Griffon Fauve de Britagne

FCI:

Griffon Fauve de Bretagne - Group VI. - Scenthounds and related breeds, Section - Medium sized Hounds.

General Appearance:

This is a hunting enthusiast straight rough-hound used except wild boars also for hares, foxes and deer. It is working very active, it has an excellent sense of smell and consistently. It is reporting (briefly repeatedly barks). Easily adapts to all types of terrain in all kinds of hunting and wildlife. When it is working it is bold, clever, tenacious, enterprising and very powerful. It has an innate tendency to stick with the pack.

At home it is relatively easy to use and it is obedient, if it is possible to say about the hounds, that is accustomed to  decide by itself, we cannot except slavish obedience.

Temperament/ Behaviour:

It depends much on education. It might not pose any serious problems, but it is not a breed suitable for complete beginners, but not even for experienced trainers of other hunting dogs, e.g. pointers.

The owner must keep in mind the typical traits Hound, its natural and necessary autonomy in decision-making and the related limited manoeuvrability in hunting game.

Body:

It's more powerful, bony and muscular than the supremely elegant rough Hound. It excels in hardiness and resilience. Height at withers is 48-56 cm male and female is at a tolerance of 2 cm for outstanding individual.

The head has a relatively long skull with a distinct occipital part. This is above when viewed from the front, slightly arched and tapering backwards towards the supraorbital ridges, which are not very significant.

The nose can be black or dark brown, nostrils should be open enough. The jaws and teeth are strong. Desirable is a perfect regular scissor bite. The upper incisors with their rear surfaces just touching the front surfaces down ones and both of which must be planted vertically in the jaws. Absence of first premolars (P1) is not penalized.

The eyes cannot be bulged or sunken. They are dark brown, and their look is bright. The conjunctiva must not be apparent. The earlobes are hanging, set at the level of the eye. Without violence stretched forward to reach the tip of the nose. They are slightly twisted inwards corkscrew, pointed at the tops and covered with smooth hair, which is not as hard as elsewhere on the body.

The tail should be carried slightly curved sickle, medium length. It is often bristly brushed. At the root has to be strong, towards the tip tapers. The movement is carried above the top line of the body and varies regularly from side to side.

The chest must be deep and wide. Ribs should be fairly sprung. The forelegs are strong bones, in position vertical to ground. The hindquarters are muscular, in position vertical to ground  when viewed from behind parallel to each other, or with excessively narrow or  too wide stance.

Feet should be compact with well-knit arched toes and strong claws. The pads are tough.

The coat is very hard, harsh, rather short, never wavy or curly. Face should not be too much hair, bushy. Colouring hair is blond, golden hue of wheat to brick red. The backs and earlobes may be a little bit scattered black guard hairs. Front chest may be a small white spot, it is not desirable.

To negative defects belong aggression or fearfulness, atypical overall appearance (lack of typical breeding characters), overshot or undershot jaw, too bright (hawk, yellow) eyes, partial or complete de-pigmentation of nose, eye rims and lips, curved tail, persistent dewclaws hindquarters (this breed is not given), long or woolly coat, feathering each other than those required by the standard.