Ya I was a little nervous about the basset reputation, too! And so far it seems to be true, but he is so low energy that its usually not a big deal. The biggest problem we have is when we are trying to put him in his cage, he will just lay completely flat and we have to drag or carry him in ~ Lol! But overall hes doing great. 99% Housebroken (unless hes overly excited), hes already learned sit, stay, leave it and get down! (But if there is a huge distraction like steak, he becomes deaf to commands.) My brother is all about obedient, showy dogs and he hated having a basset. We like having just a family companion and hes perfect!