Spring 1993

My wife Nicky and I saw our first Basset Bleu de Gascoigne at the St. Hubert show in Brussels. To be strictly accurate we had seen one about six years before in southern France. where it was kept kenneled with several other hounds, we had no idea what it was, merely admired it’s beautiful voice and remarkable colouring.  We already had two Grand Bleus, at the time of the St. Hubert Show and had gone to the show primarily to see what Grands Bleus were like in Belgium. We were much taken with the Bassets however and thought that they would be an interesting breed it import to the UK.

July 1993

We attended the annual show of the Club Bleu de Gascoigne, Gascoigne Saintongeois et Ariegeois, the club is the guardian of the seven blue hound breeds of France, and is very active in promoting and securing the future of these unusual animals. The show was visited in search of a suitable Grand Bleu to import as a stud dog, we found a number to admire but were unable to persuade any of the breeders present to sell us the particular hounds we wanted. 

Again we saw Basset Bleus, lots of them and realised how very popular these hounds had become in France in recent years. They appeared to have all the qualities of the Grand Bleu without the size and overall strength combined with a cheerful disposition and good temperament. Talking to various owners and breeders we discovered that the Basset Bleus were much sought after as hunting dogs for both hare and wild boar. 

Irish Show Circuit

August saw us on a tour of the circuit, the Grands did well in the show ring and earned much favorable comment but despite this no serious interest in taking up the breed was shown. Talking to a number of people on the circuit it became apparent that size was the problem, a lot of interest was expressed in the colour type and temperament, if only they were smaller.

Whilst remaining devoted to our Grand Bleus we decided to seriously investigate importing the Basset Bleus to the UK, whilst continuing our search of Europe for a suitable stud for our Grands. There was one problem to overcome, I travel overseas extensively and am rarely home for more than a few days at a time, Nicky is tiny and our two Grand bitches are as much as she can handle. I was prepared to do all the work of locating and importing the dog and pay half or more of the cost so long as a partner could be found to keep the hound. 

Spring & Summer 1994 

Two potential partners had been found and had later withdrawn but in April an experienced and knowledgeable hound owner agreed to join us. Through the spring and early summer of 1994 we contacted a large number of Grand breeders in southern France with stock available or due in the summer, at the same time I made enquiries with a number of Basset breeders. August saw is driving down to our home in southern France to begin to search in earnest. In the course of a few days we inspected over 60 Grand Bleu de Gascoigne, seeing such Hounds in a pack is a truly magnificent sight. Finding a good stud dog was not easy, the owners wanted to sell their culls, I wanted to buy their best.

After much frustration we finally found a powerful hound with the right build and characteristics to add to our British lines, not the prettiest hound, he was correct to type with good movement, strong hindquarters, calm temperament without being too big overall. Full of excitement, we called our British partner that evening. she procrastinated, dithered and finally decided to pull out of the arrangement. The die was cast, Basset Bleus it would be from now on.

French hound breeders

Why is it that they all live at the end of a mile long track in the remote valleys of hilly country, no one locally ever being too sure of the directions. Marc Aran is to some extent an exception, he does live amongst hills in a beautiful valley but runs a restaurant so everyone knows the direction. The inn is on the edge of a ancient and picturesque village beside a stream, food being cooked in the traditional manner over an open fire in the centre of the dining room.

Marc keeps a small pack of Basset Bleus and has had great successes in trailing them, regularly representing France in international events.  His top bitch had three beautiful pups, two dogs and one bitch. He absolutely refused to sell the bitch pup so I selected one of the dogs and he agreed to keep him until I arranged importation. I later visited Vincent Denis (in the hills at the end of a track) and purchased a pretty little bitch pup from the top show line, again he would hold her until I was ready.

November 1994

On the evening of Thursday 10^th November I flew to Toulouse. After some difficulty I managed to hire a car big enough to take two air freight cages. My real troubles started the next day. The shipping agent had told me I would have to pay cash in French francs, no cheques, credit cards or other currency was acceptable, Friday was a bank holiday. I had dollars, pounds, chequebooks and a range of credit cards but no francs. 

On arriving at Marc Aran’s I discovered my hound had seriously injured his right foreleg. Marc told me it was not serious, I told him it was. After lunch Marc relented and kindly offered a full refund or the pick of his kennels. I chose a splendid dark, powerful hound with a strong melodic voice, Juyau by name. Already nine months old and hunting well, he had a confident air and happy disposition. The next day I collected Joli, the little bitch from Vincent Denis, Joyau took the rather timid youngster under his wing. 

We left for the airport

Still had no francs. As it was Saturday the agent was not at the airport, when phoned he refused to turn out but insisted I would have to pay cash to the dispatcher before they would accept the hounds. The banks & bureau de change were all shut. Fortunately a  delightful lady at the British Airways desk took pity on me, well not me but rather the Basset pups. She rang the bureau de change manager and, holiday or not, insisted he turn out and change my money. Four hours later two very tired little Bassets arrived at Gatwich and were met by Fosscutt kennels to begin their quarantine. Luckily as both were kennel reared this would not be too traumatic. 

Basset Bleu de Gascoignes, Joyau des Falaises de Vere Gresigne and his new mate Joli Beauvautrait de la Font Francaise had arrived in England.

 Andy Spillane