History of the Breeds

The Griffon Vendeen family can be traced back to 16^th century France, it is one of four rough coated French breeds and the only one to exist now in four distinct sizes. It was not until the 19^th century that the Basset Griffon Vendeen increased in popularity and numbers in France.

Originally there was only one size of Basset who nowadays would look like a mixture between a PBGV and GBGV, he had the height of a Petit but with a long head, a long heavy body and with mostly crooked or half-crooked front legs. They almost looked like rough-coated Basset Hounds without the extra skin or wrinkle.

It was the Comte Christian d'Elva who attempted to improve the soundness of these hounds. His hounds were taller and straight-legged and the forerunners of todays Grand Basset. His dog "Royal Combattant" isa good example of the quality of his dogs at the turn of the century, he even won the Prix d'Honneur de la Republique.

In the next century the breed made enormous strides under the Desamy family where the nature and type of the varieties 'Grand' and 'Petit' were firmly defined and established. Until the last decade the name 'Desamy' was virtually synonymous with BGVs in France, although there have been many recent changes under M Renaud Buche, the current president of the French Club.