Head
Should be of full size, but by no means heavy. Brow
pronounced, but not high or sharp. There should be a
good length and breadth, sufficient to give in a dog
hound a girth in front of the ears of fully 16
inches. The nose should be long (4½ inches) and
wide, with open nostrils. Ears set on low and lying
close to the cheeks. Most English hounds are
"rounded" which means that about 1½ inches is taken
off the end of the ear. The teeth must meet
squarely, either a
pig-mouth (overshot) or
undershot being a disqualification.
Neck
Must be long and clean, without the slightest
throatiness, not less than 10 inches from cranium to
shoulder. It should taper nicely from shoulders to
head, and the upper outline should be slightly
convex.
The Shoulders should be long and well clothed
with muscle, without being heavy, especially at the
points. They must be well sloped, and the true arm
between the front and the elbow must be long and
muscular, but free from fat or lumber.
Chest
and Back Ribs--The chest should girth over
31 inches in a 24-inch hound, and the back ribs must
be very deep.
Back and Loin
Must both be very muscular, running into each other
without any contraction between them. The couples
must be wide, even to raggedness, and the topline of
the back should be absolutely level, the
Stern
well set on and carried gaily but not in any case
curved over the back like a squirrel's tail. The end
should taper to a point and there should be a fringe
of hair below. The
Hindquarters or
propellers are required to be very strong, and as
endurance is of even greater consequence than speed,
straight stifles are preferred to those much bent as
in a Greyhound.
Elbows set quite
straight, and neither turned in nor out are a
sine qua non. They must be well let down by
means of the long true arm above mentioned.
Legs and Feet
Every Master of Foxhounds insists on legs as
straight as a post, and as strong; size of bone at
the ankle being especially regarded as all
important. The desire for straightness had a
tendency to produce knuckling-over, which at one
time was countenanced, but in recent years this
defect has been eradicated by careful breeding and
intelligent adjudication, and one sees very little
of this trouble in the best modern Foxhounds. The
bone cannot be too large, and the feet in all cases
should be round and catlike, with well-developed
knuckles and strong horn, which last is of the
greatest importance.
Color and Coat
Not regarded as very important, so long as the
former is a good "hound color," and the latter is
short, dense, hard, and glossy. Hound colors are
black, tan, and white, or any combination of these
three, also the various "pies" compounded of white
and the color of the hare and badger, or yellow, or
tan. The
Symmetry of the Foxhound is
of the greatest importance, and what is known as
"quality" is highly regarded by all good judges.
Disqualification
Pig-mouth (overshot) or undershot.
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