Aggressive Basset Hound

by Jane
(Florida)

This seems to be the only current site I can find. I have a male Basset who will be a year in August. We have 2 other older dogs, females, a Golden and a Pomeranian. Our kids are gone so we have totally adored this dog. He has reaped the benefit of a lot of love and attention. He is so sweet and cute and totally adorable, but he will suddenly snap and turn on me. He starts barking and growling and jumping at me, he is trying to bite me and has a few times. My husband and I are baffled. I have had dogs my whole life, I've never had an aggressive dog. We try to make excuses for him to each other, we hope he'll outgrow this, but he is very unpredictable.

Today I was sitting on the floor petting him, he turned and started barking and growling at me. I was holding my feet out so he couldn't bite me. I finally got to my feet, but he will corner me, so I have to try to get to the door and then slam it behind him for safety. This is bizarre , scary and heart breaking. We love this dog. After he does this, he is looking at us like nothing happened and wagging his tail. My husband thinks it's a dangerous situation and that I could be really hurt. That goes against everything I feel about dogs, I've loved my dogs more than some people. You hear about bad Pitbulls, but no one is talking about the "bad Basset hound next door". Please know, this dog has had training and a trainer here, he goes to the vet more than any dog I've ever owned, he's not neglected. He just snaps and turns and then he's back to the "sweet dog". I'm baffled, is this a breed thing or what.