What sort of hound is the hound in "Hound Of The Baskervilles"?

Answer 1

It was part bloodhound and part mastiff, decked out with phosphorus (which glows in the dark) for hellish effect. We have this from Poe's text:

"A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish be conceived than that dark form and savage face which broke upon us out of the wall of fog."

And then this:

"In mere size and strength it was a terrible creature which was lying stretched before us. It was not a pure bloodhound and it was not a pure mastiff; but it appeared to be a combination of the two -- gaunt, savage, and as large as a small lioness."

Although it looked like a horrifying animal, in all likelihood it was just a big pet. Mastiffs tend to be gentle giants -- sweet dogs, really -- outside of Doyle's fiction.

And Holmes shot 'im dead, dead, dead.

Answer 2

The hound was a mixed breed. Probably part Mastif. The Hound Of The Baskervilles was Sir Arthur Conan Doyles 3rd Sherlock Holmes story and may have been one of his best.

Answer 3

It's a hound, sir. A gigantic hound.

Answer 4

English Mastif-Great Dain mix?