Melissa and Doug's Basset Hound is part of our dog-training strategies

The Basset Hound just Wants to be Friends

Who is that strange dog over yonder by the neighbor’s mailbox? Let’s go chase it away – we really don’t trust its looks and it’s sneaky hiding behind that mailbox. Mom, you take care of it, I’ll just stay here and watch.  

The idea behind using realistic-looking stuffed animals for dog training was offered by our dog’s behaviorist. It’s supposed to accustom Cooper to other dogs and unsettling situations. Most people buy stuffed animals for children but I heartily recommend a few for a special class of nervous fur children – anxious dogs. 

A lonely dog snoozes day-in and day-out in the large dog carrier hidden in an out-of-the way room, it’s a dog that requires no play time, food, scooping after or walks but oddly beckons to everyone who passes – please play with me. This dog was not bought for a child, nor an adult who was missing a dog, but to help condition our rescue dog Cooper’s fears of strange dogs. It was selected for realism, and every time I pass it the plush Melissa and Doug Basset Hound startles me, as well as Cooper who always conducts a double-check sniff. 

How we use this for training.

Our trainer suggested placing the basset hound along the street at varying distances from our property boundary, knowing that the placement was slightly beyond Cooper’s comfort zone. We gradually edge closed and each time he looks at it and then at me without responding with fear I provide a positive reinforcement, usually a treat. The theory was that the dog’s presence would eventually accustom Cooper to seeing dogs at a distance while out walking and he would become less anxious. My role is to observe his stress signals, in particular his ears, lip licking, penis crowning, and body posture. Does he slow down before approaching the toy? If any of these signals (provided by our trainer and The Language of Dogs video) appear, my role is to retreat to a more comfortable distance and let him observe. By practicing this on a daily basis it was possible to help him realize that dogs aren’t threats, at least at a respectable distance.

Further recommendations were to rub the hair of other dogs on this stuffed animal. It’s not just sight but smell that triggers the response.  

Time for the honorable sniff test.

This Basset Hound stands 12 inches tall and stretches out to 25 ½ inches. The details are excellent. Random spotting on the face, droopy ears, authentic colors, sagging jowls, and determined set of the mouth makes one think it’s about to set free a long and deeply commanding sonorous bark.  There are others in the Melissa and Doug stuffed dog kennel and our trainer recommended using another. I selected the Yorkshire Terrier since Cooper has real concerns about small dogs. Surprisingly, the basset continues to startle Cooper, especially when spotted in the hard-shelled crate stashed away in a spare bedroom.