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Hanoverian Scenthound

The breeds · scenthound · blood tracker

AKC Foundation Stock Service · UKC Scenthound · FCI standard 213

Hanoverian Scenthound.

FCI 213: tracking hound for wounded game; a highly specialised hunting dog for tracking wounded game that must display the breed club's required hunting abilities and endurance in working trials (Group 6 Scenthounds, Section 2 Leash hounds, with working trial). UKC: used exclusively as specialists for tracking cloven-hoofed game. Verein Hirschmann (the FCI breed club): breeding has been strictly by working ability since 1894..

Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.

21 / 20INHeightdogs 20.5, bitches 20. An ideal from the standard, not a range.
55–99LBWeight, all linesbreed dogs 66 to 99 lb; breed bitches 55 to 99 lb.

The body

What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.

Height at the shoulder

dogs 20.5 in (19 to 21.7) · bitches 20 in (18.9 to 21)

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

Low and high span both; center is the midpoint of the UKC range.

Weight

dogs 66 to 99 lb · bitches 55 to 99 lb

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

UKC and FCI agree. The AKC page summary conflicts (its low end is above the standards' high end for bitches). Low/high widened at key 2 to include the AKC breed-page figure (Chad's show-every-source rule: the filter finds the dog under any cited source); the standards' own ranges stay in the text.

Coat

Short, thick, coarse to harsh; somewhat longer and coarser on the rear edges of the upper thighs only; dense coarse coat on the tail. Colors: light to dark deer-red, more or less intensely brindled, with or without a mask; small white patches on the forechest tolerated. Skin thick, rather loose, mostly wrinkled on the head.

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

FCI 213; UKC agrees.

Shedding

Shedding 3 of 5 (AKC breed page trait score)

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Heat tolerance

4 of 5 · Short, thick, coarse to harsh coat, somewhat longer and coarser on the rear edges of the thighs and on the underside of the tail (FCI 213; UKC agrees). Skin thick, rather loose.

DerivedFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

Derived from the standard's coat description (short dense = 4). No measured data.

The dog at home

What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.

Energy

4 of 5

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Grooming load

2 of 5

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

The work

What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.

Role

FCI 213: tracking hound for wounded game; a highly specialised hunting dog for tracking wounded game that must display the breed club's required hunting abilities and endurance in working trials (Group 6 Scenthounds, Section 2 Leash hounds, with working trial). UKC: used exclusively as specialists for tracking cloven-hoofed game. Verein Hirschmann (the FCI breed club): breeding has been strictly by working ability since 1894.

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

FCI 213 utilization and history; UKC history; Wild und Hund 14/2019.

Primary game

Wounded cloven-hoofed game (big game: red deer and wild boar in the German tradition), tracked after the shot.

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

FCI 213 and UKC both say exclusively cloven-hoof; the Wild und Hund article names strong stags (Hirsche) and boar (Keiler) in the breed's history.

Also used on

Historically, the Leithund type (heavier) worked the morning trail of a stag on a rope to confirm game for the hunt, and lighter Schweisshund types tracked the wounded; today the breed is used exclusively on big-game grounds as a specialist (FCI 213).

Breed clubWild und Hund 14/2019, 2019

Wild und Hund 14/2019 (history of Leit- and Schweisshund) and FCI 213 history. A tracker for wounded game, not a general hunting dog.

Range

Close, on a leash: a leash hound (Section 2). The 'Hannoverscher Schweisshund' is held at the handler's end of a long line.

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

No published range figure; derived from the FCI classification (leash hounds) and the article's photographs of the dog on a broad collar and long lead (Wild und Hund 14/2019). Marked as the sources' description.

Search pattern

FCI 213: calm and assured, sensitive with its handler, choosy and discerning with strangers; high capacity for concentration in any tracking work, strong loyalty to the hunter in charge; preferred gaits at work are the walk or the gallop; built to be on the leash. UKC: calm and assured, high capability to concentrate on any track.

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

FCI 213 behaviour paragraph; UKC characteristics. FCI 217's history says the Hanoverian proved too heavy for steep mountain work, hence the lighter Bavarian.

Field trial standard

FCI 213: with working trial; the breed club's required hunting abilities, endurance and potential must be shown in working trials. Verein Hirschmann holds the Schweisshundepruefung and a Hauptpruefung (a historical Hauptpruefung at Elend/Harz in 1937 is pictured; at the 2019 125th-anniversary meeting a Schweisshundepruefung was run in the Deister forest). No North American test body (UBT lists no Hanoverian) was found.

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

FCI 213 and Wild und Hund 14/2019. The Verein Hirschmann test rules (trail age, length) were not read; see open_gaps. The article reports two handlers passing at the 2019 anniversary test.

More

akc bands

AKC breed page trait scores (1-5): Energy Level 4; Mental Stimulation Needs 3; Trainability Level 4; Barking Level 4; Watchdog/Protective Nature 2; Good With Young Children 3; Openness To Strangers 3; Good With Other Dogs 5; Shedding Level 3; Coat Grooming Frequency 2; Drooling Level 2; Affectionate With Family 3; Playfulness Level 3; Adaptability Level 3.

Breed clubAKC

Fourteen AKC bands in one row; the selector reads each by name. Breed-club ratings: a tendency, never a measurement.

No KENAI kennel lists the Hanoverian Scenthound yet. If you breed them, list your kennel free: it shows on this page and in the hunting dog breed finder, under every handler whose answers land on the breed.

How to read this page

Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.

Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 4 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called
Hannoverscher Schweisshund, Hanoverian Hound, Hannoverscher Schweißhund, Hanoverian Schweisshund

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