I have to throw in my two basset pence - they're amazing family hounds, gentle with children and other dogs, genuinely funny, majestically beautiful, surprisingly sheddy, politely self-centred, smelly, heavy, friendly, and supremely good company.
Their massive paws smell of digestive biscuits and they can snaffle food from the highest counter in the nano second your back's turned; they need consistent rules to keep them in check, daily human attention to keep their pack dog nature happy, regular ear cleaning and at least an hour's walk a day.
They're not the right dog for you if you're out a lot, if you're very houseproud (there is... an element of slobber), if you dislike strangers stopping you four times a walk to give your hound a pat, or if you've got a bad back and don't want to be heaving a lab-sized dog in and out of your car. Or in and out of your bath when they roll in fox poo. However, you will probably grow to love the way they drape themselves affectionately on your knee like a cat, unaware they're a 32kg hot water bottle and you can no longer feel your toes.
When they're lonely, bassets howl fit to break your heart; when they're happy, they bark loud enough to split eardrums. Very occasionally, you hear them 'singing' with other hounds and it's musical. When they want, they can move swiftly despite their size, plodding along with their tail curved high behind them when they're happy, then suddenly belting after a friend spotted in the distance. The only prey I ever saw mine chase after - once - was a hare, and that's what they were historically bred to hunt. She wouldn't have had a clue what to do if she'd caught up with it, though.
You do have to do a bit of research into the right breeder. The BH society is aware of health issues in the basset hound pool, and is working with vets and breeders to promote testing and healthy practice. There are a lot of puppy-farmed bassets out there, and big dogs can wind up expensive, purely in terms of the amount of anaesthesia/medication/food required. In my bassets' lifetimes, the only issues were ear infections now and again, and later on, an age-related heart problem.
If you contact your local BHC rep, and find out when the next walk is you'll get a much more realistic picture about what they're like - hound owners are pretty frank about what life is like as a basset slave, since no one wants the sad result of a puppy/family mis-match.