# to train a basset hound to hunt



## BassetObsessions (Apr 22, 2007)

hello everyone!
my name is lucas and im new to the forum. i live in colorado and i enjoy archery for the olympics and herpetology. im here to ask if anyone knows how to train a basset hound to hunt rabbits. i would like for him to scent them out first, and then finish them on his own. he is now 5 yrs old and he is purebred. he is in great condition at 15 and a half inches tall and 43 - 45 lbs. if it helps, he is neutered. thank you everybody and im very glad to be here!!

take care,
L.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

BassetObsessions said:


> i would like for him to scent them out first, and then finish them on his own.


Do I understand that you're expecting the dog to catch the rabbit for you? You may be thinking of a sight hound, like a greyhound.

Bassets and beagles don't need to be trained to chase rabbits. It is the most natural thing in the world to them. They need to be trained to listen to you because, once they get on a scent, they're inclined to forget you exist. They also need some practice and experience to distinguish a fresh scent from one that's too old to be meaningful. That just comes with time in the woods.

The reason beagles, and to a lesser extent, bassets are used to hunt rabbits is because they keep the rabbit moving, but aren't fast-enough to alarm the rabbit into running down a hole. Rabbits move instinctively in a big circle and the expectation is that, when the circle is completed, you'll be waiting there to shoot the rabbit with your shotgun. The dog will likely be at least 50 yards behind.

You will not normally see a big hound, like a Plott hound or **** hound, hunting rabbits because they are too fast and the rabbit will run down a hole before they ever get back to you.

People who don't know them are inclined to think of bassets as sluggish but I've seen some that were quite athletic. Those short little legs were never meant for catching rabbits, though.


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## BassetObsessions (Apr 22, 2007)

thanks for the info.
so you are pretty much saying my hound doesnt have the potential to finish it off? do you thik it would even be possible to train him to do this? i mean, there must be someway ( im hoping ).*fingers crossed*
thanks. do you know a starting plan i should even follow to get him ready?

L.

oh, can a basset be taught to tree a ****? just curious.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

I don't mean to be insulting, and I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I think you're joking.

Have you watched your dog run? Have you watched a rabbit run? Do you think a rabbit with anything less than three broken legs is going to be caught by a basset?

An adult raccoon would kill your basset. My 120 pound lab killed a raccoon and it was touch-and-go for a while. (He also caught a few rabbits, but I don't want to get your hopes up.)

Someone may correct me, but I don't believe there is a way to train a basset to be either a greyhound or a coonhound. He will always be a basset and for people that love the breed, that's good enough.

Please don't ask if you can train him to herd sheep.


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## Mdawn (Mar 3, 2007)

I have a basset mix and he simply isn't fast enough to get a rabbit, not that I'd want him too...He's really old now, but even a few years ago it was same thing. He just simply isn't fast enough. As for treeing a ****, I don't even want to imagine...***** can be VERY nasty and mean. I don't think I'd want my dog around a ****, let alone go against one. In my opinion, dogs need to give ***** width berth (have you ever seen the claws on them?) and just leave them alone. It just isn't worth the risk to me.


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## skelaki (Nov 9, 2006)

Your Basset is not going to be able to finish off a rabbit or tree a ****. That's not what they were bred to do. The Basset was bred to accompany a hunter who was on foot. It was the dog's job to locate and trail the rabbit for the hunter, who did the actual killing. Is there some reason that you don't want to do this?


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## Tamara (Dec 6, 2006)

RonE said:


> People who don't know them are inclined to think of bassets as sluggish but I've seen some that were quite athletic. Those short little legs were never meant for catching rabbits, though.


Thank you Ron - that is absolutely true. Ours give as good as they get  

Welcome - it's good to see another Basset owner on the Forum. As the other posters said it really isn't instinctual for them to kill. They were trained to sniff their hunter's dinner down not to kill it and have it for themselves. 
You should check out the Colorado Basset Club and see if they have (fun)hunt trial days so you can maybe enter yours and see them in action.


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## BassetObsessions (Apr 22, 2007)

well, thanks guys. i know rabbits are fast, as im a hunter, its just that i wanted to give him a chance. i thought he could sneek on it. ive caught rabbits like that before - but i guess bassets just arent smart enough. ill give that club a try. 

sooo, does anyone have any advice on training a basset to hunt? or should i jusrt let him romp around in a field?? thanks for all suggestions! i guess i got a little off track on a bassets hunting capabilities. by the way, i prefer not having to shoot the rabbit because i do not like guns.

lucas


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## Mdawn (Mar 3, 2007)

BassetObsessions said:


> ive caught rabbits like that before - but i guess bassets just arent smart enough.


I don't think that it has anything to do with how smart they are. I'm sure your dog is very intelligent, but he or she can only do what they are capable of. 

I'm not a hunter though. I love all animals, I can't imagine killing one and we don't allow hunting on our property. Although, my dad loves to hunt. He used to have hunting dogs when I was a child. I can't remember if they were beagles or basset's though. I just remember not being allowed to play with them  

One of my cats has killed plenty of rabbits by chasing and sneaking up on them. Maybe you could think about getting a hunting cat! Just kidding!


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

BassetObsessions said:


> by the way, i prefer not having to shoot the rabbit because i do not like guns.


This is getting stranger by the minute.

Your basset is not going to catch a rabbit. You'd have a better chance of catching one yourself and I guess you'll have to if you don't like guns.

What, exactly, appeals to you about the idea of hunting?

I had a beagle. I loved taking him out in the woods and letting him drive rabbits. I never cared about shooting rabbits, so we'd go out in the woods and let him work. You don't have to train a scent hound to do that - as I mentioned before.

The dog would pick up the scent and start to howl. The rabbit would hear him and think, "Oh, oh. I'd better move along, but there's no particular hurry 'cause it sounds like a beagle. I can just make a slow circle here."

The dog would bring him around. I'd always know where the dog was since you could hear him ten miles away. Eventually the rabbit would run past - not in too big a hurry. And the dog would run past (about 50 yards behind.) Usually, he'd stop and look at me like I was insane because I not only didn't shoot the rabbit, but I wasn't even carrying a gun.

Killing the rabbit was not an important part of the process to me, and my dog was always happy enough to try again. He'd do that until he collapsed and I'd carry him back to the car. We'd both sleep like babies and have happy dreams.

Man, I might have to get myself another beagle.


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## Curbside Prophet (Apr 28, 2006)

Seems to me your ambitions are better suited for an earth dog.


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## BassetObsessions (Apr 22, 2007)

first of all, there are different ways of killing something than with a gun. secondly, the point i was making about me catching the rabbit is that i dont run faster than my dog, and hes the one with the great nose. i thought maybe he could just sneak up on it, but i guess not. im not a dog expert and i dont pretend to be.

i took him to a field last night even though it was raining. he would run away from me 20 yds or so at a time until he got to a max of about 120 yds away. he never did smell all that much. normally he smells around a lot, but im thinking this was just because he wasnt familiar with the place.

the thing that bugged me was that he didnt bark or howl once, isnt that what a hunting dog is supposed to do?? as you might have read i am an archer - which is why i oppose to guns. i dont find them very sportsmans like. ( sure lets just shoot that thing thats five hundred yds away! ). its not really fair play. ive even thought about using a sling shot, but i dont know.

like i said, im no dog expert or even a dog freak! i just wanna train my dog to do what he was meant to do. i love my dog, theres no exception to that. and im sorry if anyone feels annoyed by my questions. im a newbie, and i dont want to learn lots about dogs. and like i stated before, i thought he could just trail a **** ( which i guess he cant ) or tackle a rabbit. but i stand corrected.

now, does anyone know why my dog didnt seem very interested and why he did more running than sniffing? and why didnt he bark??! it wasnt raining for that long, and we both got plenty muddy and had fun, but tell me if he was doing normal for the circumstances.

L.


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## Curbside Prophet (Apr 28, 2006)

I don't mean to sound moronic, although I'm sure I'll succeed, but...perhaps your dog chose to run because he doesn't get enough exercise at home? Perhaps he chose not to sniff becuase he wasn't raised by a breeder who raises hunting dogs? And perhaps he didn't bark because he didn't have a group of bassets to join him on a hunt?

Your dog has instincts that are amazing and unique to his breed, but if he wasn't raised to be a hunting companion, you're fighting an uphill battle. I don't mean to discourage you...I think it's great that you want to return your dog to his roots, but what you're asking for is specialized training. Training that you would more likely find by joining a club that specializes in hunting dogs. 

Are you more interested in actual hunting, or trialing with your dog?


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

Nobody's annoyed by your questions - least of all me. This is actually the best thread I've read since I registered here.

The dog will start to howl when he picks up a scent and his tail will start wagging like it's going to fall off. He may begin to move faster than you've ever seen him move before.

He didn't howl either because he couldn't pick up the scent in the rain or because there haven't been any rabbits in the area lately.

An inexperienced hound will still pick up rabbit scents, but there will tend to be more false alarms. They get excited about scents from rabbits that passed by a half-day ago. With experience, they get more discriminating.

What some of us have tried asking is this: Are you interested in killing rabbits or in the sheer joy of seeing a good dog doing the work he was born to do? (It's possible to do both.)

I agree with Curbside that your dog will need training to become a really good field dog but, given the chance, he'll drive rabbits all day long with opportunity alone.


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## BassetObsessions (Apr 22, 2007)

im interested in himhunting, not trialing. he soes get plenty of excerize at home, we go on numerous walks a day. however, i do not have money to invest in a pack of dogs. i know nothing of the breeder, though i may be able to dig around in the records a little... so i dont know, ive e mailed the baset hound club of colorado, but they havent e mailed me back. at first he didnt seem to want to leave. i thought maybe the area was just new to him because he normally sniffs plenty on our daily walks. soo, once again, i dont know. its raining terribly here today, so im gonna try again tomorrow. in the meantime, does anybody know anything else or what might be done?? thanks for all the suggestions and i didnt mean to make this so long! lol. 

L.


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## BassetObsessions (Apr 22, 2007)

ron, you beat me to the thread! thanks for the compliment about it. his tail was wagging and he was running with his nose to the ground, but he didnt seem more excited than usual. so your probably right that he didnt detect enough scent. i do not plan to just hunt, hunt, hunt. but to do both, like you said. i love seeing my dog happy but i also wouldnt mind getting some nice skins!

got to rush!
L.


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## Curbside Prophet (Apr 28, 2006)

There certainly no doubting a basset's nose. My dog before Elsa was a basset and one day he managed to find an open gate in our back yard. We lived in a long cul de sac, and when I went looking for him he was nowhere where be found. 

The next day my father searched all our local pounds only to find him three citys away. Within 24 hours he must have traveled a good 20 miles. And that's 20 air miles mind you. Given the chance a basset will run after the wind.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

If you have a Gander Mountain, or similar outdoor store in your area, you can probably buy training scents for different wildlife. I've never used them but they make it possible to set up a scent trail in a controlled area for the dog to work. People at the stores could tell you how to use them.

Probably the most important thing with taking your hound in the woods is to have very good recall command. If your basset drives a rabbit, they'll both go in a big circle and end up roughly where they started.

If your dog jumps a deer, they could both be two counties away before you can say, "Where'd everybody go?"

We used to go back to the car when that happened, drive a few miles and try to head off the dog. As I mentioned earlier, you can hear the dog from some distance, but that doesn't mean you can catch him.

I'm still not sure how you'd kill the rabbit without using a shotgun. If you can hit a running rabbit with an arrow, my hat's off to ya.

All this talk is making me want to take my hound out to the woods. I'll let you know if she catches any rabbits.


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## BassetObsessions (Apr 22, 2007)

thanks guys, your really helping me out! ive just got a couple more questions. first up is can you make a rough estimate on the diameter of the circle that the rabbit will be running? i want to know if the field im practicing in is big enough. next is - whats gander mountain? i know we have garretsons and REI, but ive not heard of ganders. do you know anywhere else i could find these scent thingees?? 

i have been considering using a slingshot for the rabbit, but have yet to decide. i didnt know the rabbit would be running, the way you guys made it sound with the dog fifty yards behind, i figured it would be hoping along staying just ahead of my dog. well thanks a lot, you have all helped very much so far!! and ron, i say get your dog in the field and hunt 

lucas


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## shockfuel (Dec 12, 2007)

I know I'm new and all, but I'd have to agree with RonE. You're never gonna find a Basset that'll do all the huntin' alone. My boy Dyson stumble on Rabbits all the time, but he ain't never taken one without my help and vice versa. With all due respect, if you don't like guns then you shouldn't be huntin'... 'specially not relyin' on your hound to do all the work. Good luck, tho!

Also, to answer your question. 

Gander Mountain is like a Cabelas. But not as big, by any means. It specializes in hunting equipment and camping without any room for much else. Sort of like a ****s or a Dunhams or whatever else.

As far as scents go, I'd look up a small "Mom and Pop" store if you don't have any stores like the ones above around you. A Walmart even. But I wouldn't count on it. Good luck!


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## sparkybeagle (Jul 29, 2007)

My poor beagle...doomed to the life of sofas & leashes...

The breeder our hound is from had already started getting the litter ready for the hunt before they went home. At 7-8 weeks they would put a rabbit in a pen and let the pups sniff around, 8-10 weeks they would drag a scented thing (I'm not a hunter so I can't remember exactly what)around the property, to help them get used to a fresh scent. Apparantly it worked. They thought that Sparky and his brother didn't have the drive to hunt or trial-I think he was just a late bloomer! He deparately wants to chase down rabbits, when he gets a scent it's pretty obvious. The tail goes nuts and the nose never comes off the ground. We saw another beagle on our walk yesterday and they both started baying-the other owner said he had never heard his beagle do that (she was 5)-I felt bad for them.


Good luck with your bassett,they can be swift when they wast to be. Just be sure your recall is 100%. There are a couple sites about getting a beagle ready for the hunt that may be useful-I don't remeber the name but just google it and they should come up.

oops -just realized this is a really old thread


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## patrickandduncan'smom (Aug 6, 2007)

This is a really old thread but I wanted to make a comment about Basset Hounds. I fostered one for a while and somehow she caught a squirrel once and killed it. I really don't know how she did it. The only thing I think might have happened is that it was Winter and she snuck up on it in the snow. She was really fast and agile too.

Here's a picture of her. Her name is Molly.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

I'm thinking the squirrel must have been comatose.


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## lovemygreys (Jan 20, 2007)

OMG...THANK YOU to whoever dug up this thread. I read the first page in a fit of laughter with the mental image of a bassett hound trying to catch a rabbit. ROFL



RonE said:


> I'm thinking the squirrel must have been comatose.


ROFL ROFL ROFL


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## patrickandduncan'smom (Aug 6, 2007)

RonE said:


> I'm thinking the squirrel must have been comatose.


It's very possible as I didn't actually see her catch it. She had it in her mouth and it was definitely freshly killed. I was almost in shock. Let me tell you she was very proud of herself.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

Charlie beagle, a speed-demon by beagle standards, spent most of his life trying to catch a squirrel. He would stalk them for hours and they'd run up the tree at the last possible moment.

He had pretty much given up hope when he was 14 and basking in the spring sun. A new litter of young squirrels was frolicking in the oak tree overhead and he was ignoring them - right up until one of them fell from the tree and landed, practically in his lap, momentarily stunned.

He killed that young squirrel and, while I wish no ill toward squirrels, I understood that day that God loves old hounds.

Charlie died a few months later with a big smile on his face and a look of supreme satisfaction.


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## patrickandduncan'smom (Aug 6, 2007)

RonE said:


> Charlie beagle, a speed-demon by beagle standards, spent most of his life trying to catch a squirrel. He would stalk them for hours and they'd run up the tree at the last possible moment.
> 
> He had pretty much given up hope when he was 14 and basking in the spring sun. A new litter of young squirrels was frolicking in the oak tree overhead and he was ignoring them - right up until one of them fell from the tree and landed, practically in his lap, momentarily stunned.
> 
> ...


What a great thing to happen. I am not into killing things but I bet your dog spent the last few months of his life thinking he was the best hunter in the world.


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## gamehunter99 (Feb 18, 2010)

hey guys whats up I am 18 and have ben hunting ever since I can remember with my father. He only hunts big game. but I will hunt anything but i seem to be the only hunter in my family aching all over to run rabbits with dogs. I finally buged my mom enough into letten me get a dog but she doesnt like beagles so we ended up with a basset, we fell in love with her and not much later ended up getten another. But we had a family death and i got a little side trackted and forgot about trainen my hounds to hunt. Now im back with that same itch but i have a few questions before I get started. my oldest basset is about 1year and 2 months and the other about 10 or 11 months. Are they to old to start is my first question and if not how should i start them i have rabbit scent, I have a roll cage and a good chunk of land gated off for a starting pen. my last question is I did make sure my bassets r purebreds but i didnt think to check if they come from a hunting line. They probably were not bred from hunters but I also dont think its ben bred out of em, is it still worth it to try. I reall appreciate any helpfull tips and info that you all have. thanks


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

gamehunter99 said:


> hey guys whats up I am 18 and have ben hunting ever since I can remember with my father. He only hunts big game. but I will hunt anything but i seem to be the only hunter in my family aching all over to run rabbits with dogs. I finally buged my mom enough into letten me get a dog but she doesnt like beagles so we ended up with a basset, we fell in love with her and not much later ended up getten another. But we had a family death and i got a little side trackted and forgot about trainen my hounds to hunt. Now im back with that same itch but i have a few questions before I get started. my oldest basset is about 1year and 2 months and the other about 10 or 11 months. Are they to old to start is my first question and if not how should i start them i have rabbit scent, I have a roll cage and a good chunk of land gated off for a starting pen. my last question is I did make sure my bassets r purebreds but i didnt think to check if they come from a hunting line. They probably were not bred from hunters but I also dont think its ben bred out of em, is it still worth it to try. I reall appreciate any helpfull tips and info that you all have. thanks


I recomend you start your own thread. this one is kinda dead


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