candycornsnake

I got a basset hound because when I did research..most books/websites said they were lazy slugs and were good for small homes and it would be hard to get them going. But my Basset is completely the opposite!
She is a year and a couple of months old. She chews. She jumps on counters and steals food. She is very distructive. She leaps on people (ignoring doesn't work...niether does kneeing her) and springboards off furniture. It's a nightmare.
And now she has started Peeing on my bed. So we banned her from the bed and have her sleeping in a crate (which she spends 8 - 3 during the day in too while we are at work...because she can't be trusted in the house). But she was dashing into the room and peeing on the bed anyway. So we are keeping the door shut. BUT last night as we led her into the room to go in the crate she lept on the bed and Peed AGAIN before we could catch her.
This is getting ridiculous.
I personally would ban her from the room altogeather. But my fiance thinks that is no better than having her in an outdoor kennel and won't hear of it.
I put her through obediance class...our teacher was worthless and told us not to expect too much since it was a basset. And it's true that getting her attention to listen to me is very difficult. Treats don't work. Yelling doesn't work. Squirt bottles don't work. Clicker training didn't work.

So here are the steps I am taking....
We are taking her to the vet this weekend to check for a UTI.
We have checked out a different obedience class for "troubled" dogs.
We even emailed a dog behaviorist to see if that might help.
We are also researching Doggie Day Care to burn some energy maybe since she can't be outside during the day. It's outragiously expensive around here though...so we could probably only afford 2 to 3 days a week.

What else do I need to do? What works for these dogs? Why is she not a slug like everyone said she would be?

Here she is with one of the cats. She is great with other dogs and cats. She is very sweet...just crazy. It's like someone put a bordercollie in my basset's body! Oh and nevermind the ugly couch...she ate it so it's gone. We replaced it with a hopefully harder to distroy leather couch.

Mommy2MaggieMae

That's a sweet picture. Please don't kill her.

Anyway... my basset is the same way only without the pee'ing. She's a little pistol, totally opposite from what I expected. You have to be stern with her, train her and when she pee's, take her outside and say "potty" (this worked for me). Don't rub her nose in the pee in the house, she doesn't understand and doesn't like that (not saying you do that to her, but would you like someone to rub your nose in pee?).

I'm sure other, more "seasoned" basset owners can give you better advice than me. My girl is only 3 so I don't have a lot of years behind me when it comes to bassets.

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- Laura

biscuit

Bassets are hunting dogs at heart. Let me repeat: bassets are hunting dogs at heart.

Bassets were bred to be independent thinkers and led by their noses. They're also athletic creatures, despite the extremely misleading stereotypes about them on various commercials, etc.

They're also very smart and pretty easily bored.

They need exercise. They're not going to be content being locked up in a house for 8-10 hours a day unless they're also getting some kind of vigorous activity for a goodly length of time every day.

They're stubborn because they were bred to be stubborn and because they're independent minded.

And, yes, they can jump. I once watched in astonishment when Biscuit sized up the height of a rock retaining wall that was about 4-4 1/2 feet tall, then took off running, cleared the top of the retaining wall and went on a 1-2 hour jog about town. How do I know it was a 1-2 hour jog? Because I immediately took out after him---it took me 1-2 hours to find him and he was still running when I finally did, just happy as he could be.

If you decide you can't handle the reality of the basset, please contact a local rescue as soon as possible.

Kirska

I agree that teacher was worthless. Every dog can be trained well, you just need to figure out how. It's part of their job to help you figure that out.

Every puppy is high energy. The only difference is what degree of high energy. In the future if you want a "slug" you should consider adopting older dogs that already have their puppy energy out.

Our dogs were both adopted by us at about age 8 and are definitely slugs. But lovable slugs. We wouldn't have it any other way. We are a quiet and lazy household and they fit well.

__________________
Mom to Anabelle and Lila, rescued ladies and Harley, Corgi/Beagle/Basset/?? mutt

"Saving just one dog won't change the world, but it surely will change the world for that one dog." - Richard C. Call

Princess Buttercup

Oh my she's sure got that, "Look at me, I'm a perfect little angel baby face. Why I haven't done any of those things" look down pat!! Patience & exercise will work. Just before PB was about 6 mos old I wanted to sell her to the gypsies for peeing her own bed. It was every single day so we constantly had a dog bed in the washer! Now if it was my bed... I can't say she'd be really a gypsy dog but I would have way more grey hair!! She just turned four & she did settle down. So go pet her belly, tell her how much you love her, & that if she doesn't stop peeing the bed you will sell her to the gypsies!

Penny Arcade

Aw don't kill her.

I understand where you are coming from completely. My Penny loves pooping on carpet, she pees when she gets excited or meets new people, has chewed on my couch,, scratched my bathroom door, jumps on people, tries to run off when we go on walks, and doesn't like having to listen in order to get treats. Penny, is, however, a special needs dog. She was abused, abandoned, found, and then had to be rehomed with us after only a year of living with her previous owner. She is terrified of someone holding something bigger than her (brooms, guitar, etc) and tucks her tail whenever someone bends over to pet her instead of kneeling.

She needs a lot of love and attention and I didn't realize that at first.
Your girly needs the same thing.

Firstly, Bassets are not the lazy dogs everyone wants to believe. They like to smell things, they like to explore things, they run pretty fast for having stubby legs, and and have high energy (especially one as young as yours).

Some solutions that I came up with for Penny that might work for you:

-Kong chew toys. They're a gift from God. Put some treats/peanut butter in it and it provides something for them to do.
-Long walks. It tires her out and is good exercise for her.
-Taking her out to potty FREQUENTLY. I try to make sure her bladder is always empty. That way if she does meet someone new (we live in a college apartment so it happens every day) she doesn't pee on them. It also keeps her from peeing on furniture and having accidents while she's home alone.
-Limiting her water intake. Dogs need about an cup of water per 5lbs of their body weight. Take into account how much time she spends outside a day. We also cut off water after 9pm with her.
-Talk to her/be with her. I swear Penny understands human talk (I attribute that to bassets being very smart), but I've come to find most dogs just like your company and want to be acknowledged by the humans they live with. Belly rubs are a wonder.

Mikey T

Housetrain 101

I can not over emphysis the importantace of a schedule that it rigourly adhered and this does not mean when you take the dog out no. It mean when the dog is fed when it has acess to water when it plays and when it sleeps. When you do this the dog is going to be a lot more predictible on when it needs to go so you can prevent accident form happen. Keep in mind the prevention of accident is not the end product but only the first step to housetraining.

see housetraining Pay particular attention to substrate training. Because what has happed is this dog preffers the feel of sheet and something soft under it feet wich could also mean it own dog bed carpet etc as well I have found that dog that soil a human bed tend to do the same thing to their own as well. This can often bee the result of being rated too long for the dog to hold it and the pee the bed. It is a "plesurable experpeirience" the loss of pressure on the bladder etc so it becomes self rewarding it happens a few times and the dog begins to seek theese type of surfaces out to pee on. The problem is once this occurs you must be extra dilligent to prevent it. can the dog go 8-3 without soiling the crate consitently in not you need to make arragment to let her out sooner hiring a pet walker, coming home for lunch. etc. and be dillegent to prevent accidents on such surface because now you must first over come this substrate prefference before teaching a new one will work. The second think is your explaination brings up a couple more points.
1. Why was the dog not taken outside before going to bed where it would have relieved it self

2. When you need to control the dog use a leash it is fine to use a leash in the house Had the dog been leashed it would never had been able to get on the bed in the first place.

3. Fustration is actual good for training in this way. It is a powerfull motivator. If you were not fustrated the motivation to changes the dogs behavior would be far less.

Say yes training reminders

Mikey T

Lets take the last question first because you did not ask people that actual own and know the breed the would have never told you a basset puppy is a slug because that is far from the cas. Even as adults they are not slug the do hoeve adjust better to most to the activity level in the household and active household and the dog will be active a quite household and the dogs will be quite. but this is the breed average or norm, in any population there are individuals that fall outside the norms by choosing a particular breed for the atributes and personality you want and match that breed you have a better of chance of getting those but it is no guarantee.

2 what works for basset works for every other breed as well but you need to know a few thing I high suggest reading Hard to Train?
A look at "difficult-to-train" breeds and the reality of what shapes these canine minds

Basset were not bred to work under the direction of humans like heard and aand sporting breed they are not bidable, willing to please. They are not going to do something because it makes you happy. There need to be the reasonalble expectation on their part that there is something in it for them Fort the typical basset and all dogs for that matter the answer is food. Ya ya I heard ya and I answer that latter.


This dog is basical confined for 16 hours or more a day so when not it is going to need extensisve exercise both physically and mentally the rest of the time. For the mental end you can do some of that while confined in a crate with stuffed kongs or other treat dispensing toys. Give you discription I would think You have limit acess to wide open space that it would be safe to let the dog run or play. So you need an exercise that wourks in a small area. An no walking the dog is not exercise especially at a basset sniff pace. it is mental stimulation for the dog but that is about it. The is really only one game that is going to work for you

Tug of War
Not what I highlited in bold but pleas read both articles in this pdf.

TO TUG OR NOT TO TUG:
SERIOUSLY, THAT'S STILL A QUESTION

Tug It Training Toy

Soundtrack

The original instructor *was* useless. Any decent instructor knows not to dismiss a dog's ability to learn based on its breed, good trainers know how to adapt and improvise to the dog they are working with.
She is NOT a troubled dog. She is a normal, high-spirited adolescent desperately in need of more exercise and proper training. I suggest finding an experienced trainer who has a record of success working with "non-obedience" breeds. Any trainer who says not to expect much because she's a basset is to be avoided.

As stated above, this is a hunting breed, meant to go all day. While most do become more sedate (at least in the house) as they mature (particularly if the household is rather sedentary), many do not. My 10 year old Rosie still bounces off the walls (she is not called "Crazy Rosie Roo" for nothing).

For the chewing: she needs to be supervised at all times when loose (just like housebreaking). She *can't* chew things she shouldn't if you are watching her - as soon as she starts, stop her and give her an acceptable chew toy (that she likes).

For the jumping, you need to teach an alternate behavior (sit) which she must perform in order to get the attention she is looking for. Once you have a decent trainer and she understands that "sit" is not optional, you can use that before she starts jumping and give her attention for a behavior you do want.

You may also find "Nothing In Life Is Free" useful for helping to teach her self-control. Google the term and you should come up with good links.

For the peeing on the bed, checking for a UTI is good, another thought is that if she is not spayed yet she may be coming into heat. The leash as suggested is definitely recommended.

As for the counter surfing and stealing food, I'm afraid that it's a lot easier to train yourself not to leave stuff within reach than it is to try to stop them from doing that. Save yourself the aggro, don't leave food out.

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Mikey T

BS when talking about techniques in general they all work What is true is you do not know or unwilling to do what it thake to implement them successfully


see above it take some knowledge of how and why things work to implement them correctley and that includes limitation

Le us start with the knee to the chest. Can it work Yes howver must petowner are not will to do what it take to have it work. In order for it to work it must "punish" the dog. that is it need to be so strong the dog thinks twice about jumping up again. That is goint to require a lot of pain inflicted on the dog often times crossing in being abusive,. A mild asversive will not work and in this case is actually a reward, A mild bump on the chest is not adversive to the dog it is a reward of human contact it is seeking. This is while the failure rate of this method is astronomical because it requires that you are abusive to the dog.

Ignoring the behavior again work if done correctly always works with in the parameters that a previously rewarded behavior like jumping up is always lurking and can show up randomly on rare ocassions., That said it is not likely to succes because humans can not implement it properly. First once it because all incidence must be ignore. Just a single mistake of petting the dog while it is jumping up or other wise acknowledgeing it is going to make it exponentially hard to end the behavior by extinction alone. Here why. Variable reinforcement is very powerfull. Think of a slot maching it pays of only once and a while the expectation on any one pull is likely it won't payoff but people keep pulling the handle because of varriable reinforcement when you don't expected to be paid every time when you dont get paid it is not a big deal tha is what happen when you occasional reward the jumping behavior even if inadvertently varriablly reinforced behaviors become come very hard to exctiguish via extinction The second thing that no one tells you abaut using extinction is something that is called an extinction burst that happens virtually every time using extinction on a behavior that has been previously reinforced. Think of the elevator you step in and every time you press your floor button you are rewarded with the elivator doors closing and it taking you to the desire floor. So one day you press the button and nothing happens what do you do. Take the stairs, that is what those that tell you ignore the behavior would leave you to believe but that is not what happens., You hit the button again and again, try a different button, press harder, faster slower, longer etc before giving up that is an extinction burst the behavior gets worse much worse before it stops. Now considering the ignore the behavior is always recommend with attention seeking behaviors you get a behavior that occurs because it was so obnoxious it could not be ignore getting much much worse what art the odd when that happen it can be continued to be ignore so it fails. If that were not bad enough consider this attention seeking behavior exist to fufill a need of the dog ie get attention. even if you successfully ignore a behavior to extinction you have not changed the fundamental reason the behavior occured in the first place get attention., The dog is not simply going to give up on getting attention because jumping up no longer works it is going to try many different things until it find that new behavior that new one that is even more obnoxious than jumping up that you can't ignore and your back in the same hell you started. The way to end these obnoxious behaviors is to teach the dog a more appropriate less abonoxious behavior and reward this more appropriate behavior much more than the previous obnoxious one. This is where ignoreing the old behavior can play a part but it is only a part.

Quick Fix for a Jumping Dog

Squirt bottles yelling no etx people assume are punishment for most dogs they are not Keep in mind here I am using the behaviorism definition of punishment which is reduced the likelihood of a behavior from occuring. At best they are adversive something to be avoid but not even that for a lot of dogs. In a real training contect most often they are best describe as disruptive stimuli in that load nois a spritz of wather is going to cause the dog to stop what its doing and basicaly say to itself what was that. They do have uses in training if done properly. By interupting the undesired behavior you no have the oppurtunity but but the time is brief to now teach the dog a more appropriate behavior and reward it for it. The classic example is the dog chewing on a shoe. Yell no! dog stops for a second take shoe give appropriae doggie chew toy when dog chews on appropriate chew toy reward with praise and pets.

If you expect a squirt bottle or yelling No to discourage inappropriate behavior on their own you will be waiting till hell freezes over but if used properly as disruptive stimuli and coupled with teaching a more appropriate behavior then they can.