Basset Hound
Basset Hounds have a cited life expectancy of 12.5 years (McMillan 2024 / VetCompass, n=2,013, 95% CI 12.2 to 12.7). The most carried tested variant is Chondrodystrophy and Intervertebral Disc Disease Risk, in 68% of 982 Basset Hounds tested (Donner 2023), then Factor VII Deficiency (6%) and Cone-Rod Dystrophy (1.3%). 34 dogs stand behind the atlas figures here, so treat this page as an early sketch.
What genetic diseases do Basset Hounds carry?
From a panel of 250 Mendelian-disease variants screened in 1,054,293 dogs (Donner et al. 2023), Basset Hounds carry 10 of them at observable frequency. Carrier frequency is not clinical risk. Most recessive variants require two copies for disease expression; many dominant variants show incomplete penetrance. Read this as a population fingerprint of what's in the gene pool, not a per-dog prediction.
FGF4what this gene does
FGF4 influences leg length by affecting bone growth, leading to shorter legs in certain breeds.
For your dog: If your dog is from a breed known to carry this gene, it's worth discussing spinal health with your vet, but being a carrier doesn’t guarantee problems.
F7what this gene does
The F7 gene helps produce a protein important for blood clotting, which stops bleeding when dogs get injured.
For your dog: If your dog is from a breed known to carry F7 variants, it's worth mentioning to your vet before any surgery or if you notice unusual bleeding.
PDK4what this gene does
PDK4 helps regulate how cells use energy, especially in the heart muscle.
For your dog: If your dog is one of the breeds known to carry this gene, it’s worth discussing heart health with your vet, but being a carrier doesn’t mean your dog will develop disease.
RPGRIP1what this gene does
RPGRIP1 is a gene involved in the function of photoreceptor cells in the eye, which help dogs see in different light conditions.
For your dog: If your dog belongs to a breed known to carry RPGRIP1 mutations, it’s worth discussing with your vet to understand the risks and monitor eye health.
SOD1what this gene does
SOD1 is a gene that helps protect cells from damage caused by harmful molecules called free radicals.
For your dog: If your dog is a carrier of SOD1 variants, it's worth discussing with your vet, but remember carrier status doesn't mean your dog will get the disease.
CATwhat this gene does
CAT is a gene that helps produce an enzyme called catalase, which breaks down hydrogen peroxide in the body to prevent cell damage.
For your dog: If your dog is from a breed that can carry this gene, it’s worth asking your vet about testing. Being a carrier doesn’t mean your dog is affected, but it can inform health decisions.
NDRG1what this gene does
NDRG1 is a gene involved in nerve cell function and maintenance, helping keep the nervous system working properly.
For your dog: If your dog is from a breed known to carry NDRG1 variants, it’s worth discussing with your vet, especially if you notice any mobility issues.
ABCB1what this gene does
ABCB1 is a gene that helps control how certain drugs are processed and cleared from a dog's body.
For your dog: If your dog is from a breed that carries this gene variant, ask your vet about medication sensitivities before giving any new drugs.
ADAMTS17what this gene does
ADAMTS17 is a gene that influences body size and also plays a role in certain eye conditions. It affects the structure of tissues in the eye and elsewhere in the body.
For your dog: If your dog belongs to a breed known to carry ADAMTS17 variants, it’s worth discussing genetic testing and eye exams with your vet to stay ahead of potential issues.
Full ADAMTS17 gene page →What these results mean for a Basset Hound
67.5% of Basset Hounds in the Donner 2023 cohort carried it (n=982).
- Two extra copies of a growth gene, FGF4, shape dog legs and spines. The one on chromosome 12 is the one tied to disc disease; the one on chromosome 18 shortens legs.
OMIA 000157-9615
“Two FGF4 retrogenes (FGF4L1 on chromosome 18 and FGF4L2 on chromosome 12) have been identified to cause dwarfism across many dog breeds.” OMIA 000157-9615
“Brown et al. (2017) reported that an FGF4 retrogene insertion in chromosome CFA12” OMIA 000157-9615
- Carrying it raises risk. It does not say which dog will have a disc problem. In Dachshunds researchers found the test is not a valid risk indicator on its own.
OMIA 000157-9615
“the FGF4 retrogene insertion on CFA12 is not a valid risk indicator on its own” OMIA 000157-9615
What to do
Ask your veterinarian what a carrier result changes for your dog. What lowers risk in a carrier is not established in the sources this page draws on.
No test, or a mix
Without a test nobody can say whether a dog carries it. Leg length alone does not tell you: the disc-disease copy and the short-leg copy are different insertions.
2.5% of Basset Hounds in the Donner 2023 cohort carried it (n=990).
- This is a marker, not an established cause. The curated record says a test based on it is not a good indicator of heart disease risk even in Dobermans, the breed it was found in.
OMIA 000162-9615
“it is evident that any DNA test based on this marker will not be a good indicator of liability to this disorder in Dobermans” OMIA 000162-9615
What to do
A carrier result for this marker is not, on its own, a reason for heart screening. Heart screening is a conversation with your veterinarian about the breed and the dog.
No test, or a mix
What this marker means in breeds other than the Doberman is not established in the sources this page draws on.
Identified as Basset Hound (VBO:0200126) in the Vertebrate Breed Ontology (Mullen et al. 2025, CC-BY 4.0) · registry IDs FCI 163 · iDog 22 · VeNom 14129.
For researchers Population genetics, disease models and every recorded condition Open the research detail for the Basset Hound
In the atlas, the Basset Hound clusters consistently as Basset Hound (100% of the 34 dogs here). Dogs here sit in a relatively sparse region of the atlas, fewer close neighbors than typical.
Low breed predictability score (0.26), individual dogs of this breed vary widely in genetics, suggesting active substructure or sub-population diversity.
What the atlas genotypes say about Basset Hound
Computed from the 14,478 CanVAS dogs in the Atlas, on an imputed genotype backbone: 77,215 directly typed sites per dog, imputed to 9.67 million variants.
The confidence below counts dogs, not reads: it is the size of the sample, and it is separate from how the genotypes were measured.
What does genetic diversity mean?
How varied a breed's gene pool is — the share of gene spots where a typical dog of the breed carries two different versions rather than two identical ones.
How to read it: Higher = more diverse. Among well-sampled breeds it ranges roughly 0.22 (least diverse) to 0.33 (most diverse).
Diversity is a strength, not a verdict on any individual dog. Lower diversity means it's worth paying attention to recessive-risk testing — not that a dog is doomed.
What does within-breed variation mean?
How much individual dogs within the breed differ from each other genetically.
How to read it: Higher = more internal variety among individuals of the breed.
Sensitive to how many dogs of the breed we've sampled.
What does typical lifespan mean?
The median age dogs of the breed tend to reach.
How to read it: Higher = longer-lived. Compare to longevity-for-size to see whether it's just a size effect.
Drawn from population lifespan records; individual dogs vary widely with care, genetics, and luck.
Basset Hounds are a natural model for human disease
Because the same genes cause the same conditions across species, the inherited conditions documented in Basset Hounds help researchers understand, and work toward treating, the human diseases they model. This is the dog advancing human medicine. The breed models the human disease; it does not have it, and this is not a prediction for your dog.
- OMIM:600201, modeled by the breed's Coat colour, saddle tan vs black-and-tan via ASIP, the same underlying biology.
- recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, modeled by the breed's Epidermolysis bullosa, dystrophic via COL7A1, the same underlying biology.
- X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, modeled by the breed's Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, X-linked, EDA-related via EDA, the same underlying biology.
- Krabbe disease, modeled by the breed's Krabbe disease via GALC, the same underlying biology.
- OMIM:608233, modeled by the breed's Neutropenia, cyclic via AP3B1, the same underlying biology.
- T-B+ severe combined immunodeficiency due to gamma chain deficiency, modeled by the breed's Severe combined immunodeficiency disease, X-linked via IL2RG, the same underlying biology.
Every condition recorded in the Basset Hound
Beyond the testable carriers above, OMIA's literature catalogue records 19 genetic conditions in the Basset Hound, 16 of which have a known human equivalent. This is the documented landscape across all Basset Hounds ever studied, not a prediction for any one dog.
- Coat colour, saddle tan vs black-and-tan Autosomal recessiveHuman equivalent: OMIM:600201
- Epidermolysis bullosa, dystrophic Autosomal recessiveHuman equivalent: recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa
- Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, X-linked, EDA-related X-linked recessiveHuman equivalent: X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia
- Krabbe disease Autosomal recessiveHuman equivalent: Krabbe disease
- Neutropenia, cyclic Autosomal recessiveHuman equivalent: OMIM:608233
- Human equivalent: T-B+ severe combined immunodeficiency due to gamma chain deficiency
- Chondrodysplasia, FGF4 retrogene-related AutosomalHuman equivalent: OMIM:164980
- Craniomandibular osteopathy, generic MultifactorialHuman equivalent: Caffey disease
- Craniomandibular osteopathy, SLC37A2-related Autosomal dominant with incomplete penetranceHuman equivalent: OMIM:619136
- Factor VII deficiency Autosomal recessiveHuman equivalent: congenital factor VII deficiency
- Glaucoma, primary open angle, ADAMTS17-related Autosomal recessiveHuman equivalent: Weill-Marchesani 4 syndrome, recessive
- Myoclonus epilepsy of Lafora Autosomal recessiveHuman equivalent: OMIM:254780
- Human equivalent: persistent Mullerian duct syndrome
- Polyglucosan body myopathy, RBCK1-related Probably autosomal recessiveHuman equivalent: polyglucosan body myopathy 1 with or without immunodeficiency
- Thrombopathia, RASGRP2-related Autosomal recessiveHuman equivalent: platelet-type bleeding disorder 18
- XX difference of sexual development, generic MultifactorialHuman equivalent: 46,XX disorder of sex development
- Glaucoma, primary closed-angle Autosomal recessive
Plus 1 more conditions recorded in the Basset Hound in OMIA.
Where every number on this page came from.
This page draws on three primary data sources. Carrier frequencies for the Mendelian section come from Donner et al. 2023 (CC-BY-4.0). We grade these data at evidence Limited because the cohort is a direct-to-consumer ascertainment, which biases toward owners who chose to test their dogs. The panel also uses tag-SNP proxies for some variants rather than direct causal-variant assays. Limited is a study-design grade, not a quality grade: the Donner cohort is the largest open canine-genotype dataset in existence and we are grateful for it. We rate the confounding MEDIUM.
Population-genetic dimensions (heterozygosity, intra-breed PCA distance, nearest neighbors, trait-locus frequencies) come from CanVAS (Brundage 2026), harmonized through the Sniff Atlas. The exact release date and verification commit are pinned at the bottom of the page so a researcher can trace a number back to a specific snapshot. The disease-gene-variant graph comes from OMIA (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals; Nicholas, Tammen, and the Sydney Informatics Hub at the Sydney School of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney; retrieved April 2026, DOI 10.25910/2AMR-PV70).
What this page does not yet have. Inheritance modes and per-disease penetrance evidence from Donner 2023 are in the structured data for every variant the panel covers. Mondo, OMIM, Ensembl, and HGNC cross-references live on the gene and disease pages this page links to, rather than being repeated here. What is still absent from this breed page is anything not in the cited panel, and each such gap carries its cause where it appears.
How to cite this page. The computed dimensions on this page are derived from the open Sniff Atlas v1.0.1 (Gehring 2026, doi:10.5281/zenodo.20566358, CC-BY 4.0). Full citation formats including BibTeX, RIS, and CITATION.cff at sniff.world/cite.
Some things about living with a basset hound never make it into a database. Add what you know as a Keeper, in your words →
Lived experience, kept beside the science.We have 34 basset hounds. We do not have yours.
Every basset hound added sharpens the breed's genetic neighborhood. Enrollment is free. The data stays open. The star is permanent.
- Donner J, Freyer J, Davison S, Anderson H, Blades M, Honkanen L, et al. (2023). Genetic prevalence and clinical relevance of canine Mendelian disease variants in over one million dogs. PLOS Genetics 19(2):e1010651. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1010651
- Brundage DM (2026). CanVAS: A Harmonized and Imputed Canine Variant Atlas. bioRxiv. doi:10.64898/2026.04.13.718238
- Nicholas, F.W., Tammen, I., & Sydney Informatics Hub. (2026). Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA) [dataset]. The University of Sydney. https://omia.org. doi:10.25910/2AMR-PV70 (retrieved April 2026).