Have you ever spent one of those days saying to your dog, cat, child, husband, whoever – no, stop it, don’t do that, Agggh!

Well, it’s been a bit like that with the bassets so we thought it was time to refresh their training regime.So today it was boot camp for puppies and their erstwhile owner.

This time we chose a trainer with basset experience.  There is no doubt hounds require a special tough love when it comes to obedience training.

As always it’s the owners that need the training and after an hour with Karen I felt like the dumbest owner in the class.  Stand in the corner with your cone hat with a D on I was telling myself.  Well, not really!  Well, maybe a little.

It’s clear that our expectations that training our puppies when they were bundles of fluff and all ears was wildly ambitious.  Not only do we need to keep training and training for months and probably years to come but our bassets need special effort boot camp training to really drill home the message.

You see these are smart, lazy dogs and find clever ways of avoiding doing stuff they don’t want to do.  Anyway, after 3 hours of listening, watching and trying a few things out with the trainer, I reckoned we’d all had enough and it was time to get out for our daily stroll.  Except today it was to be a bracing walk to blow away the tests of the morning.

It worked.  We came back happier, quieter and more refreshed bassets.  Also, we came back tired and in need of a real snooze.

I think I told you that Fortnum loves to run.  I mean really run.  Flat out Olympic style racing running. Not Mason though, he’s more of a trot when I fancy or being left behind kind of dog.  Either way they do love their walks.  Here’s a few pics to show my boys in action.  Enjoy! We did…….

See the difference, Fortnum loves to run (however ridiculous he might look)

Mason’s more your stroller

See what I mean, Fortnum’s off running again, but not Mason!

Weyhey, come on slow coach!

OK, I can see you need a rest.  Let’s walk.

Time for a drink anyway!

OK, time for some fast walking.  Not running tough!

OK, maybe walking would be a good idea now!  How far is it home?