KENAI
Welsh Hound

The breeds · scenthound · scenthound

UKC Scenthound

Welsh Hound.

UKC: also known as the Welsh Foxhound and Welsh Bytheuad; an ancient breed, thought to descend from the extinct Celtic Hound and the old Staghound; organized hunts have kept well-known packs of pure Welsh Hounds for nearly 200 years; sturdy, independent hunters, self-reliant in the rugged and rocky Welsh hills. Wikipedia: kept as a hunting dog living and hunting in packs, adapted to rocky and mountainous terrain, still used for drag hunting today; the Welsh Hound Association has kept the stud book since 1922; since the hunting ban various clubs register it as a rare breed pet..

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.

24INHeightall 24. An ideal from the standard, not a range.
70–75LBWeight, all linesbreed 70 to 75 lb.

The body

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

Height at the shoulder

24 in

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

UKC prints a single figure; no range. No FCI or AKC standard exists.

Weight

70 to 75 lb

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

UKC range; the Wikipedia figure falls inside it.

Coat

UKC: rough and dense, of medium length, occasionally smooth; colors black, fawn, red, tan, white and mixed. Wikipedia: hard and wiry, red with white patches. The Field: a thick, broken coat is the hallmark of the Welsh foxhound, with a dome head and ears long enough to meet in front of the nose.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

Heat tolerance

3 of 5 · UKC: coat rough and dense, of medium length, occasionally smooth. Wikipedia: hard and wiry.

DerivedUnited Kennel Club

Derived from the UKC coat description (medium length, dense = 3). No measured data.

The work

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

Role

UKC: also known as the Welsh Foxhound and Welsh Bytheuad; an ancient breed, thought to descend from the extinct Celtic Hound and the old Staghound; organized hunts have kept well-known packs of pure Welsh Hounds for nearly 200 years; sturdy, independent hunters, self-reliant in the rugged and rocky Welsh hills. Wikipedia: kept as a hunting dog living and hunting in packs, adapted to rocky and mountainous terrain, still used for drag hunting today; the Welsh Hound Association has kept the stud book since 1922; since the hunting ban various clubs register it as a rare breed pet.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

UKC and Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is partly unsourced ('citation needed').

Primary game

Fox. The Field: the Welsh foxhound is celebrated for its nose, voice and drive, and Welsh blood was sought in the early 20th century for hounds able to hunt all day across rugged terrain and catch their fox; an English hunt master recorded 47 foxes killed and 65 run to ground in the 1926-27 season with a Welsh cross. Wikipedia: still used for drag hunting today.

EditorialDangar A., 2023

The Field (hunting press) and Wikipedia. UKC names the breed's alias 'Welsh Foxhound' but states no quarry.

Search pattern

UKC: a low-scenting dog with a talkative, 'loud' bark, a prerequisite of hunting in the windy Welsh hillsides. The Field: celebrated for nose, voice and drive; stamina and voice at the head of a pack (a loaned Welsh bitch led the Pytchley pack for weeks in 1894). Wikipedia: pack hound; expected to respond to the huntsman's voice but to learn from the responses and cues of the pack; known to 'talk' to the huntsman with various howls and barks signalling the progress of the hunt.

Breed clubUnited Kennel Club

UKC characteristics; the huntsman-voice detail is Wikipedia, partly flagged 'citation needed'.

No KENAI kennel lists the Welsh 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
Welsh Foxhound, Welsh Bytheuad

Every breed, read the same way.

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

All published breeds

Your welsh hound, on the record.

Log the days, the miles and the birds, and the KENAI app keeps the dog’s story beside the breed’s. Free to start.

Get the app