Hounds

My foxhound as sweet and cute as he is will once in awhile get on a scent and just zone everthing out, including me! He'll either pull like crazy and just want to go or pull and bark up a storm.
I'm in the process of training him on the recall command, which he is doing pretty good at, but I just want to figure out how to be able to control his instict to hunt. I know I know, I can't necessarily control this instinct, but I want to better control him when he goes nuts. We live in the city and when he goes off like this it's stressful cause people stare and I feel like I have no control. I'll get him him to sit down or simply turn the other way and head into a different direction, and this kinda seems to works but he'll still put up a fight to try and pull and get to that smell...??? What gives???

Also - once in awhile he'll growl at me when I get him to lay down. This only happens when he's excited and doesn't want to lay down. When he does this I get freaked out and I know he knows and works it. Everyone tells me it's cause he's being the alpha or whatever and I should grab him by the scruff and make him stop - but I'm too chicken!! He's so sweet but when he gets like that I simply get scared that he will bite me or something. HELP, any suggestions??

One more thing (new dog owner I am) - how do you know if your dog is depressed?

As I replied in your original thread, you should enroll in obedience school.

Foxhounds are not the easiest dogs to train, and you could get a lot of helpful instruction at a school. A dog who is obedience trained cannot pull on the leash if he is in a "sit" or "heel". My own dog has very high prey drive outside, and nearly wrapped me around a few trees, but with consistant training, she now does not yank my arm off when she sees a rabbit, although she still wants to.

Teaching recall to a hound who is on a scent is pretty much impossible, so he'll have to kept on leash unless in an enclosed area. This is a dog who was bred to run for many miles on the scent of a fox, so he needs lots of exercise.

How do put your dog in a "down"? Do not grab his scruff or you may get bitten. Dogs need to be controlled through training and attitude, and not by physical force.