[Dailydrool] First Basset Fun and Challenges

[PennyBear]

Hello everyone! 

I've been a forever lover of Bassets and greatly enjoy my subscription to the Daily Drool newsletter. However, up until now I have only ever been able to admire them in pictures and dog shows and never actually lived with one. I've always had a dog around except for the 6 years I was married to my twins' father. Always they have been pound pups and rescue mutts with the exception of a black Lab years ago. After 12 wonderful years of constant companionship I had to put my last "pound pup",  a German Shepard-Husky mix, Penny, to sleep 3 weeks ago. I know how all of you who have lost beloved four-footed members of your families grieve, believe me.

I've planned for some time to volunteer as a foster mom for Basset Hound Rescue of Southern California once Penny passed (she was the quintessential Cantankerous Old Woman and would not have done well with strange dogs in her house even though we had another dog as well for most of her life. But Chance was "HER" dog rather than ours). As it turned out, the annual BHRSC picnic was this past Saturday, so I went hoping to meet Bassets and their people and get involved. Well, long story short, here it is Tuesday morning and Charger, my new foster pup and very first Basset is snoring and drooling on my elbow as I attempt to type this (you have no idea how many times I have to backspace!).

Charger is 31/2 and an absolute love! He does have some issues, though, that we're going to be working on to get him ready for adoption. I was told that he was possibly abused by children in the past and is consequently agressive toward them. I witnessed this first hand when I went to pick him up. He barked at a little boy who came running toward us. I removed him from the situation. However, he also barked at adults who were just standing there on our walks the last couple of days. He obviously is afraid rather than agressive. He gets scared, backs up then barks. Once he doesn't feel threatened, he goes on about his business. Diverting his attention seemed to work ok, so I'm going to see what else I can learn about that and any other strategies. 

On the fun side I've already seen that Basset trait everyone talks about of "selective hearing", and how that hound dog nose managed to find an old, half empty bag of chips buried in a teenager's junky room I'll never know! But, oh, those droopy brown eyes and those ears he keeps tripping over!! Yep, I'm a sucker. I know it! I hope I can do some good for Charger and the BHRSC. 

Glad to finally be an "insider",
Charger, Shelby, Laura and Leigh-Anne



      
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