Do Jack Russell/Basset Hound mixes make good rabbit dogs?
I wouldn’t think so, with short legs like that.
How about an actual Rabbit Hound?
I don’t know about the cross in the OP but the quintessential rabbit dog is the beagle and they are rather small.
Is this an oops litter that you are considering for a hunting dog or is someone promoting this cross as a hunting dog? I can’t imagine why anyone would deliberately cross those two vastly different breeds together.
The kind of crap that gets promoted as a ‘designer breed’ always baffles and annoys me.
Jack Russels will pursue and kill anything it is possible for them to kill, and many things that aren’t. They have no fear like a normal dog. My friend’s JRT tangled with a badger once and almost died from it. As the joke goes, JRT stands for “Junior Terrorist.”
Be aware that JRTs WILL NOT return their kill to you. If fact, if you let them go, half the time they won’t return, period. If you want to hunt rabbits for meat or pelt a JRT is useless. If you just want to kill them because they are vermin a JRT might do nicely. They are bred to destroy small vermin, and do so without human direction.
Be advised both JRT and Basset hound are among the most willful, independenent, hard to train dogs out there. They are not bred to rely on humans for decision making and seem to regard their humans as moronic food-dispensing peons bent on spoiling their fun.
I have a JRT cross who will enthusiastically kill anything she can (mostly mice) but while terriers tend to be great hunters and vermin dogs with high prey drive, they probably won’t be very good hunting companions or field trial dogs or whatever you’re looking for in a “rabbit dog.” They shred (or eat) what they catch. Bassets are wicked slow, great nose and voice, not much in the way of prey drive.
Beagles and maybe some feists are supposed to be quintissential rabbit dogs.
But then it depends on the circumstances behind this particular cross, what you’re looking for exactly, etc. Bottom line, as a general rule I wouldn’t expect this particular cross to be stellar for hunting, although it’s tougher to predict cross-bred dogs than purebred ones, especially from two didfferent groups (hound x terrier).
Well, Basset’s were originally bred for rabbit hunting, and Jack’s were originally bred for hunting fox. It was an accidental combo, just wondered if anyone had any experience with the particular mix on the subject.
Well, Basset’s were originally bred for rabbit hunting, and Jack’s were originally bred for hunting fox. Actually JRT are EXTREMELY smart and easy to train, if you are patient, and after they get over the initial “Puppy stage”. Both breeds are bred for hunting, or sport, and this was an accidental combo, just wondered if anyone had any experience with the particular mix on the subject. I just thought to myself that surely these dogs would be good for SOMETHING! 
We had a Miniature Schnauzer back in the 1970s; she was an extremely good rabbit-catcher. I would think that any small-to-medium terrier would be OK at the job, really. Not sure about throwing half-Bassett into the mix, as I understand it, Bassets are not especially bright, and enjoy loafing more than they enjoy running.
With the Bassets you have to consider that true hunting Bassets (simply a low-slung scent hound) are going to be very hard to find in the US – what you’ll get is a show Basset, great heavy lumpy things with their skins falling off them. JRT’s are happy little killers, if that’s what you want. They are trainable except where killing things and fighting with other dogs are concerned. I have a friend who uses them to get rid of her june bugs.
I believe serious rabbiters in the US or Britain often use lurchers – a cross between a sight hound such as a whippet or greyhound, and either a working collie breed or a terrier, depending on what qualities are required.
I used to own a pair of corgis who figured out how to team up and catch brush rabbits by trapping them against a fence. They killed them but then didn’t know what to do with them. I have a pair of Aussies right now who work similarly to catch ground squirrels in the open.
With the Basset Hound’s length, and habit of lounging about where they can see what’s going on, and the JRT’s known propensity for jumping up, these dogs sound ideal for tripping intruders as they cross the threshold.
