[Dailydrool] Newbie considering a basset

[rosekh at aol.com]

Hi Jerry,

I have 2 bassets, and they are as different as night and day.  Both were rescued at the same time from the same puppymill.  Annie was very timid at first, and is still much less trusting of people.  She is very protective of me and Fred.  Fred is a goofball, friendly to everyone, although at times he will be reluctant to greet strangers.  Fred loves playing with other dogs, whereas Annie just tolerates them (she loves Fred, but doesn't even really play with him...laying on the couch is her thing.)  I am very allergic to cats, so I don't know how they'd do with them, although they do bark at the ones we see outside.  Annie drools, drips water all over the place, and sheds like crazy!  Fred doesn't drool at all, doesn't shed as much, and is a very neat eater and drinker.  Neither of them counter-cruise...Annie couldn't hold herself up like that, and Fred can't reach that high...although he'd probably table-cruise if given the opportunity...  When I first got them, they were both afraid of the stairs.  I didn't gate them downstairs, but they never came up, so they slept together on the couch.  Eventually, Fred became courageous, and curious,  enough to venture up and immediately started stealing books off the bookshelf in my office.  Annie would sit downstairs and cry...to this day she doesn't like to go up and down steps.  I didn't want Fred sleeping upstairs and Annie downstairs by herself, so now I keep a baby gate across the stairs and they stay on the first floor.  It's also nice to have a dog hair-free zone on the second floor!

As for exercise, I don't have a fenced-in yard, so we take a few walks a day, none more than about 30 minutes...I work full-time and don't have time for more than that.  They both love being outside, but Fred is much more active than Annie.  I try, at least once or twice a month, to send them to Doggie Daycare, where Fred can fun around and play with other dogs...I know it's time to send them when he starts driving me nuts, like he's got ants in his pants!!  I send Annie too, just for a change of scenery, some fresh air, and because she doesn't like to be separated from Fred.

I knew very little about bassets before I got Fred and Annie almost 3 years ago.  I would strongly recommend rescue!  Even though Fred and Annie spent their lives at the puppymill outside, they were housetrained when I got them...not sure how that happened.  I didn't have time to raise a puppy, and I wanted to give a home to a dog that otherwise might not get one.  I have never for a moment regretted it.  Yes, my couches are now covered with old blankets, and I spend more time vacuuming than I might like, but adopting Fred and Annie was the best thing I've ever done.  Good luck!!

Rose, Annie and Fred




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20100202/76510b19/attachment-0002.htm>