Two respected doyens of the Basset Hound have recently died. Margaret (Peg) Walton and Joan Wells-Meacham -  both of whom were 90 years old and each made an enormous impact on the breed.

Peg Walton’s highly successful and influential Lyn Mar Acres kennel produced a great string of American Champions. In the 1960s, prodgeny from her highly considered breeding programme were imported into the bloodlines of both the U.K. and Italy. She was a respected international breed and group judge and wrote, perhaps, the best U.S. breed book, The New Basset Hound.

Joan Wells-Meacham’s Fredwell affix is very evident in the pedigrees of many successful Basset Hounds from the 1960s and 70s. She bred the legendary, Fredwell Varon Vandal, who won 23 CCs - a record at the time. Her own book on our breed was The Basset Hound. She served on the committee of the BHC for 25 years. In 1969, in partnership with Mildred Seiffert, she imported a Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen for the first time into this country. She went on to become the President of the Basset Griffon Vendeen Club.

The deaths of these two very dedicated women certainly mark the end of an era.

A longer obituary on Peg Walton was published in Our Dog’s

An obituary on Joan Wells-Meacham was also published in Our Dog’s but it adds only personal information to Tony’s tribute in LOWDOWN, it also omits the year in which she died, 2008

hound history ☞