Bloodhound Sniffing a Muddy Boot

The bloodhound's name is usually explained as blooded hound, meaning a dog of pure breeding, not one that tracks blood. Its ancestors were the St. Hubert hounds kept by monks at the abbey of Saint-Hubert in the Ardennes, in what is now Belgium. Here one has buried its whole wrinkled face in a muddy rubber boot by the front door, which sums up the breed in one bloodhound jigsaw puzzle. To a nose like that, the boot is a full report on where its owner spent the afternoon.