Sprinkles Six Week Evaluation

 The litter than Grizelda Laffee Taffe (AKC and ClarkeBar Grizwold (AKC) gave us was wonderfully diverse and of the highest quality generally. We are trying to breed a smaller Basset Hound by pairing smaller Basset Hounds together in our breeding program. But finding a stable smaller Basset Hound takes time. In this litter we received three smaller formed Basset babies and five of the more standard size (a bit smaller).

It must be said that Sprinkles, nearly the smallest of the lot, has by far the largest personality. She is constantly on the go, uses her eyes better than any of the rest and will likely become a great hunter of small things, and is a joy for everyone who she meets. Before moving on to the evaluation you might want to read the page describing our Six Point Evaluation System. We use the American Kennel Club's criteria, scaled down into five basic points, and then add a point purely on beauty. Sprinkles has all of the beauty point going into this.

Her head shape is wonderful, if a little smaller in the snout than most of the others. When you get a smaller Basset, one must expect some features to be a bit smaller. Her form is very good with a well domed head, wonderful ears and ear setting, a good jaw set, and good coloring over all. She will eventually become a redheaded beauty.

She is much smaller than the other pups in many respects. But her foreleg bone thickness is good, if a bit scaled down. She does have a flanged rib bone, which is a fault, which keeps her from feeling smooth in form from front to back. This is a minor fault which will likely work itself out as she grows, but a fault none the less which might be a negative in what might otherwise a show quality dog. Sprinkles has a wonderful, but hard to photograph, rear quarters stance. 

Stance is perhaps a good indicator for long termed bone health in Bassets. The rear legs set behind the hips tends to keep the forelegs under weight which leads the dog into better physical condition. Sprinkles' stance is the source of her extraordinary speed and power. Lock the gate. She will be hard to catch.

Aesthetically, Sprinkles is absolutely beautiful. Her soft fur looks to be the sort which changes very little, so she might keep her wonderful coloring. She might just have what it takes to show up well against the pure Europeans what typically do better than the American Bassets. Train her well and she might be a best of contender.

The flanged rid reduces an otherwise perfect score by one half. Whether this flaw persists is for time to tell, but I am betting the thing will clear itself with time. Anyone who gets Sprinkles is going to have a ball whatever they decide to do with her.

Sprinkles might be bred, but care ought to be used to find a suitable male. Both of her parents come from the same kennel, but neither are closely related.