in the discover dogs section of Crufts i met a lovely breed i'd never heard of before, they were a german hunting breed and looked like something between a beagle and a dachund... they were a gorgeous dark chocloty but liver tinted colour. does anyone know what they are called?

This is them http://www.bavarianmountainhoundsociety.org.uk/BMHS_News.html

A Friend of mine in Poland (now deceased) had the Hanoverian Hound which is like rarer and larger version of these.

I'm going to get shot for this but they look a bit like Ridgebacks.  Nice lookig dogs

LOL
Yes, if you compare them to a poor specimen of my breed, you're not far wrong.
A RR with black hairs in it's coat, short legs and too long ears can well be mistaken for a Bavarian Mountainhound.
Bit of a size difference, though
Edited to add: My friend owns a BMD bitch. She's an outstanding tracking dog! I do tracking with my dogs, scent work for finding wounded game. Wounded either by a car or by a shot from a gun. My dogs are good at it, but her bitch is a true specialist!

yes! thanks! that was drivng me mad. they were really lovely and quite unusual. are these quite common in germany do you know?

we often get asked about these because people think they are the same as bloodhounds

??? but they look nothing like them! there about a third of the size! how weird...

The Hanoverian are almost small bloodhound size.

Here is the Bavarian Mountain hound standard: http://www.fci.be/uploaded_files/217gb2001_en.doc

and the larger Hanoverian Scenthound: http://www.fci.be/uploaded_files/213A2002_en.doc

I once travelled with the owner of the latter breed to try and get his bitch mated.  The maiden dog was such a softie and hadn't a clue.  found the breed very nice to be around and the Bavarians I met were nice too.

i still don't think they look much like bloodhounds...the face is much tighter! lovely little breed though!