How to Keep Your Basset Hound from Wandering Off

For the most part, Basset Hounds are very laid back dogs. They are extremely intelligent, easy to train, loving toward their family, and have few behavioral problems. But the Basset Hound is a hunting dog with a great sense of smell, and it is this characteristic that makes Basset Hounds notorious for running off.

All dogs will run off if you let them. I have a Yorkshire Terrier who loves to go to the neighbor’s house and play with the Jack Russell Terrier that lives there. It’s like clockwork around here. They play together in the morning and then my dog comes home for lunch and a well-deserved nap before returning to play for a couple of hours before dinner. For us, it’s not really a problem because we live in a very rural area. Both dogs are fixed, and the neighbors love having doggie company. So, you could say that we are very lucky.

Other families don’t have it so good. They may live close to a busy street or have neighborhood dogs that would like to have their family pet for dinner. And for people who have a hunting dog like the Basset Hound, even a rural area might not be safe. You see, hunting dogs will grab hold of a scent and follow it for miles. This is great when you are tracking pheasant, but not so great when Fido wanders off from home without you knowing it. To illustrate: Once, I found a Basset Hound wandering around my yard. When I called the number on the tag, I found out that the owner lived over a mile away. The dog had broken his chain three days before and trekked more than a mile through the woods before he reached me. Think about what would have happened if I hadn’t spotted him and been kind enough to chase him down to get the number to call.

So, how do you keep your Basset Hound from wandering off? Obedience training and neutering go a long way in keeping your dog tied to the house, but the Basset Hound’s strong tendencies to track may make even the best obedience training mute if you are not around to reinforce it.

This means that it is up to you to make sure that you keep your dog corralled on your property. The best way to do this is to put in a fence, and check it regularly for any signs of digging out or spots where your hound can squeeze through. If a regular fence is too expensive for you, your next best option is an underground invisible fence. These fences deliver a small jolt of electricity to your pet each time he tries to wander out of the specified areas.

What can you do for an outside dog? As mentioned before, a chain can be broken. I’ve even seen dogs wriggle out of their collar and skip away happy and fancy free. A kennel doesn’t afford much opportunity for exercise and it can get unsanitary. But if you can give your dog plenty of exercise and commit to cleaning the pen once or twice a day, this might be a good option.

Remember, your Basset Hound will want to run. It is up to you to make sure he doesn’t.