I need to by my son a puppy. I would like to get one that the family can enjoy and can work too. Has any one ever tried a basset hound as a tracker. Most of the people around here use a Lab. Any suggestions?

Basset hounds are old hunting dogs and will trail a deer. Most any kind of dog can be trained as a blood dog, several people use daschunds.

Some dogs, regardless of breed, pick it up pretty quick. The best tracking dog I've ever seen wasa poodle/schnauzer cross. No lie. That was one bada** poodle.

Pudelpointers are supposed to be really good at that. Never have mine along during deer season though.

Never thought about a daschunds. That would be great too, the reason I was thinking basset hound was because of the height. We had a guy with a Lab come track one through a thicket this weekend and it was tough for him and us following him. Thanks for the feed back.

Red Bone............Bon Ami

Ive got a dashund that I take squirl hunting, boy he loves it......also I used to have an english mastiff that had a thing for rabbits....spend an afternoon on the 4 wheeler chasing him around going after them....I miss that dog

Are you talking about for tracking deer or for general tracking? According to some of the folks taking part in the raging catfight on another thread, that new breed of super beagle that can run a deer down may be your best bet if you are talking about deer hunting. When i was young we had a dog that was one hell of a mongrel mix, but he could track everythng from pheasants to coons. I miss him more than any of my old girlfriends.

I wanted one that would help recover a deer that has been shot and has run.

Lots of folks that are not normally alergic to dogs are allergic to basset hounds, apparently they have some kind of skin secretion that some people are allergic to, might be worth having the family spend a little time around a bassett before making a purchase.