Affected dogs develop splayed hind limbs, enlarged joints, flattened rib cages, shortened and bent long bones, and deformed paws.

[8] A 2024 study in the UK found a life expectancy of 12.5 years compared to an average of 12.7 for purebreeds and 12 for crossbreeds.

[10] Leading causes of death in a 2004 UK Kennel Club survey were cancer (31%), old age (13%), gastric dilatation volvulus (11%), and cardiac (8%).

[14] Basset Hound hereditary thrombopathy is an autosomally inherited platelet disorder characterised by a thrombasthenia defect in primary aggregation abnormality of clot retraction.

[18] The first mention of a "Basset" dog appeared in La Venerie, an illustrated hunting text written by Jacques du Fouilloux in 1585.

It is believed that the Basset type originated as a mutation in the litters of Norman Staghounds, a descendant of the St Hubert's Hound.

In 1853, Emmanuel Fremiet, "the leading sculptor of animals in his day" exhibited bronze sculptures of Emperor Napoleon III's Basset Hounds at the Paris Salon.

[22] Ten years later in 1863 at the first exhibition of dogs held in Paris, Basset Hounds attained international attention.

From the existing Bassets, Count Le Couteulx of Canteleu fixed a utilitarian type with straight front legs known as the Chien d'Artois, whereas Mr. Louis Lane developed a more spectacular type, with crooked front legs, known as the Basset Normand.

While some of these dogs were certainly Basset Artésien Normands, by the 1880s linebreeding had thrown back to a different heavier type.

The litter was delivered by caesarean section, and the surviving pups were refined with French and English Bassets.