ChiliConCarnage

Hi everyone,

My fiancee and I recently got our first Basset, a lovely 11 month old lady called Betsy. When we rescued her, she hadn't been trained at all, not even house trained. So we have been patiently trying to train her and all seems to be going the right direction.

One area, however, we are unsure of is walking. When we took her to the vet for a checkup after we got her, we were able to talk to a dog behaviourist. She told us that Betsy would never be the type of dog that will walk by our sides, simply due to being a hound.

From our short experience with Betsy, this has proved to be true. We have been reading up and watching videos online about how to train a dog to walk on a leash "correctly", and have been trying to use some of these techniques. At first, we tried to make sure Betsy stayed walking on the same side always, and that she was never walking ahead of us. This has been difficult as Betsy's nose is almost permanently stuck to the ground. Any bin/drain/flower pot/everything else we encounter on our walks she is drawn to, stops and sniffs. She also doesn't stay very well to one side and is constantly cutting across us. She doesn't pull overly bad most of the time, but occasionally she will start to pull a little. We walk her with a harness and using a normal length leather lead (no retractable ones or choke chains).

I suppose my questions are:

1. is this totally normal behaviour for a Basset of her age? Is this just what walking a Basset is like for every owner?
2. is it possible to train a Basset to walk well on a lead, or will they always be "following their noses", since this is essentially what "they were built for"?

Any resources anyone can suggest would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Wworm

Hi Betsy,

Welcome! and please post some pics soon of your new addition

sadly, i'm not known for my loose leash walking skillz. i do everything you described below. i'm 16 months old & already went to 1st & 2nd grade (Puppy 1 & Puppy 2 classes). my person needs to practice with me more, but (sigh) i'm guilty of all the things ya wrote.
--Worm

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see what the Worm is up to: http://bassetworm.blogspot.com/

Barney'spal

It seems that the theory is to train them to have a "walk" time and then a time out time to "sniff". It must work because everyone has seemed to accomplish this but me.....Barney just sniffs and goes pretty much where he wants to....which is my fault....I choose my battles with him and this isn't one of them. Good luck and please post some pictures.

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Properly trained, a man can be a dog's best friend.

Esther

can be done.
I stay next to the dad pretty well b/c he pops the leash at the exact right time.
not hard. just enough to change direction of the nose-following tendency.
it's nice too b/c we go to the park about 1/2 way thru the walk and that's when I get the opportunity to do my thing and nose around as much as I want.
but when we're on the sidewalk, it's all business. right next to the heel. And I've learned "heel" "stop" and "Stay" (sort of on the last one) while walking. helps keep me focused. bottom line, it can be done, but the walkER needs to be on his/her game pretty much the whole time so the walkEE doesn't take over.
(walkEE says, "HEY! Just whose walk IS this ANYway??)

Lucy&Millie

My girls are guilty too... We've been through tons of training, but sometimes a Basset is going to do what a Basset is going to do!

One trick I was taught, that definitely helps when we are in stores or out places where I really can't have them pulling: Once you've hooked the lead onto the harness, wrap the lead around the belly, and tuck the lead underneath the loop you just made around the Basset's belly... When Millie starts to pull, it slightly synches her belly, it doesn't cause her pain, but it is uncomfortable enough for her to stop pulling. When I put the lead like this, I have no pulling at all.

I hope that makes sense... Its an old training trick. Most people now try to get you to use electric collars, prong or choke collars... I love this trick my trainer taught us.

I will try to take a picture of what I'm describing and post it later tonight!

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Lucy - Age 6?
Millie - Age 2

Annie714

Welcome!

Annie is also guilty of the things you mentioned...and she is 6yrs old BUT I have no doubt that Bassets can be trained to walk "pretty". I have a no-pull harness for Annie and have used it and found her to be quite a different dog while using it, but we don't use it often.

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Blog about the antics of Annie and I. http://thechickandthehound.blogspot.com

henry'smum

You can train a basset to do anything if you can train yourself to keep up with it lol!

Esther

aint it the truth

nuttypigs

Princess Bella has a half check collar, that was supposed to be just used for training classes, where she is very good when she's working on a short lead. I think the trick is when training hounds to have lots of food about your person at any given time, then you have their complete focus on you and not on the latest pee patch of a passing dog. But that all being said hounds are hunting dogs and their instinct is to go out front and do their job.

I used to walk her daily with her normal collar, but Princess Bella had ideas about going in a different direction to me, and "downs tools" falls behind and then a quick tilt of her head and I'm walking fresh air, and there's a pooch laid down on the path behind me. So the half check is now used at all times.

Bella can walk all day but is always better behaved if she's had a good run first, though her retrieve is a bit of a work in progress, I do more ball chasing than she does.

Soundtrack

There is no reason at all why bassets can't be trained to walk nicely on leash, and I would seriously question the competence of any trainer or "behaviorist" that says otherwise.

The question is, unless you are heeling for a specific reason (ie walking through a crowd), why do you WANT her to walk one one side and not ahead or behind? Sniffing and checking things out is part of the enjoyment of walks for any dog. Heeling is good for situations where the dog needs to be under tight control, but for a recreational walk all that is necessary is good leash manners (like not dragging you around).

BTW, I've trained around 10 Basset Hounds to their basic obedience titles, which includes very strict heeling on and off leash.

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