KENAI
Small Swiss Hound

The breeds · scenthound · scenthound

UKC Scenthound · FCI standard 60

Small Swiss Hound.

FCI 60: scenthound hunting game by giving tongue; hunts on his own (Group 6, Section 1.3 small-sized hounds, with working trial). FCI: reliably searches and drives game with great determination even on difficult terrain, and excels in tracking wounded game. FCI history: bred around 1900 to replace the faster medium Swiss Hounds in enclosed Swiss shoots. Wikipedia EN: finds and follows scent through difficult ground, often used to pursue and find wounded animals..

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.

0INHeightdogs null, bitches null. An ideal from the standard, not a range.

The body

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

Height at the shoulder

dogs 13.8 to 17 in · bitches 13 to 16 in

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club, 2009

UKC and FCI agree. No ideal printed.

Coat

Smooth, rough (wire) or double coat (FCI 60); UKC lists smooth and rough only. Four colour varieties, any mix allowed in FCI 60: Small Bernese (white with black patches and tan markings, smooth or rough), Small Jura (black with tan markings, or tan with black mantle; usually smooth), Small Lucerne (white speckled to a 'blue' look, smooth), Small Schwyz (white with orange-red patches, smooth). Wikipedia EN: the wire-haired Small Schwyz is extinct.

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

FCI 60; UKC; Wikipedia EN.

Heat tolerance

4 of 5 · Smooth coat short, close fitting and finer on head and ears; rough coat harsh, elastic, barely any undercoat, slight beard; the 2015 FCI text also lists a double coat (dense top coat, dense undercoat). UKC lists smooth and rough.

DerivedFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

Derived from the standard's coat description (short dense = 4). The three FCI coat types differ; no measured data.

The work

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

Role

FCI 60: scenthound hunting game by giving tongue; hunts on his own (Group 6, Section 1.3 small-sized hounds, with working trial). FCI: reliably searches and drives game with great determination even on difficult terrain, and excels in tracking wounded game. FCI history: bred around 1900 to replace the faster medium Swiss Hounds in enclosed Swiss shoots. Wikipedia EN: finds and follows scent through difficult ground, often used to pursue and find wounded animals.

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

FCI 60; UKC history; Wikipedia EN (editorial).

Primary game

FCI 60 and UKC name no quarry species: 'the game', driven with voice in enclosed shoots.

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

No species stated in the sources read; a human should check the Swiss club rules.

Also used on

Tracking wounded game (FCI 60; Wikipedia EN).

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

Search pattern

FCI 60: passionate small scenthound with excellent nose, deft, untiring and keen; steady on the trail, hunting with a melodious cry; reliably searches and drives game with great determination; hunts on his own. UKC: untiring and keen with a sensitive nose, friendly, calm to lively.

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

Single-dog work on voice per FCI.

Field trial standard

FCI 60: with working trial (Group 6, Section 1.3). The trial rules themselves were not read.

Breed clubFederation Cynologique Internationale, 2015

Classification only; see open_gaps.

No KENAI kennel lists the Small Swiss Hound 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. 2 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called
Schweizer Niederlaufhund, Schweizerischer Niederlaufhund, Swiss Short-Legged Hound, Swiss Niederlaufhund

Every breed, read the same way.

The breed index grows as entries clear the standard. Gun dogs first.

All published breeds

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