Grand Gascon Saintongeois

The Grand Gascon Saintongeois is the larger of the two varieties of the Gascon Saintongeois, a French scenthound that hunts in packs. The other variety, the Petit, is smaller but still a fairly large dog. The breed descends from the old Hound of Saintonge.

History

Only three of the old Saintongeois hounds, two dogs and a bitch, survived the French Revolution. In the middle of the 19th century Count Joseph de Carayon-Latour crossed the last of them with some of the remaining old-type Grand Bleu de Gascogne. The puppies that were white with black ticking were kept, and their line was later named the Gascon Saintongeois.

In the middle of the 20th century, hunters in southwestern France picked smaller dogs from Grand litters to hunt hare and other small game, and these became the Petit Gascon Saintongeois.

The Grand is used on big game, including wild boar, roe deer and sometimes gray wolf, usually in a pack.

Appearance

This is a very typical French hound: lean and muscular, with long legs, long hanging ears and loose, drooping lips. Males stand 65 to 72 cm at the withers and females 61 to 66 cm, and the Grand weighs 30 to 32 kg (66 to 71 lb).

The head is long, with dark chestnut eyes and a well-developed black nose. The chest is deep, the back strong, and the tail is carried like a saber.

The coat is white with black patches, sometimes speckled or ticked with black. The ears and the area around the eyes are black and the cheeks are tan, with two tan marks above the eyes, but the dog should not look tricolor. Some have a tan patch at the base of the upper thigh, called the roe buck mark.

Temperament

The Gascon Saintongeois is by instinct a pack dog. It is valued for its good nose, fine voice and handsome gallop. The standard counts both excessive aggression and excessive shyness as faults.

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