FredMom

Hello everyone!!!

I just wanted to bring a topic to the board to discuss your experiences with your Basset - the Hunter. I'll begin with mine and I'm interested to see how diverse and great the Basset breed is! I know its their natural instinct to hunt, and my boy has had some fun with his tracking lately.

Anyway, for the past month or so I've been taking Fred out on walks and to do his "business". Well, when I take him out in my yard, he goes on a sniffing spree. Well for the past couple of evenings, he'll go to this one spot and start trying to dig. I think that Fred has found a mole in my yard, because later that night I saw a hole where he was trying to dig. The mole probably moved, because he sensed that someone was trying to get him.

Well last night, I took Fred out and even in the RAIN, Fred went on a sniffing frenzy. He sniffed until he got to another spot and tried to dig. It was hard keeping him under the umbrella, because he was tracking something. I think Fred has caught the scent of a mole that's been busy in my yard. I told my mom Imma let Fred have at the mole this weekend. :P

Please share some of these same experiences. I'm just wondering if I may be right about my good ole Fred.

EccentricGirl42

Dixie has a ritual every morning. She goes straight out to the two big trees out back where there are a couple of squirrels that love to taunt her. They chatter and run up the tree and she barks and barks and barks, running around the tree to keep her eye on them.

After a long while, she patrols the perimeter of the yard and gets onto the scent of rabbits that have been in during the night and proceeds to try to eat as much bunny poop and she can!

She also makes stops along the way to dig little holes all over the yard. I just recently discovered that she is digging up worms.

She has a great nose and finds all sorts of insects to unearth, including some sort of hornet/yellow jacket nest this summer.

I just wish she would fill the holes in when she's done!

FredMom

I see that your girl, Dixie is just as busy with her hunter's instinct as my boy, Fred. I wonder if he's sniffing earthworms too, because the previous owner of my house raised earthworms to keep her soil loose for her flowerbeds.

Mikey T

Ye ole toughynutter was never much of a hunter/sniffer tracker but he did catch and kill three mice that my sisters cat brought in to house on his catch and release program But my favorite and often told story of his hunting prowess is this one.

After day one of an agility trial in Upstate NY I took Toughy and a couple of other dogs on a walk out back of the park which was basical set-up as a hunter/jumpers course for horses. As typical, Toughy was off lead and the others were on. Atypically, however, He was out in front, way out in front Usually, he lags 100 yards or more behind. After turning down a side path he disappeared from view. I and the rest of the dogs continue down the path and are soon approaching a T in the path without a clue which way he went. Before reaching the junction a rabbit comes running down the path that would have been the top of the T and shortly thereafter turn right, away from us and into the woods. Fortunately the two I had on leash were too busy sniffing else where to even notice.
About 30 seconds later toughy comes running full speed following the path of the rabbit including the sharp right turn, but he pulls up to a stop immeadiately and starts barking into the woods. When I reach him I can see what the problem was. Where the rabbit turned there were a couple of biars. No way could any self respecting gentlemanly basset be expect to step on a briar clearly the rabbit was playing outside the rules and must be berated for his cheating. That one incident is all one needs to know about his prowess as a hunter and doing everthing you don't want in a hunting dog. tight lipped when on the trail, vocal when the trail is lost, and an unwillingness to work in hard cover.

Dean

Here's some hunters in action in NH



So What's all the excitement

AmyB

When Sadie was alive, she was quite the mole hunter also. I think she caught 3 total. It was kinda funny - she would dig the heck out of my yard going after them, but by golly she got them! Sadie also caught (& ate ) a bird once. My backyard is full of squirrels, but she never cared about them. She would lay & just watch them run past her. Spencer on the other hand, is tormented by the squirrels! He practically breaks his neck going after them - hasn't caught any yet!

__________________
Amy, mom to
Sadie (ATB, 6/9/06) & Spencer (ATB, 8/19/10) - always in my heart
and Clifford (gotcha date 7/2/11).

shakerag

Fredmom---I moved--not long ago--from just across the line from you where the lay of the land is similar and we had moles galore there so the odds are good that you do too. My first Basset would dig them up as well but he was also useful in the neighborhood to sniff out any unwanted living critters in attics or under houses that homeowners suspected of being there. I would not unleash him to fetch the critters--just to let us know if they were present or not.
If your Hound were up here in the Ozarks he would have all kinds of animals scents to keep him busy, for sure!
don

__________________
If it's not a Basset, it's just a dog

Twinkie's Mum

I've always wondered how much bassets rely on scent and just how good (or not) their eyesight is. Twinkie answered that this summer. We have pretty heavy perennial gardens all around the yard, and behind them, a PVC privacy fence that the soil is built up in front of so she can't get under it. I was sitting out in the yard this summer and she started sniffing and then the tail started going like a metronome, and then she started barking. I watched for a little while and noticed a rabbit hiding in the perennials. She followed his scent from where he probably entered the yard, and all the way down to where he was sitting. Although she spent a long, long time sniffing, she never saw him! He was only about three-four feet away from her and he was frozen there. Had he moved, I'm sure the chase would have been on, but he never did, and she never saw him. After a bit I distracted her and I assume he took off. She sniffed around where he was a lot that day, but I was truly astounded that she was so intent on what her nose was telling her that her eyes never saw him.

BTW, does anybody else's hound feel the need to bark and howl when they get on a scent? With Twink, I always know when she's found a scent because the tail starts wagging faster and faster and then the "chatter" starts.

ETA: Thought I'd add a pic of where the bunny was hiding...right behind the orange lillies!

Dean

That's exactly what we want them to do. Claim the line by "giving tongue" ( barking) when they have it and being quiet if they lose it. Sounds like she's ready for hunting





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FredMom

Oh I wont unleash him under ANY circumstances. I made that mistake once and honey, I'm just glad that he was obedient and came back when I told him to. I am gonna let him have some fun in my yard, on a long leash of course.