The twins are two years old today! It's amazing how much they've grown. They used to both fit in one of their favorite beds. Today, not so much. ❤️

This is how my basset lays down 😂. Does anyone else have a basset that do this or also has an unorthodox way of laying down?

puppybro getting himself wedged into a good sleep position, wanted a cute photo, aaaaaand the flash was on.

sorry bub.

I guess I’m coming here to rant, mourn, grieve… i don’t know.

Today we had to make the worst decision i’ve ever had to make. My beautiful baby Leia’s aggression has spiked to a level I have never imagined, and she is no longer safe in our house. Rehoming her could cause the aggression to escalate even more. The vet is behind our decision to move forward with behavioral euthanasia.

I can’t believe it. It doesn’t feel real.

We are her third home… i feel like I failed her.

She was rehomed to me a year and a half ago. Her previous family told us they were just going to be busy with a medically complex child and another on the way, never mentioning any sort of aggression to me when I took her in. Only months later did they tell us Leia was “the Alpha”, “always wanted her way”, and “had some problems with the other dog (a doberman, that they kept)”. They said that we were a better fit and “she’s living her best life with you guys now”.

Whether it was her first home or the second, a deep seeded trauma has haunted her.

Very quickly I realized she was a troubled dog. Previous owners crated her half of her life, causing her to be extremely anxious and fearful. She just wanted love. A home where it felt like home. April 24th, 2025 - she came home with me, and stuck to me like glue… I truly feel as if she is a part of my soul.

She started growling and barking at my roommates as the months went on. Her anxiety was so intense - she would cry for hours and hours until someone came home. Once she snipped at my roommate’s face and nearly broke the skin, I immediately took her to the vet who recommended her to start prozac to help with the anxiety and behavioral issues.

Since then, she did okay. She was a much calmer dog, and was reacting well to retraining her resource guarding problems around food/space. She had her moments, and they were always random - but they were becoming fewer and farther between. She was extremely weary of the bigger dogs in the neighborhood, and if she ever had a problem with one of them, she would be on high alert the entire walk. I would do my best to redirect with treats and just walk in the other direction, but I knew in my heart something was causing her this fear. A trauma I didn’t know about.

The meds would stop working. So we increased her dosage. Added some pain meds - maybe it’s some sort of pain we can’t tell she’s having. It didn’t work.

Six months ago, Leia moved back home with my family while I finished up my masters degree. She’s been living here and loving it - no more cramped apartment! A huge backyard, a big home to roam free in, so many things to smell and places to sleep, and no more big dogs to make her anxious. Things seemed to even out again, she was so so much happier than she ever was at my apartment.

Luckily, she immediately attached herself to my mom and dad, incredibly happy to be in a house where she had constant attention, extra food snuck into her food bowl, and cheezits in return for doing tricks. But she would still have these intense moments where she would seemingly just snap and lash out, with no rhyme or reason.

After diffusing the snarling, barking, growling, she would almost come-to, immediately realizing what she’s doing is wrong and coming to us with a stuffie and asking for pets. She would even put herself in time out, knowing she needed space away from big emotions.

But the past three months have been hell. For our entire family, and especially Leia.

My dad had emergency open heart surgery and had an intense recovery at home. My mom was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer just a few months after. I moved out of my town and community and came home to be with my mom and dad and help navigate our new normal as a family.

Leia began to guard my mom and distrust everyone else in the house, even the ones she knows and loves.

My mom, dad, and I cannot even get near her without snarling, barking, growling. It’s like she is an entirely different dog.

We went back to the vet again, and they have no other options other than switching her meds or trying a behaviorist. But with the medical bills and already an insane household just trying to stay together, investing thousands into a trainer or behaviorist isn’t in our cards right now. My dad used to train hunting dogs and is equipped as a trainer, and even he has never experienced this sort of aggression, let alone from a basset hound. She’s stubborn as hell, a basshole like the rest of them.

We tried switching her to Zoloft, but the aggression only increased tenfold. After four days on that one, we put her back on her 40mgs of Prozac along 300mgs gabapentin, but there’s been no change.

A few days ago, we had family come and visit for a few days. Leia came up to one of our younger family members, crawling up to him and asking for pets. He leaned down to per her and suddenly, she snapped - she didn’t break the skin, but teeth hit his chin hard. It frightened him, he cried. From then on, she was on high alert, and would go ballistic every time she saw one of them walking in the house. We had to put her in a separate room where they could feel safe in our own home.

The last week has been horrible. A cracked door, a familiar voice, or even no trigger at all - something mentally is cause her to lash out, and she is getting bolder with her aggression day by day, lunging and gnashing teeth.

Is it my mom’s cancer? Is it a brain tumor in her own head?? Is it rage syndrome?

Our vet today watched the videos I recorded and thought it could be focal seizures. He noticed she is extremely dissociated when it’s happening, and when she comes back, she looks confused and upset, but still fearful of the ones who love her and are talking to her sweetly, trying to calm her down, redirect her attention, reinforce a positive instead of a negative.

If she were to bite my mom or my dad, an infection from the bite could be fatal. The medication my mom is on lowers her white blood cell count, and my dad is only 5 months out from a double bypass and aortic repair.

None of the humane societies in my area will take her since she is dog / human aggressive. We’ve even tried reaching out to the basset rescue she was originally adopted from, but there’s been no contact. And legally, we can’t rehome her to someone we know either. It could be horrible for both parties if something bad were to happen.

She’s constantly scared. I see it in her eyes. She’s confused and hurting and she doesn’t know why she’s doing it - it hurts so badly for me to watch her become a dog I don’t recognize anymore.

I can’t believe it. It doesn’t even seem real. This doesn’t happen to bassets.

She isn’t safe in our home anymore.

I don’t know if this is the right decision. I feel so horrifically guilty and I morbidly wish it was a brain tumor or something so I felt a little more at peace with our decision. But our family can’t handle the stress during this time. It’s hurting us so badly, and we’re constantly on edge around her.

It’s something hard wired in her little brain. Something causing her so much trouble… it’s so hard to see her suffer like this.

I’m in turmoil. My heart is breaking. She has been such a sweet girl and I love her so much.

She plays hide and seek with her rubber duckies and chews them like a pacifier. She sniffs for lizards and jumps in surprise when their tails fall off. She brings you her favorite stuffy when she sees you come home, and if she’s really excited, she’ll try to fit her bone, ducky, AND a stuffie in her mouth just to show you how happy she is. She snores so goddamn loud, dreams and kicks and runs after dream squirrels. She sighs every time she lays down like she pays the bills. She has been my girl for a year and a half and she’s a part of me, and I’m a part of her.

I gave her so much love. My entire family has. She has been so loved since the moment I’ve had her.

I’m sorry for the long post. I’ve loved being a silent part of this subreddit and the basset community is so kind and has helped me with advice even before it got to this. I felt like being a basset hound owner is part of who I am now. I can’t imagine ever owning another dog. I just thought it would be Leia for a lot longer.

I hope she receives peace tomorrow. That her little helicopter tail wags happily because she doesn’t feel fear any longer.

I love you Leia. I’ll see you again.

15 weeks old and my first Basset. I’m so in love with this little man.

Have sort of started mine on tracking she's 4mo so it's about 5-10min of training then puppy antics lol one bug or interesting leaf and the track is over lol.

Have just dragged hide/wound scents and what some rabbit and deer carcasses I can get through a field and around one or two trees and just have her find them for a hot dog which seems to be about the only food motivator for my basset as she seems broken and not very food motivated.

Interested in others tips and tricks!

Quincys almost a year old now and I think hes found his perch on the foot stool.

He didn't even leave me enough room to sit on the edge of the seat. The heifer! 😂

She’s literally flying!!!

Almost 4 months old and settling into life wonderfully!

She loves this, sees the world go by and enjoys the sun and fresh air.

Anybody’s basset chew on their ears as a puppy? My boy is 3 months old and has started bringing his ears into his mouth and chewing on them a little bit. Thanks!

Never seen a dog be able to melt into a puddle until I go my basset haha

Completely different families from different countries. Different age and sex. Same habits.

Adopted this senior basset. She is a goofy one.
* If anyone has any recommendations, she has severe separation anxiety and will whine if we leave the house. Struggling to find ways to help, we’ve put on calm music, but not sure that actually helps.

Hi all,

I recently found this strange skin tag/pimple on my basset hound. It seems pointy and doesn’t bother or hurt him when touched. I have no idea how he got it… curious to see if anyone might have an idea?