[Dailydrool] A MT. MOMENT: "tough choices"

[Leslie Ames]

Howdy to all from Mt. I have a few minutes sitting down and wanted to 
chime in on the debarking as I have once before.
Situation:  adult basset into rescue for nipping during play..ugh
                basset loves to bark at the sky, trees, phanthoms in the 
day and night, anything that moves.. unless he is sitting in my lap or 
sleeping.

care plan implemented:    decrease external stimuli best as you can.  I 
barracades the front gate so he would "not" see my 22 cats. etc.
                                      Plug in calmers to change the ions 
in the air...(petsmart)
                                      give herbs...great book full of 
recipes:   Herbs for Pets  ..Mary L. Wulff-Tilford & Gregory L. Tilford 
(Donna - our founder- gave me a real good one..a sip for me and i am     
                                        relaxed. lol )
                                       lots of running a muck in our 
Creek CRossing...to wear them out..
                                       If nothing helps to stop one 
neighbor from causing us to go to court over barking and threaten the 
very shelter life:  We consulted with our vet , a surgeon, and the Board 
of Directors and I gave my input, also.         It is of my opinion in 
"'no way"  will this shelter have to stop saving bassets because of one 
crappy neighbor...so after brainstorming and looking at all alternative:
DECISION TO DEBARK.

Results.   Great results.   He barks and loves life and is a perfect 
basset hound.   He thinks "nothing" has changed at all and he just has a 
quiet time enjoying his barking.   I must though tell ya all that the 
quick ---thru the mouth clipping...........well, he got his voice back 
in 3 days and it was even louder than before..go figure.  But our vet 
heard him as well as myself and we were shocked.   The surgeon had to 
come back and do an external incision to remove the entire box.  His 
comments surprised me.    He said that approx. 80 % of simple clipping 
the chords...rehook.....(I am now a believer) and the external incision 
is then done.     SubQ suters, so it was easy and now life is good for 
he and the world!! TOUGH CHOICE...but one barking episode problem like 
that was going to end our rescue mission.    So, in the end....it was 
not a tough choice.   I would do it again if needed.    Hope someone 
enjoys this story from the Drool and anyone is welcome to call at any 
time.Not having read all the current Drool posts ,  maybe this thread 
has finished...if so...hope you enjoyed the post and what ever it brings 
to yu to help our mission in rescue work.                       .
-                                                            In

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leslie Ames
President/Shelter Manager
*Basset Rescue of Mt.*
Ph: 406-207-0765
Email: bassetrescuemt at gmail.com
bassetrescueofmontana.org

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