Hound

A hound is a type of dog that assists hunters by tracking or chasing the animal being hunted. It can be contrasted with the gun dog, which assists hunters by identifying the location of prey and/or recovers shot quarry. The hound breeds were the first hunting dogs. They have a powerful speed and sense of smell.[1]

There are three types of hound, with several breeds belonging to each type:

Type Example
Sighthounds (also called gazehounds), which follow prey predominantly by speed, keeping it in sight. These dogs are fast and assist hunters in catching game (e.g., hares, elk, deer, foxes, rodents).
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Whippet
Scent hounds, which follow prey or others (like missing people) by tracking its scent. These dogs have endurance, but are not fast runners.
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Basset Hound
The 'other' hounds follow prey by both sight and scent. These breeds are difficult to classify other than to say they are neither sighthounds nor scent hounds.
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Rhodesian Ridgeback.

List of hound breeds

References

  1. ^ "Hound Dog Breeds". Animal Planet. Discovery Communications, LLC. Retrieved 17 December 2013.