[Dailydrool] Getting to know Kelvin

[Carmen Kraus]

Well, we know he's dealing with separation anxiety because I haven't 
slept much since Friday (hubby takes off his hearing aids and sleeps 
like a baby).  We introduced him to Gus, who is the least likely to hurt 
him unintentionally, after Kelvin got the entire herd 
howling/barking/whining until 1 am.  He settled down with Gus and I was 
able to get about 5 hours of sleep.  Saturday night, same thing but Gus 
wasn't enough of a companion and we had howling all night.  Last 
night..... same thing but the sheriff showed up at my door with 
complaints at midnight from people on the other side of the block.  
Gives you an idea of how loud he is.  So we tried introducing him to 
Sally our blind girl but he didn't want to have anything to do with 
her.  He did end up settling down after another few minutes.  This 
morning, now that he's not coughing, gagging or too weak, I introduced 
the rest of the herd.  He wanted nothing to do with Sally which bothered 
her.  Tesla was ignored after he couldn't get high enough to hump her.  
He had a 20 minute marking contest with Gus and Schroeder out here in 
the freezing cold.  And then there was Curie, our hyper maniac of a 
basset, he was interested in her but decided marking was more fun.

I have to go into 'town' this afternoon (an hour drive one way just for 
groceries) so he's been in the 'dog room' with everyone else for a bit 
to get him used to the idea that this is where he will stay if we are 
gone or asleep.  I have cats that are fearful of dogs so this gives them 
time to relax and it keeps my house from totally being destroyed.  The 
laundry room has all their beds and Curie's crate always set up.  Heated 
and cooled and secure for Tesla, she has anxiety issues and will start 
doing strange things like pulling up all the flooring, chewing the 
drywall etc is she has an attack, which is about once a month to once 
every six weeks now.

He's still barking.   I'm used to dealing with this but usually by this 
time the neediness has dissipated enough that they aren't barking alllll 
the time.... he's going to be a character.  Bets are he'll start 
realizing he's not going to be left again in another week or so, we just 
have to keep him calm at night.

Other than that he's been ok in the house, only peed once while we were 
awake, though he flooded the kitchen Saturday night.  He's figured out 
how to get on the couch without needing help.  Understands that the 
litter box is off limits.  And tolerated the cats really well.  The poor 
thing has been abused though.  If I lift my hand over his head without 
talking to him first he ducks and moves way out of the way.  If hubby 
raises his voice, which he does because he's deaf, Kelvin will flinch 
and tremble.

And he's going to be a big dog, his head is bigger than Schroeder's but 
he's just a little shorter.  His feet are the biggest of all the bassets 
so 55-60 as top weight for him may have to be adjusted.  Schroeder's 60 
lbs at the moment.

Overall, he's more behaved than the other bassets.
Carmen