Why the breed exists
Built for a quarry no other dog was asked to follow: the otter, hunted through rivers to protect fisheries from medieval times until the practice ended in the 1970s. The rough, oily double coat sheds cold water; the big webbed feet power a swimming stride that can go for miles; the nose can follow an otter's underwater trail — 'drag' — hours old. When otter hunting ended, the Otterhound's reason for being ended with it, and the breed now numbers among the rarest in the world — fewer Otterhounds than Giant Pandas. It survives only because preservation breeders keep it alive on purpose.
The official written standard belongs to the breed's parent club.Read the official Otterhound standard →
Choosing a Otterhound on purpose
Every breed has its own list of required health screenings, kept by its parent club and published through OFA. A preservation breeder working in this breed tests to that list and shows you the results — including the ones that didn't go their way.
Carry the messageEvery Bred By Co. piece funds this education work.
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