Sleuth hound

The sleuth hound /ˈsluːθhaʊnd/ (from Old Norse slóð "track, trail" + hound) was a breed of dog. Broadly, it was a Scottish term for what in England was called the bloodhound, although it seems that there were slight differences between them. It was also referred to as a 'slough dog', (or 'slewe dogge'), and a 'slow hound', the first word probably representing a mispronuciation of 'slough' rather than a reference to the speed of the hound.

The sleuth hound first appears in poems about the Scottish patriots Robert the Bruce and William Wallace. These poems depict their heroes tracked by sleuth hounds. Bruce escapes by crossing water, and Wallace by killing one of his party, whom he suspects of treachery, and leaving the corpse to distract the hound. The poems are romances, not histories, but there is no implausibility about the use of sleuth hounds. John Barbour, who wrote The Bruce, was born before his hero died, and the year in which the Bruce was supposedly pursued was 1307. Thus we can be sure that the inclusion of the sleuth hound in the story was no anachronism, hence that the dogs existed in Scotland as early as c.1300, and that their use as man-trailers was fully established.

The earliest description of the sleuth hound is in The history and croniklis of Scotland 1536, a translation by John Bellenden of a Latin text by Hector Boece, Historia Gentis Scotorum (History of the Scottish People), originally published in 1526. The sleuth hound is described as one of three kinds of dog unique to Scotland. It is said to be red or black with small spots. Its special quality is its marvellous scenting power and determination in pursuing thieves (known as Border Reivers). The law of the borders between Scotland and England required that he who denies entry to the sleuth hound when in pursuit of stolen goods is held an accomplice to the theft.

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