The Howling Hound and a game I must stop

3257 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by melgrj7, Mar 22, 2009

hulkamaniac

Discussion Starter · Mar 21, 2009

I'm coming to my wits end on my howling basset hound. During the day he's fine. I wake the dogs up in the morning, put them outside with a couple of toys (some stuffed with food, others not), and go off to work. If I'm sick and don't actually go off to work, the dogs are quiet all day long. I get home at about 5:30 and that's when the problem starts. My basset will howl and bark his head off all evening long. If I take him inside he gets into everything (the dog food, the trash, something in a cabinet that interests him, etc....) and also counter cruises and absolutely refuses to listen. I've tried everything from putting treats on the ground to make the ground more interesting than the other stuff to speaking loudly to him when he even looks at the counters to body blocking him from the counters to gentle leash corrections when he gets near the counters and other off limits stuff to harsher leash corrections (which I'm not proud of and were done more out of frustration than anything and I know it was wrong). I can't get through to him at all. So I'm stuck with him in a crate howling his head off or him in the yard howling his head off and annoying the neighbors.

I have found that sometimes (emphasis on sometimes) if I go into the back yard he will stop howling and sit quietly with a rawhide and be fine. Then he's back to howling the second I leave. I'm not opposed to spending 2-3 hours in the backyard in the evening, but obviously that's not the most practical thing. Being in the backyard raises problem #2. My cocker spaniel loves to grab a rawhide or some other toy and bait the basset with it. I know he's just playing and you can tell his by his posture and his constantly wagging tail. The basset will then chase my cocker all over the yard howling his head off the whole time because he doesn't have a snowball's chance of catching the much, much faster spaniel. Of course he howls his head off the whole time he's doing this too. Tonight I got sick of it, called the Spaniel to me and took the toy. The spaniel responded by doing the exact same things he was doing before except without the toy and the stupid hound still chased him around the yard. Of course as soon as I go inside the spaniel stops baiting the basset, finds a comfortable place in the yard and plops down. The basset resumes howling. I've tried tossing toys outside in the evening and this quiets the dog for 30-45 minutes and that's it. Then he's howling again.

What can I do to quiet this dog? He's a 10 year old basset and gets a 30-45 minute walk a day and his meals always come in a tug and jug so I think he's getting enough exercise and mental stimulation. I can't keep him inside even confined to a room because he will find something to destroy. Keeping him supervised is a full time job because I'm constantly keeping him off counters, tables, chairs, etc.... To make it worse the cocker has perfect house manners so he does have free roam of the house which I think confuses the hound even more. What options do I have here?

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Namrah

· #2 · Mar 21, 2009

What's wrong with the chasing in the backyard? Obviously we can't see it, but it sounds like play to me, play that both dogs enjoy. It maye ven tire out the basset enough to have decent house-manners inside. It seems pretty clear to me that he wants to spend time inside with the family....

Perhaps bring him inside when you have time to supervise him and teach him the house-rules, at least? That way even if the problem isn't solved overnight, you're workign toward a solution?

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Mdawn

· #3 · Mar 21, 2009

One of my old dogs was a Basset Hound mix...so I feel your pain. They are ALWAYS howling...haha

Eddie, my Lab, is a BIG barker. We've had some major issues with it. Most of it comes from boredom I think. If he goes on an extra long walk...to the point he's dragging butt (not literally of course

) on the walk back to the house when he comes back, he just goes to sleep. If I were you, I'd increase walk time and see if that makes any difference. The thing that has helped me the most in keeping my dogs well behaved in the house is to keep them tired. Both of my dogs mostly sleep when they are in the house.

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hulkamaniac

Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 21, 2009

Namrah said:
What's wrong with the chasing in the backyard? Obviously we can't see it, but it sounds like play to me, play that both dogs enjoy. It maye ven tire out the basset enough to have decent house-manners inside. It seems pretty clear to me that he wants to spend time inside with the family....

Perhaps bring him inside when you have time to supervise him and teach him the house-rules, at least? That way even if the problem isn't solved overnight, you're workign toward a solution?

The problem with the game is the barking which I'm sure annoys my neighbors. They're the old crotchety kind.

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BobSD

· #5 · Mar 21, 2009

Better to have the old crotchety kind of neighbors, then the younger," throw poison baited food on your property type neighbors.

I say that because I am getting to be in that old category, one of my neighbors have two dogs bark alot after dark and it does not bother me as much as the younger couple on the other side of them. I am afraid if I said some thing they may drop the dogs off at the pound.

My dogs bark but you can measure it in seconds, but after dark and very earlly in the morning is the time I am especially carefull with them not to disturb others. point being if you cannot stop it all together just try to quiet him in those crucial hours. I have to take them out one at a time in the late night on a leash to avoid vocal problems, (final visit to the outdoor restroom).
just thinking about having a dog or dogs and all the problems you may have and never for a second before hand thinking these problems can occur.
Such is dogy ownership

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melgrj7

· #6 · Mar 22, 2009

What about teaching a solid down or "place" command on a mat. It will take some time, hounds are usually very food motivated though so it shouldn't be to hard. Then you can let the basset hound inside, just make him stay on the mat.

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1034

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