Bloodhounds are dogs so ancient that it is almost impossible to trace their origin and distant ancestors. For example, for a long time the hounds from the Ardennes Monastery (Belgium), later nicknamed the dogs of Saint Hubert, were considered the ancestors of the breed, after the second name of the monastery. The monks of the abbey already in the 9th century discovered interbreeding for themselves and practiced it diligently, using Molossians, Belga bloodhounds, and North African hounds as breeding material.