Basset Resources

Swimming-duck · 11-18-2011, 09:32 AM

So as a basset mama wannabe I'm taking time to learn about bassets as well as dogs in general. We are coming out of a bad experience and he was my first dog ever.

So rather than rush into anything I'm taking time to read books about dogs, dog training, and also specifically bassets. Right now I'm reading "Bones Would Rain from the Sky" by Suzanne Clothier. I also have "How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend" by the Monks of New Skete. I'd love a bassety book that gives good insight into the day to day life with a basset. Also blog recommendations would be great. I've started reading a few, but I'd love to find more. Also, I'm open to recommendations for general training books that you've found useful with your bassets. Thanks!

Lucy&Millie · 11-18-2011, 10:15 AM

I'm not sure about a resource, but personally, I find The Pioneer Woman's Confessions: Charlie very good!

Here is a link: Charlie | Confessions of a Pioneer Woman | Ree Drummond

If you don't know anything about The Pioneer Woman, she is a blogger, cook, mom, etc, who lives on a massive ranch in the middle of no-where Oklahoma. She's gotten pretty famous over the past few years. I love her stories about Charlie, because, well, she hits the good and bad points of having a Basset. She has several dogs, including another Basset, Walter, but Charlie is her baby. I find her tales and witticisms right on target with my Bassets, personally.

Esther · 11-18-2011, 10:19 AM

well i can tell you that a sweet sweet basset hound will help heal the wounds of a bad doggie experience. my people's first dog (as a couple) was a puppy-mill labrador retriever named winston. not only was he the product of bad breeding but also was first owned by a family that was abusive. his wires were crossed pretty badly. they unfortunately had to send him to a farm to live (not a euphemism... he actually went and LIVED on a farm with a guy that needed a guard type dog. perfect, really...) after he-human ended up in the ER twice from dog bites. They waited, and researched and did all those online questionaires and everytime the basset hound popped up as a suggested breed for their personalities and lifestyles (along with the bichon frise? YUK!!! heh). Enter Lulu, who is actually a distant cousin of mine. She healed their hearts and won them over on the breed and they will forever be basset folk. Few years later, unable to satiate their need for houndage, they got Austin, a beautiful blanket tri from the rescue in alabama. Sadly, both developed cancer right about the same time--they were both lost just three weeks apart this last January.

Enter MEMEMEMEMEEEEEEEEE!!!! They were so taken with Lulu's gentle disposition, that they went about the process of finding one of her relatives to bring home and fill the basset-sized whole in their hearts. Though, sometimes my name is "Esther, NO!" I have given so much love, and kisses, and a little pee on the carpet that they now have ME to hug but are able to look back on Lulu and Austin with smiles rather than tears... A basset is an asset. Especially in hard times.
Good luck to you and hope you find a little houndie that will help. They're good at it!
~E

Barney'spal · 11-18-2011, 01:25 PM

One that you might find enjoyable is The Basset Hound Owner's Survival Guide by Diane Morgan. Not much on training them but shows the "quirks" that they have. Personally, I've read just about every book on dogs that has been written but found more info on this forum than in the books. These people have "been there...done that" and they never hesitate to answer any question you may have. Bassets really are a "different" breed..at first I thought it was all hype, but after living with one for 8 months...they are very special.

Soundtrack · 11-18-2011, 01:46 PM

I also was going to suggest Basset Hound Owner's Survival Guide.

Amazon

There is also the Basset Hound Owner's Guide
http://bhca-bhu.org/101.htm

So You Want To Buy A Basset Hound Puppy
http://my.execpc.com/~rebec/buying_a_puppy.html

newton'sdad · 11-18-2011, 07:24 PM

Enjoy the process. read basset books and blogs. go to basset events shows, hunt trails,tracking, etc. look at bassets on basset rescue sites andsearch craigslist and eventually get a basset hound. THEN THE ADVENTURE BEGINS. and sooon you will experance varitations all the stories you have read about. Good Luck & God Bless.

Wworm · 11-19-2011, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esther

. A basset is an asset. Especially in hard times.
~E

Totally agree w/my pal Estha here. My peeples got me almost exactly ONE year ago. ummm... they never saw a basset hound in real life before. really (tho had spent a lot of time w/Droopy, Copper [fox & the hound], wore Hush Puppy shoes... haha). Naw, but they had hound dog that wasn't a basset before, so i wasn't THAT different.

anyways, no regrets here... they luvs me lots! and i'm a lotta fun for them.
--Worm

Mikey T · 11-20-2011, 12:37 AM

Quote:

I'm open to recommendations for general training books

]I don't think most humans do well learning dog training from a book most humans a more visual learners and need feed back so classes are by far bettter but if you are in an area that it is not possible dvd tend to be better than books as well.

from a basic approach perspective I would recommend the following articles
hard to train

Media Hound, Front and Finish: July 1994 review of SAtanly Corens Intellgince of dogs

Quote:

Coren uses these data to arrive at six basic clusters of working intelligence. At the top of the heap, he finds the border collie, poodle, German shepherd, golden retriever, Doberman pinscher, Shetland sheepdog, Labrador retriever, papillon, rottweiler, and Australian cattle dog. These dogs "are the brightest dogs in terms of obedience and working intelligence. Most of these breeds will begin to show an understanding of simple new commands in less than five exposures and will remember these new habits without noticeable need for practice. They obey the first command given by their handler around 95 percent of the time or better. Furthermore, they respond to commands within seconds after they are given, even when the owner is a distance away. These are clearly the top breeds along this intelligence dimension and seem to learn well even with inexperienced or relatively inept trainers" (181). At the bottom, we find the shih tzu, basset hound, mastiff, beagle, pekingese, bloodhound, borzoi, chow chow, bulldog, basenji, and Afghan hound. "During initial training, these breeds may need thirty or forty repetitions before they show the first inkling that they have a clue as to what is expected of them. It is not unusual for these dogs to require over a hundred reiterations of the basic practice activities, often spread over several training sessions, before any reliability is obtained. Even then, their performance may seem slow and unsteady. Once learning is achieved, practice sessions must be repeated a number of times; otherwise, the training seems to evaporate, and these dogs will behave as if they never learned the exercise in the first place" (185). The public and press alike love lists, and it is this analysis of working intelligence, ranked by breed, that has provided the most grist for the media mill since the book's publication earlier this year.

Unfortunately, the methodology underlying Coren's conclusions is extremely faulty. All Coren has managed to do is to obtain a rough list of the success of various breeds in the sport of dog obedience in North America; jumping from that to the number of repetitions it took the various dogs to learn commands is impossible. We can even use Coren himself to challenge his own methodology. In his analysis of adaptive intelligence, Coren includes an interesting canine IQ test. The "CIQ" consists of twelve separate tests, designed to assess the dog's learning and problem-solving ability. I tested two dogs: Connie, my own basset hound (a breed ranked in the bottom tier of intelligence) and Dream, a border collie (a member of the top echelon). The results were interesting. Connie scored in the "brilliant" category, a group that fewer than five percent of the dogs in Coren's standardization group reached (no, I didn't skew the results!). Dream, on the other hand, scored in the low average range of intelligence, where, according to Coren, a dog will need to work rather hard to understand what is required of it. Connie has obedience scores which range from a low of 173 to a high of 186; she currently has two legs on her UD (and plenty of NQ's in our quest for that elusive third leg). Dream is an OTCH who has garnered many high in trials and placed at this year's Gaines Classic. Clearly, an obedience judge seeing the two dogs in the ring would conclude that Dream was by far the easier dog to train. Yet such was not the case. Connie is an extremely quick study who retains what she learns. Dream, according to her handler, always has difficulty learning and retaining new behaviors. Obviously, only erroneous conclusions could be drawn from their respective ring performances as to the amount of time and repetition it took them to learn the commands.

The most striking difference between the two dogs is a personality issue, not a matter of anything that can be labeled "intelligence." Although Coren devotes a full chapter to what he terms the "personality factor," he does not seem to realize how critical a role it plays in the obedience ring. Connie is like many bassets: she's bright and happy to learn if you can convince her that the learning was her idea in the first place (i.e., if you train with food). But she doesn't have a strong sense of duty; if she's under stress or a bit distracted, she'd as soon not obey a command as obey it. Let's indulge in speculation and generalization for a moment, dangerous though it might be. Bassets are perfectly capable of shutting down entirely under stress; more than anything else, their tendency toward negative stress management is the reason why judges see so many slow-moving, tail-drooping, lagging bassets in the ring. Border collies are an entirely different story. Once a behavior is learned, most border collies seem to perform regardless of stress; indeed, many respond to stress by getting sharper and sharper. Dream is not such a successful obedience dog because of her learning ability. She has excelled because, quite simply, she loves to perform in the ring in front of a crowd of spectators. It is this showy sparkle--a je ne sais quoi which would never appear on a personality or intelligence test--that makes Dream unusually good; her learning pattern is all but irrelevant. My basset loves to learn new things and loves to practice but gets a bit overwhelmed in stressful situations, freezing and refusing to work at all. Again, her learning pattern would be impossible to predict in an assessment of her ring performance. In both cases, an obedience judge, based on what she sees at a trial, would be unable to make any meaningful statement about these dogs' trainability. In general, the difference between bassets and border collies is far more a difference of intensity, energy level, and desire to obey commands in the face of adversity than it is a difference of trainability or problem-solving aptitude. Coren would have done much better to follow his initial survey with phone interviews about the temperaments and personalities of particular breeds for obedience, rather than attempting to ask the judges to comment on individual learning patterns.

In corresponding with me, Coren admitted to certain methodological problems in his breed rankings, but he regards what he has produced as an acceptable first approximation. I, however, do not. I think that the book would have been far stronger if this chapter were deleted entirely. In a review in the Wall Street Journal, Manuela Hoelterhoff writes that we can all spare ourselves the trouble of assessing our dogs' intelligence and "just accept Mr. Coren's ranking of breeds in descending order of dimness. After years of observation and interrogating hundreds of vets and trainers, he has fearlessly rated 79 breeds, and the news is not good for proud owners of Afghans, basenjis and bulldogs. They are the Igors of dogdom, occupying the bottom of the list, far away from the genius-level border collies, poodles, German shepherds, and golden retrievers" (Wall Street Journal May 11, 1994: A18). It is such reasoning, however lighthearted, that makes Coren's conclusions extremely dangerous. The inherent problems in the consultation of obedience judges as "experts" are far too deep, and the influence of his conclusions in the minds of the general public is far too profound, to have allowed the rankings to stand as even a rough approximation of reality.

Position Statement on the Use of Dominance Theory in
Behavior Modification of Animals
American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior

The Social Organization of the Domestic Dog
A Longitudinal Study of Domestic Canine Behavior and the
Ontogeny of Canine Social Systems

I have not read the book but have seen article that she has published on training agility and here methodology IMHO would work well with basset as well

[B]
When Pigs Fly
Training Success with Impossible Dogs

Quote:

You'll be amazed at what your "impossible" dog will do when you know how he thinks and what turns him on! You and your dog can be a successful team and live in harmony together. As improbable as this may seem to you now, this book is where the impossible becomes possible—Pigs can fly!

POWER OF POSITIVE DOG TRAINING, 2ND EDITION

shaping Success

Crate Games for Self-Control & Motivation DVD

Really Reliable Recall DVD

it yer choice

Susan Garrett's Five-Minute Formula to Brilliant Recalls

Five-Minute Formula to Brilliant Recalls

Susan Garrett Blog

UNDERSTANDING TRAINING METHODS

Clicker Solutions training articles

clicker Project

11-18-2011, 09:32 AM	#1 (permalink)
Swimming-duck Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: IL Posts: 208	Basset Resources So as a basset mama wannabe I'm taking time to learn about bassets as well as dogs in general. We are coming out of a bad experience and he was my first dog ever. So rather than rush into anything I'm taking time to read books about dogs, dog training, and also specifically bassets. Right now I'm reading "Bones Would Rain from the Sky" by Suzanne Clothier. I also have "How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend" by the Monks of New Skete. I'd love a bassety book that gives good insight into the day to day life with a basset. Also blog recommendations would be great. I've started reading a few, but I'd love to find more. Also, I'm open to recommendations for general training books that you've found useful with your bassets. Thanks!

11-18-2011, 10:15 AM	#2 (permalink)
Lucy&Millie Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Indiana Posts: 280	I'm not sure about a resource, but personally, I find The Pioneer Woman's Confessions: Charlie very good! Here is a link: Charlie \| Confessions of a Pioneer Woman \| Ree Drummond If you don't know anything about The Pioneer Woman, she is a blogger, cook, mom, etc, who lives on a massive ranch in the middle of no-where Oklahoma. She's gotten pretty famous over the past few years. I love her stories about Charlie, because, well, she hits the good and bad points of having a Basset. She has several dogs, including another Basset, Walter, but Charlie is her baby. I find her tales and witticisms right on target with my Bassets, personally. __________________ Lucy - Age 6? Millie - Age 2

11-18-2011, 01:25 PM	#4 (permalink)
Barney'spal Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: northern michigan Posts: 1,147	One that you might find enjoyable is The Basset Hound Owner's Survival Guide by Diane Morgan. Not much on training them but shows the "quirks" that they have. Personally, I've read just about every book on dogs that has been written but found more info on this forum than in the books. These people have "been there...done that" and they never hesitate to answer any question you may have. Bassets really are a "different" breed..at first I thought it was all hype, but after living with one for 8 months...they are very special. __________________ Properly trained, a man can be a dog's best friend.

11-18-2011, 01:46 PM	#5 (permalink)
Soundtrack Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 3,343	I also was going to suggest Basset Hound Owner's Survival Guide. Amazon Amazon There is also the Basset Hound Owner's Guide http://bhca-bhu.org/101.htm So You Want To Buy A Basset Hound Puppy http://my.execpc.com/~rebec/buying_a_puppy.html __________________ Rosie-Ch Soundtrack Cracklin' Rose CGN AGN RA Am RN TT Melody-Ch Soundtrack Unchained Melody TT Sailor-Ch Soundtrack Expedition Sailor RN TT Chili-Ch Soundtrack Spice Up Your Life Curry-Ch Soundtrack Canadian Brass Pepper-Ch Pennieslogon Living La Vida Loca CGN Vina-Ch Soundtrack Grand Illusion Leila-Ch Soundtrack Almost Paradise Deela-Ch Soundtrack Wink Of An Eye Hermione - Soundtrack Spellbound Eowyn - Soundtrack Rain Dance Last edited by Soundtrack; 11-18-2011 at 01:53 PM.

11-18-2011, 10:19 AM	#3 (permalink)
Esther Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Memphis, TN Posts: 1,544	well i can tell you that a sweet sweet basset hound will help heal the wounds of a bad doggie experience. my people's first dog (as a couple) was a puppy-mill labrador retriever named winston. not only was he the product of bad breeding but also was first owned by a family that was abusive. his wires were crossed pretty badly. they unfortunately had to send him to a farm to live (not a euphemism... he actually went and LIVED on a farm with a guy that needed a guard type dog. perfect, really...) after he-human ended up in the ER twice from dog bites. They waited, and researched and did all those online questionaires and everytime the basset hound popped up as a suggested breed for their personalities and lifestyles (along with the bichon frise? YUK!!! heh). Enter Lulu, who is actually a distant cousin of mine. She healed their hearts and won them over on the breed and they will forever be basset folk. Few years later, unable to satiate their need for houndage, they got Austin, a beautiful blanket tri from the rescue in alabama. Sadly, both developed cancer right about the same time--they were both lost just three weeks apart this last January. Enter MEMEMEMEMEEEEEEEEE!!!! They were so taken with Lulu's gentle disposition, that they went about the process of finding one of her relatives to bring home and fill the basset-sized whole in their hearts. Though, sometimes my name is "Esther, NO!" I have given so much love, and kisses, and a little pee on the carpet that they now have ME to hug but are able to look back on Lulu and Austin with smiles rather than tears... A basset is an asset. Especially in hard times. Good luck to you and hope you find a little houndie that will help. They're good at it! ~E

11-18-2011, 07:24 PM	#6 (permalink)
newton'sdad Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Windsor, Va Posts: 397	Enjoy the process. read basset books and blogs. go to basset events shows, hunt trails,tracking, etc. look at bassets on basset rescue sites andsearch craigslist and eventually get a basset hound. THEN THE ADVENTURE BEGINS. and sooon you will experance varitations all the stories you have read about. Good Luck & God Bless.

Remove Advertisements Sponsored Links
Basset Hound Forum Advertisement