu de Gascogne stand about 24-28 inches tall and weighs 71-77 pounds while the Petit Bleu de Gascogne stands only slightly shorter at 20-23 inches tall and weighs 40-48 pounds.

The Grand and Petit Bleu de Gascogne are used almost exclusively as trail-hunting gundogs.  The Grand Bleu de Gascogne was used in earlier times for hunting deer, wild boar, and wolves while the Petit Bleu de Gascogne was used for hunting rabbits.  The Grande and Petit Bleu de Gascogne dog breeds are generally easy to train for the hunt and work well with other dogs in packs.

We obtained the information on the Grand and Petit Bleu de Gascogne from Wikipedia and “The New Encyclopedia of the Dog” by Bruce Fogle.  This book and other great dog books are available at our Dog Lover’s Bookstore through Amazon.

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Tags: bleu de gascogne, blue gascony hound