We live in a time when there are many choices that people didn't have in the past. While there seems to be a stress on rescue dogs and "designer dogs" (mixes of various breeds) only purebred dogs that are bred by responsible breeders are actually predictable in regards to health, temperament and other important factors. Reputable/responsible breeders breed their pure breds to match a written AKC Standard for their breed. Ever breed has a writted AKC Standard
There has been a huge miss-understanding about the health of purebred dogs. Some people claim that the health of mixed breeds dogs is better than that of purebred dogs. This "myth" couldn't be farther from the truth. The reason is that when health statistics are reported by breed they include any dog that looks like that breed regardless of actual parentage or pedigree. Any dog that looks like a basset hound for example gets put into the reports. National clubs such as the Basset Hound Club of America conduct breed specific health studies and research on their particular breed. Recently the BHCA for example did an extensive study and discovered that some of the suspected health problems in the breed are no longer significant. On the other hand there is no way of knowing what's going on with the health of mixed breed dogs. There is no way to track what breeds they came from or any possibility to examine their pedigrees. It's impossible to know what types of health issues that may possibly be inherent in mixed breed dogs. Often they are even left out of health studies because their origin is unknown. As a result there is far more specific health information on purebred dogs than those of mixed breeds.
In celebration of National Purebred Dog Day, May 1, 2017, The American Kennel Club (AKC) produced a video about the virtues of purebred dogs. The video shows the crucial role that purebred dogs and breeders of purebred dogs have played in United States history and spotlights the many ways purebred dogs have served U.S. citizens as military working dogs, guide and service dogs, search and rescue dogs, disease detection dogs and more.
We at Woebgon Bassets are very proud to have been Responsible Breeders of purebred basset hounds. We did all that we could to produce the best possible examples of our breed. You can see the dedication we had and still have to this breed on this website.
In addition to being Responsible Breeders both of us have earned other distinguishing accolades from AKC. Both of us have been designated as AKC Breeders of Merit for Basset Hounds at the Bronze Level. More information on that can be found HERE. We are also recipients of the AKC's medallion for earning AKC Championships from The Bred By Exhibitor class at dog shows. This means that our bassets received ALL of their Championship points from the class where only breeders can exhibit their own dogs. For more information look HERE.
A group of basset hound breeders recently got together on Facebook and created a list of warnings for thise who are looking for puppies. A downloadable and printable file (Red Flag Warning To Puppy Buyers) of this list is available HERE.
We also have a downloadable and printable copy of the AKC Standard for Basset Hounds HERE. While this is what AKC judges use to judge show dogs it is also important for all bassets. This Standard is what ALL basset hound breeders should be using as a guide for their breeding program. As someone looking for a basset hound YOU SHOULD EXPECT NOTHING LESS from ANY breeder.
At Woebgon Bassets we have been very careful on the quality of the bassets we’ve acquired for breeding. We continue to work on the development of the breed in respect and honor of those who worked so hard to provide us with such fine bloodlines and for the love we have for the breed and have studied its history extensively.
We agree that the primary objective of all good breeders must be to preserve and improve characteristics of the breed according to the AKC Standard for Basset Hounds, which we subscribed to from the beginning.
We love strong, sound basset hounds, with good structure and sweet, lovable temperament as the breed should be. For us temperament and health come first.
For all the above reasons, our breeding program is very selective and we don’t breed very often.
Those of us at Woebgon Bassets have great passion for this extraordinary breed. We could not live without our basset hounds; they are our children, our lives.