Are Basset Hounds easy or tough to train? (border collie, labradors, terrier)
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Hello, I am looking into dog breeds and I am considering buying a basset hound. I have two small children, and don't want a small or large dog, just something in-between. Does anyone here own or previously owned a basset hound and if so, are they easy or tough to train, also are they good with kids?
I have a beagle basset hound mix. People say hounds are difficult to train. That has not been my experience whatsoever. He was very easy to housetrain. Effortless. Since they are very food driven, it's easy to brainwash them to do whatever you want with treat rewards. Some things can't be trained out of them----their food drive and their nose. So you need to ensure that they never get loose because they will follow their nose and get lost forever. They'll get into anything to get to food, so you need to keep the garbage closed away so the don't get to it.
But housetraining, basic commands like sit, come, stay and so many others are so easy to train. My husband even has him trained to walk behind him, healing without a leash, whenever they come into the house and are going to get a treat. It's hilarious because hubby will try to trick him and stops walking repeatedly. The hound will stop too. Whenever the hound ends up a tiny bit in front of hubby, he'll quickly fall back in step behind him.
Since hounds are pack animals, they LOVE affection, love to cuddle, love attention. They adore you. They're GREAT with children. They have great personalities and are super fun.
1) EXTREMELY good with children. Great family dogs. Sweet as can be, and super funny.
2) EXTREMELY difficult to train. They are one of the most stubborn breeds out there. Not saying it can't be done, but your Basset will work against you.
Hounds in general are considered difficult to train. This is primarily because hounds have been bred for years (in some cases hundreds or even thousands of years) to work indpendently of man. Think about what hounds including Bassets (and beagles) were (and are) bred to do.
That said, they are trainable as long as you are willing to put in the effort and time needed and don't expect your hound to be like labrador or a Border Collie. marker training is perfect for these dogs. Check out http://leerburg.com/pdf/markers-clickers.pdf .
By the way, Bassets are considered to be either a medium or a large breed depending on whom you ask since they weigh (according to the standard) between 40 and 80 lbs. A Detailed Basset Hound Breed Profile
...and don't expect your hound to be like labrador or a Border Collie.
This is key! You've gotta accept them for who they are. A hound isn't a dog for someone who wants to train the dog to do all sorts of tricks and commands. But if you're only looking for a great dog with a fantastic personality who is good with kids that you can easily housetrain and teach basic commands, the hound isn't difficult in that regard.
im with hopes..bassets are VERY easy to train...with the right bribery...
they are "Lazy" dogs, there not dumb, but they need "motivation" if its not smethign they eny they will lokok at you, sigh and go back to sleep...
fortunatly ive never met a basset who isnt easily motivated by food...
unfortunatly ive never met a baset whos a healthy weight!!!
in terms of size, bassets are actually BIG dogs on little legs, a 60lb basset eats just as much as a 60lb lab...its just much shorter lol.
personally i prefer spaniels for a medium sized easy to train good family breed, but LOOK FOR A WELL BRED ONE...the best dog in the world for a kid is a cocker, but unfortunatly when they became very pupular alot of amage was done to the breeds sweet tmeperment due to back yard and mill breeding...
hounds were bred to follow their nose...they work quite independantly form humans, the idea was they could do their thing without much human interaction...they were trained to be good at ignoring distractions and following a scent trail, this means MOST scent hounds (beagles, bassets, fox hounds ect) willbe hard to "get their attention" and tend to be wanderers (they get on a scent and forget it...)
Spaniels like retreivers were bred to work WITH their people, they had to listen to their human and do exactly what they were told when they were told or the human would loose their shot (spaniels are flushers and retreivers, where as retreivers like labs were bred mostly just to bring it back)
so spaniels, and retraivers (and i consider pointers to be a retreiving breed too) tend by nature to be more apt to use their ears.
(and unlike retreivers are a much more compact size )
Speaking of lazy, that's another advantage. Bassets aren't high energy dogs. They don't drive you insane like our Labrador did for the first three years of his life with his super high energy, always running and jumping around. A basset is fun and will play with the kids, but it's not constantly turned ON like a Labrador. I think that's a great advantage to not have a dog that you need to wear out just to have some piece at home. I love, love, love Labradors----they are great dogs after 3 years old! LOL The basset was easy when he arrived at 11 months old.
im with hopes..bassets are VERY easy to train...with the right bribery...
they are "Lazy" dogs, there not dumb, but they need "motivation" if its not smethign they eny they will lokok at you, sigh and go back to sleep...
fortunatly ive never met a basset who isnt easily motivated by food...
unfortunatly ive never met a baset whos a healthy weight!!!
in terms of size, bassets are actually BIG dogs on little legs, a 60lb basset eats just as much as a 60lb lab...its just much shorter lol.
personally i prefer spaniels for a medium sized easy to train good family breed, but LOOK FOR A WELL BRED ONE...the best dog in the world for a kid is a cocker, but unfortunatly when they became very pupular alot of amage was done to the breeds sweet tmeperment due to back yard and mill breeding...
hounds were bred to follow their nose...they work quite independantly form humans, the idea was they could do their thing without much human interaction...they were trained to be good at ignoring distractions and following a scent trail, this means MOST scent hounds (beagles, bassets, fox hounds ect) willbe hard to "get their attention" and tend to be wanderers (they get on a scent and forget it...)
Spaniels like retreivers were bred to work WITH their people, they had to listen to their human and do exactly what they were told when they were told or the human would loose their shot (spaniels are flushers and retreivers, where as retreivers like labs were bred mostly just to bring it back)
so spaniels, and retraivers (and i consider pointers to be a retreiving breed too) tend by nature to be more apt to use their ears.
(and unlike retreivers are a much more compact size )
my Roxie has (I suspect) quite a bit of beagle mixed in with her terrier and I can really tell when she gets on a scent.... I call it switching on her beagle brain.....
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