Bassett Hounds and Beagles, pros and cons please

[BaconAndAvocado]

We're considering getting a dog and the above breeds have always appealed.

Does anyone have any experience of either breeds?

We would like to have it from a puppy.

Also, what does KC mean? I've seen it a lot,on different dog sites.

Do not get either a beagle or a bassett as a first time dog owner. They are both working hounds and require a lot of time and both physical and mental exercise. They are not really great pets, they work best in a pack of 16 couple hunting - that is what they are bred for.

Do not get a husky or malamute, they have horrific recall and are certainly not a first time dog.

Please don't buy a designer cross breed like a "juggle" or some other ridiculously named mongrel, they are often bred for profit and no thought put into their lineage or inherited defects.

Look at going to Discover Dogs at Crufts - you can wonder round and meet owners of different breeds - they will be able to explain their temperament and their needs - you can decide whether they will fit in with your life.

We have a Golden Retriever who (asides from being a little bit hairy!) is the perfect pet for families. Ours is a working breed and she shoots with my husband, but she is fantastic with children, very loyal, biddable, placid and not bouncing off the walls. Ours gets 3-5 hours a day exercise, but 1-2 hours would be perfectly acceptable.

Honestly - go to discover dogs, it's a great day out.

Do you know anyone with a lab? Our neighbour has one who we borrow regularly for cleaning the floor after children's tea parties walks and our fill of dog-love. They are brilliant but from what I know they need a lot of exercise otherwise they have a terrible disposition to getting massively overweight. There was a study done about labs and a gene they carry which makes them have no "off button" when it comes to food.

www.theguardian.com/science/2016/may/03/labradors-could-be-genetically-hard-wired-for-greed

Have a look at the lab rehoming site. A few friends have had labs from them

Labs can be fantastic family dogs my boy is the best

Couple things to consider as puppies they are known as land sharks .They moult like crazy .They also require walking twice a day one of them must be a good long walk ,even when it is chucking it down and cold .Also they like a job to do so brain work
Water and mud is labs beauty treatment mine often covered in both but mud drops of well

They are and can be very strong on the lead so start from puppy .My boy is easy on the lead does loose leash walk
They are greedy buggers bit this is also the saving grace as makes training easier

I would not be without my boy now but at times when teenager I could happily given up

Should add I often walk around 3-4 hours a day plus obedience training and mines from show stock which people think is more laid back .

OP, you need to do a lot more research before you get a dog. You clearly know nothing about any of the breeds, temperament or habits - as you have said yourself.

Please think about your family lifestyle and about what kind of dog lifestyle you want. If you get a beagle or a husky your lifestyle will be spending hours looking for it, visiting vets, driving the roads etc, if you ever let them off the lead.

Labs are quite big and they have very strong tails. You will never be able to leave anything on a coffee table for example - its tail will simply swish it on the floor.

personally, I would suggest a show cocker - not a working one. Much easier all round.

Go to a dog show, as Frilly suggests.

Why not sign up for borrow my doggy or house sit for a friend by having their dog to stay while they are on holiday?

I've been a dog owner all my life and I won't have one as I can't deal with th commitment. If I get the urge to buy or rescue a dog, I go and look after a friend's and after two days of picking up shit and rushing back to let the dog out and I am totally over it!

2 arseholes bassets here... if you have a good sense of humour, a strong stomach and the patience of a saint you might be alright!

Eric (the short dumpy one) we've had from 10 weeks old. His finer moments include stealing my knickers/ bras/ socks/ tights and hiding them in a specific plantpot in the garden... i found his stash and retrieved them all so he retaliated by taking 1 of each of my pairs of shoes and hiding them back in his plant pot

I've also attached a photo of what he looks like after a standard 30 minute walk.. This particular day was a heady bouquet or fox shit, rotting seagull corpse and canal water.. all 3 of which he's found and rolled in within 12 minutes of being outside the house.

Elvis (the taller one) is a rescue. When he came to us he was so scared of everything he'd wet himself if you spoke to him. Now he never bloody shuts up. Prime example: He decided that the buzzer noise on child genius (the TV show) was definately going to kill us all.. so spend the entire hour it was on barking in my ear every time the buzzer sounded.

Elvis also once ran into my living room with a banana. This would be fairly innocuous, were it not for the fact we dont buy or eat bananas and I was fairly certain there weren't any in the house. It turned out he'd escaped from the garden and stolen the banana from the boot of a neighbors car when she was taking her shopping inside.

All joking aside, bassets are not for the faint hearted. They are clingy, completely and utterly untrainable for the most part due to a lack of common sense, and will drive you up the wall for the next 10 years. I managed to get mine faily well trained, but whereas you might need to do 100 repetitions of a command with a normal dog, you need to triple that for a basset.

Then there's the health issues. Eric is well bred because we were able to choose the breeder and research carefully, so he's a healthy chap. Elvis is another story. Elv as I mentioned is a rescue and therefore we didn't know his breeding before he landed in our lives. He's not quite 2 yet and has cost us about £2k in vet bills (thanks the lord for insurance!) thus far. He has short ulner syndrome, so his foot rotates outwards about 90 degrees which causes him pain if he's walked too far. He also has an autoimmune condition. Both could be prevented by better breeding so if you do go for a basset, research like mad and go for a well established, health tested line. Buckadoe bassets (Eric is a buckadoe) are excellent, as are wolferloe and many others, so find a line you like and trust me, if the puppy is on sale for less than £800, it's not well bred. PAY THE EXTRA, it will save you a fortune long term.

Other than that, bassets are dumpy, heart stealing fur kids who will simultaneously ruin your life and make you laugh until you hurt at the same time :)