How to Care for a Basset Hound

Series Summary

Dogs can bring an infinite amount of joy and companionship into people's lives. Coming home to a wagging tail and an eager smile creates a feeling of love and happiness, and can make anyone feel needed as part of an intimate family. In fact, studies have shown that having a pet can reduce stress, lower blood pressure and relieve depression. Whether favorite activities to share with a puppy include a long walk in the park or just watching television on the couch, it's important to show dogs just as much love as they show their owners. Can't decide what dog breed to get as a family pet? In this free video series on dog care and obedience, an experienced dog trainer explains how to care for different breeds of dogs. Get information on caring for and training Chihuahuas, pugs, schnauzers and Jack Russel terriers. Learn pet care information for Maltese dogs, Yorkshire terriers and miniature pinschers. Find out about a variety of other small dog breeds in these free videos on dog care.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Nancy Frensley. I'm the training manager at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society, in Berkeley, California. We want to talk a little bit about what happens if you get a basset hound. How are you going to care for that hound? Well first of all, you need to know a couple of things about the basset hound. They're a scent hound, and they were originally bred for hunting rabbits. They've got some very, very special qualities which help them pick up and locate scent. One of those is they're very low to the ground, so your basset hound is already has his nose on the ground when he's just standing there, and then they have those long drop ears. And most people don't know it but those ears gather around the scent when the dog's nose is down, and help concentrate the scent into the nostrils so and into all that, all that scent material that your your basset has in his nose. So, your basset hound is a dedicated nose to the ground dog, and that's the posture you're going to find them in most of the time. Among the cautions of caring for a basset hound is that they do have a long back, so a lot of jumping up, jumping on things, jumping over things, and jumping off things are not going to be in this dog's future. You really have to take care that they don't develop a back injury because of the length of the spine. The basset hounds are generally really sweet with their people, good with children, and a pretty independent dog, so most of the time it's recommended that if they're outdoors, when they're outdoors you have good fencing, or you have em' on leash because they will wander off; following that wonderful basset nose."