[SaintDog]

Have you ever noticed your hound may not know how to sense the direction of where a particular sound is coming from? Could it be the shape of the ears on a Basset hound? Although I read somewhere that is is not the shape of our ear rather it is a calculation we do regarding the difference in the time of the sound between our two ears. Still, I wonder.

My hound is whistle trained and very responsive to the different signals. However, I've noticed that she seems to have to look around until she has a visual on me before she responds. I've designated a specific spot for her to run to if she cannot find me when I whistle. It's at the door of the screened-in porch. In the house, when I whistle, she often scampers from room to room looking for the source of the whistle.

Any comments on this ....


?

 

[sadeyes2]

Hey Saintdog, now that you come to mention it YES! I have noticed when Toby is off the lead in the park maybe sniffing something and he is quite a bit away, if I shout hs name he puts his head and ears up and looks in varied directions until he sees me. Almost turns his head round like a robot........Never really thought of this before, but I do know that if I am out of his sight he takes a lot longer to find me. In the garden however he hears me right away and comes running into the house, so I know his hearing is fine. That's good to know as he often wanders off in the park and I think by shouting he will come back (he does eventually). It will perhaps make me more careful as it's possible he may hear me but not know the direction to take.

 

[sadeyes2]

Hey Saintdog, Yes!!It's me again!!! I think you've created a monster here. :huh: I'm becoming obsessed with your theory, or maybe I need to get a hobby.

A little experiment I done today in the park.......

Toby was behind me roughly 10-12 yards or thereabouts. I came to a junction and decided to turn left. I turned round looked at him and instead of saying 'Toby come' as usual, I looked straight at his face and whistled.(never do that) and YES YOU'VE GUESSED IT!!!!!!!!! he looked to the left and right to see where the whistle came from. Now he saw me WHISTLE!!!! He was looking at me as I done it!!! :blink:
My westie however, doesn't seem to display this trait. Think you're on to something here.

I too would be interested to know if other people have found this with their bassets and if this is widely known in basset circles.

 

[Emma and Doris]

It's been like that with all my bassets,
I guess they use 98% concentration on
scent tracking and smelling, 1% on hearing
and 1% on looking.


--------------------
<span style="color:#009900">The one that drools rules,
Steinar - daddy and foodslave to Emma and Doris!

http://www.basset-hound.net.tf</span>

 

[Sandy and Bo]

I think following the scent is half the fun for these hounds. When I was young, my family had a cabin at a nearby lake. My first basset, Brutus, was laying on the deck, sunning herself. Well a rabbit hopped by, and my dad said, Brutus, Look! Well, Brutus jumped up, and was down those stairs so fast, but did she run straight to the rabbit? NO.... she zigzagged everywhere the rabbit had been. It was practically standing there watching before it hopped into the bushed. dumb dog...

Sandy