dodolah

I will finally get my Basset puppy next month (he is 4 months old and very adorable).

Just a bit of info.. I got him from a very reputable breeder who won lots of confirmation shows in US. I visited her house and have nothing but good impressions. All her bassets are happy, gorgeous, and very very well behaved.

But, I am bit concerned with the fact that my puppy is so used to his 16 packs. and might be completely lonely especially now he will be deprived from his packs and reintroduced to a new one where only consist of 1 old blind dog from rescue.. This dog belongs to my room mate. He used to be aggressive due to severe glaucoma.. But has mellowed down quite a LOT after the vet removed both his eyes.

He will be lonely for sure.. this is why i am contemplating of getting another puppy to be my current puppy's playmate.
The breeder told me that taking care of 2 bassets is actually easier than one..

So, lets move on to my questions:
There are so many confusing theory about training method.. but, I seemed to be more convinced to Positive Reinforcement method will work better for Basset (e.g: victoria Stilwell) than Dominance training method (Cesar Millan). But, it seemed to me that I do not know where to start, especially knowing that Basset is quite hard to train.

I just need the basic command and have the puppy behave well in the house.. To not challenge the old dog, no furniture biting, and to pee outside. Do you think it's better for me to hire a trainer?

How do i know the trainer who will fit for my situation?

Do you guys have any recommendation?

I live in Los Angeles County BTW..

smithgerry

According to me you can do this thing with your owns.Training your dog is the basic and fundamental steps to communicating and teaching your dog proper obedience and good behavior. In fact, it is highly important that every dog be given at least some basic elementary obedience and behavior training as no responsible dog owner would like to have a disobedient dog that won't listen to commands and one that embarrass you in public.

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Humic Acid

JerseyFour

You can search for positive reinforcement trainers at APDT

http://http://www.apdt.com/

Congrats and good luck with the puppy! And yes, two are better than one.

FloppyToby

i know it's probably had some bad reviews but i'm taking toby, who is 4 1/2 mos old to petsmart puppy training classes. we use positive reinforcement and clicker training and toby is responding pretty well to that. i'm broke as a joke so i couldn't afford private training sessions, but our class at petsmart is small, only 3 puppies, and their training center is blocked off from the store. it's 8 weeks long, once a week, about an hour each class for i think $109. at least here in houston i don't know if it differs throughout the country

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A basset is an asset!

Mikey T

On this one the breeder is streaching the truth, While basset as a breed tend to do more poorly when a single dog and are more likely to suffer seperation anxiety, House training two puppies is never easier than one. Where every accident is a set back and increases the likelihood of another two dogs are never easier than one infact it is a little more than twice as hard. That and given that basset are natoriously hard to house train, IMHO it is impossible to full housetrain a bbasset before the age of six months and 1 year is more typical, If you are looking for a companion I would suggest a house trained adult from a rescue organization.


If you are looking for a "positive trainer" rather than the APDT i would suggest looking for a CPDT certified trainer see How to Choose a Dog Trainer for Dog Owners there is a search list on the link above.

In my experience the dog is more flexible to different syles of training than the humans are. It is more important that you are comfortable with the style and techniques used than the dog. In any training system there are tweaks to accomidate differences between dogs and optimize the system to a particular dog. The only way to know for sure if a trainer is right for you is to obeserve the trainer in action, sit in on a class or two. If the trainer does not allow this then it is a clear indication to look for a different trainer.


Given you are in the research phase some other articles on item I think are critcal in having a puppy grow-up to be a suitable adult Also you are at first looking for a puppy kindergarten where as much time is spent on socialization as on training. The second phase is a basic manners class, oposed to a formal competition obedience class. In manners type clases the focus is on those thing critical to creating a dog that is easy to live with, polite greetings, loose leash walking, self control. Without a heacy emphysis on precision as in formal obedience where how the dog sits is more important than how fast he does,

Given you are in a research phase I am including addition articles in areas I think are critical to having a puppy grow-up to be a model adult dog

socialization and Habitutation
Countdown to a Crackerjack Canine Companion

Puppy Socialisation and Habituation (Part 1) Why is it Necessary?

Puppy Socialisation and Habituation (Part 2) How to go about it

Crate training and housetraining
Creating a Nighttime Ritual

Crate Training


Housetraining Your Puppy

House Training: Ring My Bell!

bite inhibition

Bite Inhibition - How to Teach It


Play Biting in Puppies

seperation anxiety and resource guarding


Separation Anxiety



The Food Bowl Game


Food bowl exercises


Prevention Food Bowl Exercises for Puppies

dodolah

thanks for the reply.
I have read most of the links you gave. They are very informative. I decided that I want to try to train him myself especially since I work at home, and only need to go to the office 2x a week at the most..

Mikey T

[quote]

oh but for some reason he's really drawn to my cat's food and [quote]

Keep in mind the purpose of a trainer is not to train the dog but rather to train you in how to train the dog. There is not enough time in the class to train. but what you get is valueuable feed back to correct mistakes you are making and generaly make training time more productive and effective. Just as every professional sports player benefits from having a coach, having a coach/trainer is significant in improving your training skills.

dodolah

[quote=Mikey T;99419]I agree.. but, alas, I went to the CPDT trainer site and there are only 3 trainers live close by my area (by closeby I mean 20 miles driving)..
I contacted all three trainers.. and all their email bounces. Left them a message, and all of them never reply back. I only have Petsmart/ Petco class as my other choice.