Breed Standard
Coat and Colour
The coat should be similar to that of the Foxhound, not too fine and not too coarse, but yet of sufficient strength to be of use in bad weather. The skin loose and elastic. No good hound is a bad colour, so that any recognized Foxhound colour should be acceptable to the judge's eye, and only in the very closest competittion should the colour of a hound have any weight with a judge's decision.
Head
The head should be large, the skull narrow and of good length, the peak being very fully developed, a very characteristic point of the head, which should be free from any appearance of, or inclination to, cheek bumps. It is most perfect when it closest resembles the head of a Bloodhound, with heavy flews and forehead wrinkled to the eyes. The expression when sitting or when still should be very sad, full of reposeful dignity. The whole of the head should be covered with loose skin, so loose in fact, that when the hound brings its nose to the ground the skin over the head and cheeks should fall forward and wrinkle perceptibly. The nose itself should be strong and free from snipiness. While the teeth of the upper and lower jaws should meet, a pig-jawed hound, or one that is underhung, is distinctly objectionable. The eyes should be deeply sunken, showing a prominent haw, and in colour they should be a deep brown. The ears are very long, and when drawn forward, folding well over the nose. They are set on the head as low as is possible and hang loose in folds like drapery, the ends curling inward, in texture thin and velvety.
Neck
The neck is powerful, with heavy pendant dewlaps.
Forequarters
The shoulders are muscular, sloping and well laid back. The forelegs should be short, very powerful, very heavy in bone, close fitting to the chest with a crook'd knee and wrinkled ankle, ending in a massive paw. A hound must not be "out of elbows". He must stand perfectly sound and true on his feet, which should be thick and massive, and the weight of the forepart of the body should be borne equally by each toe ot the forefeet so far as it is compatible with the crook of the legs.
Body
The chest should be deep and full. the body should be long and low and well ribbed up.
Hindquarters
The quarters should be full of muscle, which stands out so that when one looks at the dog from behind, it gives him a round, barrel-like effect, with quarter "a good dog to follow," and when trotting away from you, his hocks should bend well and he should move true all round. A hound should not be straight on his hocks, nor should he measure more over his quarters than he does at his shoulder.
Tail
The stern is coarse underneath, and carried "gaily" in hound fashion.
Faults
"Out of elbows" is a bad fault. Slackness of loin, flat-sidedness and a roach or rasor back ars all bad faults. Cowhocks, straight hocks, or weak hocks are all bad faults.
Disqualifications
Unsoundness in legs or feet should absolutely disqualify a hound from taking a prize.