Merry Meet Molly
Basset Hounds are great dogs and great family pets. Their attitudes are that of a typical hound and if they catch a scent of something that interests them no matter how much calling you do it won't stop them. So when walking them in public keep them on a leash.
There are some things you might want to know before you get one however.
Do not let them get overweight. They already have the disadvantage of having short legs and a longer body.
Even though they are a short haired dog they shed. A LOT! So be prepared to do a lot of brushing unless you don't mind lint rolling your clothes, and couch, and chairs, and vacuum...you get the picture.
Again, a hound breed, so their howling can travel quite a distance. So if you have neighbors do not leave him/her outside for long periods of time when he/she decides to get vocal.
Other then that they are a great breed
Hope it helps
Blessings )0(

Hound puppies are super hyper and super fun! It's like they get all of their energy out in the first year so they can just be lazy the rest of their lives. We have a bloodhound puppy and we made the mistake of encouraging him to howl, so now if he doesn't get his way he sits and howls at us, so watch out for that. They have an exceptional sense of smell which means they can track every piece of food in your house, sometimes even through the packaging, so try to keep everything (edible or not) out of puppy range. That is what we have learned so far with our hound, but he is still young.

Everyone's given good advice so far. My husband used to have and bred "bass-a-lopes" and they are super with little kids. They have a sturdy bone structure and aren't easily hurt by children mauling them. They are also patient with ear tugging, etc.

One thing to add to following scents: they will follow them until the trail ends. If they get out of your yard, they will travel a long way. You might want to consider getting yours microchipped (about $40) in case it wanders off and is turned in to a vet or shelter. Usually they will scan new arrivals to see if a chip was installed.

And a bit of trivia: most of them have a white tip on the end of their tail so that you can tell where they are when they are tracking in tall grass. Hope you have a lot of fun with your Basset!