It ‘s called Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen .

The Pequeño Basset Grifón Vendeano(Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen, PBGV for friends) is a French pocket-sized hound: Short legs, elongated body, rough, ragged fur, and a bearded face that looks like it was drawn to make you smile. It was born on the Atlantic coast of the Vendée to track hares and rabbits through brush and brush, and that’s where everything it is today comes from: Tireless, nosey, cheerful and with a stubborn streak that one should know before falling in love. If you’re looking for a small but sturdy, sociable dog with a huge personality within a compact body, the Little Basset Vendean Griffin has a lot of balls.

Is Little Basset the Vendian Gryphon to you?

Before you get carried away by that hairless face, you should look at the breed honestly. The Little Basset Vendeano Griffin is a working dog tucked into a small body, and that conditions everything: its energy, its nose and its stubbornness. It fits wonderfully with people who are active and have a sense of humor, and less with those who are looking for a quiet couch dog and immediate obedience.

Character and temperament

If we had to sum up the Little Basset Vendean Gryphon in three words it would be cheerful, curious and busy. It’s a dog that’s always exploring, with its nose glued to the ground and its tail raised like an antenna to mark its good mood. Breeders describe him as “charmingly mischievous”, and that’s a very fair definition: He has mischief, self-confidence and a mischievous streak that makes him enormously fun to have at home.

He’s an intelligent dog, but his intelligence is not at the service of obedience, but of his own plans. He can be stubborn and, like a good hound, tends to decide for himself when something interests him more than you. He’s not a dependent or clingy dog, but he’s not a lone wolf either: He enjoys company, participates in family life, and is grateful to be part of the human pack. His dominance is moderate, so he doesn’t seek to impose himself, he simply prefers to do things his way.

Another striking trait is how vocal it can become. Despite its size, it has a surprisingly powerful bark and a clear inclination to howl, inherited from its time in a pack warning of prey. It is a communicative dog, and that should be kept in mind especially in urban environments.

Coexistence: children, other pets, flat and loneliness

In the field of coexistence, the Little Basset Gryphon Vendeano shines especially with people. It is good with kids., with whom it usually shows patience and playfulness, and quite friendly with strangers, so do not expect from it a suspicious guardian: at most, it will bark.

With other dogs it usually gets along very well; it comes from a tradition of herding and enjoying canine company. The problem appears with small pets: its hunting instinct is strong and it is not reliable with cats, rabbits, ferrets or rodents, especially if it has not grown up with them.

It can living in a flat perfectly, provided it receives its daily dose of exercise; in fact, indoors it is an active dog that needs to burn energy outside to be calm inside. A small garden is good for him, but remember he’s a born escapist: Digs underneath and jumps over, so the fence must be secure. As for the loneliness, it tolerates mice only reasonably well because it is not overly dependent, but like any curious hound, prolonged boredom results in howling and mischief.

Education and training

This is where the Little Basset Vendean Gryphon tests your patience. It is intelligent, learns quickly what interests it, and has no difficult character, but its dog-like stubbornness makes training “a little difficult”, as those who live with the breed acknowledge. It’s not that it doesn’t understand what you’re asking: it values if it pays to do so.

The key is to make training a game. Positive reinforcement, with appetizing rewards and short, varied sessions, works infinitely better than boring repetition or harsh correction, which only gets you disconnected. Early socialization is critical to polishing your natural sociability and getting you used to different environments, noises and animals.

A separate chapter deserves the called. Like any tracking dog, as soon as its nose catches an interesting smell, your voice ceases to exist. That’s why it is advisable to work the call from puppy with great constancy and, still, be prudent by releasing it in unfenced areas near roads or wildlife.

Exercise and activity

The Little Basset Vendean Griffin needs moderate but constant exercise. He’s not an extreme endurance athlete, but he’s a tireless dog at medium distances: It accompanies wonderfully in gentle runs, marches and long sniffing walks, which for him are authentic sensory expeditions. A couple of good daily walks, with time to explore with your nose, plus some play, perfectly cover your needs.

Smell games and tracking work are his natural specialty and a great way to fatigue him mentally, something as important as physical wear and tear in such a curious dog. Without enough activity, he channels the excess energy into digging, howling and looking for a way to escape. In short: much more exercise than its size suggests.

Care: fur and hygiene

One of the breed’s best news is its coat. The Little Basset Vendean Griffon has hard, rough, medium-length hair, with woolly eyebrows, beard, and mustache that give it its characteristic uncombed look. This rustic coat changes very little, which makes it comfortable to live with, but it needs regular brushing (a couple of times a week) to avoid tangles and knots, especially in the ears and legs.

It does not require sophisticated hairdressing: its ideal appearance is natural and unkempt, not groomed. Some punctual arrangement (ripping or light stripping of dead hair) maintains the correct texture of the coat in exhibition specimens, but for a family dog brushing and bathing is enough only when it gets really dirty.

The ears is long, hanging and covered in hair, retains moisture and dirt, and the breed is prone to ear infections. It is advisable to check and clean them frequently. Complete the routine with nail trimming, dental hygiene and careful eye surveillance, another sensitive point of the breed.

Foodstuffs

The feeding of the Little Basset Vendean Griffin should be tailored to a small-to-medium size, active dog with a good appetite. A quality feed, complete and balanced, appropriate to their age and activity level, meets their needs without complications. Since it is a dog with a long body and short legs, it is advisable to monitor the weight with special care: Overweight puts a strain on the spine and joints, and this breed tends to accumulate quite a bit of mass for its size.

He divides the daily ration into two meals, measures the quantities, and controls the prizes (which, given their comely character and curiosity-fueled gulping, can skyrocket during training). As a good hound, he’s capable of overeating if left alone, so discipline in the feeder is part of the care. Fresh water always available and regular checkups of body condition complete a healthy eating routine.

Health and life expectancy

The Little Basset Vendean Griffin is a strong and rustic breed, without major hereditary diseases that mark it, and with a remarkable life expectancy: a British study from 2024 attributed to him 13.7 years on average, above the 12.7 years of the set of breed dogs.

That said, there are some well-documented surveillance points. ear infections(otitis) is the most common recurrent problem because of its long, hairy ears. As for eyes, the breed is among the most affected by primary open-angle glaucoma, associated with a recessive mutation of the ADAMTS17 gene, and persistent pupillary membranes are also described. Other findings reported by breeders include hypothyroidism, neck pain episodes and epilepsy. Because of its long body and short legs, with considerable weight for its size, it can suffer from hip and back problems.

The best prevention is to go to responsible breeders who do health tests (especially eye tests), keep the weight in check, check and clean the ears frequently and do not skip periodic veterinary checks.

Physical appearance

The Little Basset Vendean Griffin is a small, compact and surprisingly robust dog, with an unmistakable silhouette: elongated and low, approximately 50% longer than high.

The coat is hard, rough and of medium length, never silky, with the classic populated eyebrows, beard and mustache framing a lively and sympathetic expression. The base color is white, combined with spots in lemon, orange, black, grey (grizzle) or tricolor. The head is elongated, with long ears covered with hair that hang but do not reach the tip of the nose, and with large nostrils, revealing its great smell. The back is straight, slightly arched over the lumbar region, and the tail is broad at the base, tapering toward the tip and carried upright, almost always in motion. Everything about him conveys rusticity, agility and that careless air so natural to the breed.

Origin and history

The Little Basset Griffon comes from La Vendée, a region on France’s Atlantic coast with hard terrain, covered with brush, scrub, and brush. There was a need for a greyhound that could crawl through the thorniest vegetation to track down hares and rabbits, and this short, griffon-haired, tenacious dog was born. Its history as a hunting dog in France goes back centuries – with origins cited as early as the 16th century – and for nearly a hundred years it was a hugely popular hunter in its homeland.

The breed descends from the Vendean Great Basset Gryphon, a larger, longer and heavier specimen, from which this smaller and more agile version was selected. For a long time it was customary to breed both varieties together, and the two sizes could even be born in the same litter. In 1975 the crossing between the two was officially forbidden to fix two distinct breeds, although for a time puppies with traits of both continued to appear.

The Little Basset Vendean Griffon is one of the four Vandean Griffons – along with the Great Vendean Griffon, the Vendean Griffon Briquet and the Great Basset Vendean Griffon – and one of the six basset-type breeds recognized by the International Cinological Federation, which frames it in Group 6 (dog-type and tracking dogs) with standard number 67. Although in France it is a classic centenarian, in the rest of the world it is a relatively recent breed that has been gaining followers for its cheerful character and its practical size.

Curiosities

• Its name is a complete description in French: little one .(small), basset(low), gryffon(hard-haired) and they sell(from La Vendée).
• Fans affectionately call it “PBGV”, and in English it is sometimes nicknamed “the happy breed”, for its perpetually lively character.
• He’s a championship escapist: he digs, jumps, and slips through any hole, so a garden that holds other dogs back may not hold him back.
• It barely changes its hair, which is unusual, thanks to its harsh, rustic, low-maintenance coat.
• Despite measuring just over 12 inches [30 cm], it has a powerful bark and howls like a large-sized hound.
• It shares direct ancestry with its older cousin, the Vendean Great Basset Gryphon, from which it was officially separated as a breed in 1975.

If you are attracted to this small dog with character, you may be interested in other breeds that share its tracking instinct, manageable size, or stubborn vein. Take a look at the Basset Hound, another legendary short-legged and olfactory basset; the Beagle, a small, vocal, sociable hound wherever you find them; the towering Bloodhound, the king of the trail; or the sleek Teckel (Dachshund), another long, short dog with a hunter’s soul.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Little Basset Vendean Griffon