Grand Griffon Vendéen

The Grand Griffon Vendéen is a large, rough-coated hunting dog from France. It is the biggest of the griffons of the Vendée and was the first of them to be developed.

History

The breed was bred from the Greffier, a line of hounds that goes back to the 16th century. The other Vendée griffons are all smaller: the Briquet Griffon Vendéen, the Grand Basset Griffon Vendéen and the Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen. Related rough-coated French breeds include the Griffon Fauve de Bretagne, the Griffon Bleu de Gascogne and the Griffon Nivernais.

Appearance

This is a large dog. Males stand 62–68 cm (24–27 in) and females 60–65 cm (24–26 in). The coat is long and harsh over a dense undercoat.

The head is well domed, with only a slight stop, and the lips are covered by a mustache. The nose is black, though brown is allowed in white and orange dogs.

The breed comes in many colors: white and orange, black with tan or light tan markings, fawn with white spotting, and fawn or pale fawn with a black overlay or mantle, with or without white spotting. Some of these shades have traditional names taken from game animals: hare, wolf, wild boar and badger.

Facts on this page were checked against Wikipedia and may have changed since.