Trainability of a Basset hound??

[Damnation]

You are probibily sick to death of hearing about this dog, but I am sick to death with the dog!!!
Dad dotes over her and she is a quietly dominant little thing.
She just barges around like a bull in a china shop.
Tonight mum was taking her tea out of the oven and over comes waddling the pup and tries to take the hot tray of food straight out of mums hands It then knocks over and mum has no tea.. NONE of our other 3 even as pups would have the barefacedness to do that! They would wait til we werne't looking I grant you that but still they would never take food out of your hand like that!
Now me and mum are getting increasingly annoyed as we feel that because dad dotes on the puppy he will not repremand her appropriately, he simply ignores her bad habits. My attitude is they need to be nipped in the bud before she gets alot bigger, and there is alot more dog to argue with.
He let her out before and asked her no less then 19 times.. yes 19!!! before she finally went out of the door. To me it should be once, and then you pick her up or shuffle her to the door. Not stand there 19 times asking!!
Me and mum are told to butt out but its hard when we are living with the consequences of an increasingly rude dog. She has growled at my mum for getting up on the couch beside her.. dad ignored this
She then growled at another dog for getting up on the couch beside her. I swpet her off that couch and onto the floor before she knew it as I will not tolerate her growing at an older dog who is too placid to stand up for herself and the growling could develop into something alot worse. I am just told I am too rough if I even reprimand her...
(Reprimanding usually meaning a stern "No!" and if she won't give in she is made to lie down on the floor)
His attitude is that you cannot train a Basset. My attitude is with the right approach and groundwork, of course you bloody can!!! Funnily enough if I tell her to go out she does it first time no fuss..
To me standing repeating the same word over and over again is just useless. You need to demonstrate what you mean to the puppy..
Am I talking sense? Opinions please

 

[CorvusCorax]

I don't think you'll ever see them compete in certain disciplines but they can certainly have manners put on them.

I don't buy dominance theories wholesale - I know real dominant dogs, ones that will get right up in your face, they eyeball you, will literally headbutt you when they want a row/to so something and will back you into a corner then run off laughing - most dogs in pet homes are not dominant, they just need leadership and direction and boundaries, and you don't get that by scruffing and pinning and rolling and reprimanding all the time, especially if they don't know what they are being reprimanded for. I'm allowed on the sofa - hey, I am getting a flying lesson off the sofa!?

Asking 19 times is a bit of a joke, I tend to ask once and then execute the behaviour, as you say, put the dog out or place it gently into a sit or a down.

I don't think growling is the worst thing in the world, at least she is giving a verbal warning and not snapping straight away.

Bassetts are very foodie so take some out of her daily allowance, put it in your pocket and rather than just reprimanding her all the time, instead reward her when she is in the place where you want her.
It's not just constantly shoving food in a dog's face, it's manipulating food drive to get the behaviour you want. FI, if you want her to go out, chuck a handful of her food out there, that's how I got my pup to go into the water!

My pup IS very gobby for food and WILL snatch things out of my hand given a chance but I like that he loves food because it means I can mould his behaviour - you want the food? Then do X, Y or Z for it, please

Check out The Culture Clash by Jane Donaldson, great book and lots of tricks to try.

 

[Foxhunter49]

I would suggest that you and your mother ignore father and treat the dog as you would your others.
You are correct in putting her in her place and if you continue to do this she will be more 'your' dog than she will your fathers.

As for trainability, I was asked to judge at a village fun dog show and I had to give first prize in the obedience class to a Basset!!!! I have never seen any dog from a hound group as obedient as this one was. Not only did he walk to heel, he sat, stayed, distance control, fast recall retrieved and finished to command.
There was only one other in the class that was on a par and that was a Border Collie, easy peasy to train compared to a Basset so I awarded it to the more difficult to train.

 

[Damnation]

I know I sound like a right old hag when I talk about reprimanding but I do firmly believe in praise too, and if she does behave she gets a "Goood girl!!" and alot of praise and she understands this.
We are *friends* generally, I showed her this weekend and she was polite for me, mannerly, stood like a rock, ran well and she got alot of praise. However dad was letting her just drag him to food people had dropped, she didn't do this with me..

My arguement is with the right approach ANY dog can be trained in basic manners, but he says you don't train Bassets because they "work in packs" to which I told him I didn't care, and Iwas going to burn his beloved Basset books

Cavecanem - I will definately try the food thing as she is very foodie, but having 3 other labs there may be competition, I will have to lock the poor sods away Its convincing father dear that they CAN be trained, you don't just sit back and let them do what you want! I don't mean beat her but a clear set of boundries need to be put in place. Like a child, this is a good way to behave, but this behaviour isn't good!

Foxhunte49 - I will definately reiterate what you have posted about obedient Bassets. I may even say to him how satisfying it would be for him to have a rare "obedient" basset hound Almost plant the idea in his head and make him think its his idea, that how it works with men isn't it?? I do treat her as I do the other dogs but I think she gets confused when me and mum put down the same rules as we do for all the other dogs but dad lets her do whatever she wants! If he treated her as he did all the others we would have a much less confused dog on our hands!

 

[EAST KENT]

Oh she`s not confused at all,she has you all doing exactly as she is training you to do. A Basset thing really,like my breed work on it`s stomach with reward training,and to a certain extent manners can be instilled. However every breed is different ..if you expect her to be the same as a spaniel or a lab ..no..you won`t achieve that,and you will both be unhappy trying.Hounds like her are bred to know their name,keep in line with the rest and hunt with great tenacity.
When I got my first bull terrier baby I too expected far too much of her.She rose to the occasion quite well,but I wonder if I made her unhappy in asking too much.
By the way..be most careful about "sweeping her off the sofa" bassets have unstable long backs,deformed legs too..all of which means they are prone to injury if handled roughly.What you can do physically with some breeds you most definitely cannot with others such as long low slung ones.

 

[Maesfen]

Oh dear, sounds like she has your Dad exactly where she wants him.
Right, I make no apologies for this at all so don't even think of raising your hands in horror but after over 25 years of having foxhound puppies with breeding bassets for the last 15 too, I feel qualified to say what has worked for us.
None of ours have ever thought more than once or twice of pinching food from anywhere simply because they got a sound thump for doing it and after that a very stern NO was all that was needed until they realised it was not something they were allowed to do so the problem doesn't arise at all now; we can actually leave cakes and biscuits on the table (not as a trap so we have an excuse to beat them I might add, purely out of forgetfulness!) go out and they will still be there when we come back - so, yes, it is possible to train a hound to not touch something unless it is given to them but it does take perseverance and watchfulness on your part and you mustn't be afraid to give it a physical thump too as until they know the consequences of their actions they'll just not take a blind bit of notice; it is a hound thing. By this I am not saying thump it willy nilly, of course not but a back hander -at the right time - won't hurt it at all and will enforce you as pack leader; bassets are not types to just ask nicely, they do need strong consistent leadership.

As to the growling on the sofa, our old man does this, he always has and he's all talk, in fact you can get him to talk to you just by looking at him and he loves my son to wind him up, he looks quite menacing in action but he is all talk, it's one of his favourite games.(I'm not saying all will be as good natured as him, each are different of course but for him, it's always been a 'he thinks he's the boss but he's not allowed to be' type thing because he knows we just don't take any notice of it and put him in his place, either tell him to move up or pull him off by his ruff (as East Kent said, always be very careful of twisting them or them falling) ten to one he jumps straight back onto my lap again, lol!
They are great characters and can be stubborn with minds of their own especially if you let them but we've found it best just to treat them as any other dog, not allowed to get away with anything just because they are cuddly!