This blend of characteristics can make them frustrating to live with, but it also means that they're a fascinating challenge to a dog trainer. Basset hounds are medium-sized dogs. Technically, but a sturdy male basset weighing upwards of seventy pounds might make you doubt that technicality. Basset hounds are short-haired dogs that don't shed. Bassets shed a LOT despite their short coats.
Basset hounds are good companions to take on off-lead romps through the woods.
When not leashed, a basset might decide to follow his nose and leave you without a thought, only realizing what he's done when he's miles away and unable to return home. Basset hounds bond better with other dogs than they do with human beings. Bassets were bred to exist companionably with other dogs in packs, and they DO tend to get along well with each other. Most bassets bond very strongly with their people, showing none of the aloofness of some of the other hounds. Basset hounds are couch potatoes who laze around all day barely breathing.