Bloodhound Size

The size of a bloodhound is very important to me. In this program at Walking Tall Bloodhounds, I try to keep the dogs within the AKC breed standard. I believe that the weight and height of the dog, as described by the AKC, is perfect. This breed is already at risk for hip and elbow dysplasia, along with being prone to bloat.

I think that its common sense, that the bigger the dogs are bred, the more prone to issues like this will come up. Even with all the OFA tests that are available. There are no genetic tests that test for bloat in dogs. It shows up in very deep chested dogs. To me, it’s almost cruel to knowingly produce bloodhounds that could develop these problems even more, just because breeders want to appeal to the consumers that want a “huge” bloodhound. If someone asks me for a huge bloodhound, I tell them that I try to stay in the AKC standard, I will not be breeding for bigger size. 150lbs and up to me, is way too big for a bloodhound. If you want a huge walking wrinkle, get a Neapolitan Mastiff!

I want to see a streamlined, athletic, muscular dog that can work for hours on end, even if its sole purpose is a family pet. There’s no way anyone could make could change my mind into believing that the size of the dog does not directly correlate to good health in a bloodhound in many ways. To include a longer life span.

Look at old pictures on google at some of the bloodhounds from years and years ago. You will see that the dogs of today, have changed drastically in terms of size and appearance. I like for my dogs and pups to look like the original bloodhounds.

Even in AKC dog conformation shows today, the bigger size is always preferred, even with the standard being set by the AKC. I still will not knowingly breed for bigger dogs. I will always shoot for the AKC standard, not because I think the AKC is “oh so good” but because I think they have correctly described this particular breed.

There are a lot of other things that I do different than most breeders, that I may describe later in another post. This post is just on size.

Now, I know that breeders across the world will debate this issue, and I really don’t care. I don’t think you need a doctorate degree in animal science to figure out that breeding for a bigger size will diminish the animals quality of life as a whole. I also know some owners will say that they had a 200lbs pure bred bloodhound that lived for 15 years. I don’t care about that either. What Im saying is, as a breeder producing a high number of dogs for years, that the dogs bred to the AKC breed standard will be a lot more healthy over all, then dogs bred to be bigger than they were originally bred to be. As I mentioned before, these dogs in perfect condition are already prone to certain health issues, breeding for a bigger hound just increases these type of risks.