[Dailydrool] How to get a basset enough exercise?

[MaineDebra at aol.com]

I have a year and a half year old basset who is lean and wiry and needs to  
run A LOT.  Not just go for walks, but full-out runs.  I've been  taking 
her every day to the off-leash park for at least an hour, and the whole  time 
she is a blur of motion, playing with the other dogs, running as fast as  
she can.
 
But suddenly she has discovered the thrill of chasing squirrels.   Three 
out of the four sides of the park are fenced in, but the squirrels  congregate 
around the open end (that's where the trees are).  She'll be  playing at 
the "safe" end with all of her friends and then without warning, five  minutes 
or fifty minutes into the play, she'll see/smell/imagine a squirrel and  
tear down the field to chase him.  There is no way I can catch up to her in  
full barreling speed.  (I didn't know bassets could move so fast.)   She just 
runs right out into the road and across to the other side.  It's a  quiet 
dead-end road, but she had a close call yesterday.
 
We went to obedience class and she's wonderful about listening and coming  
and obeying anytime except when there's a squirrel involved.  It's like she  
doesn't even see me or hear me.  There's no stopping her.
 
I just don't know what to do.  Obviously, I can't bring her back to  the 
park if she's going to do this.  But how then do I get her the running  she so 
desperately needs?  I take her for on-leash walks, but that's not  even 
close to what she needs.  When we get home, I'm worn out, but she's  fresh and 
ready to go.  If she doesn't get her hour of full-speed running  every day, 
she's restless, destructive, and unhappy.  The unhappiness is  what breaks 
my heart.  When she's running, it's pure joy, and then she  comes home happy 
and calm.  The days we miss that hour, she's miserable,  like it's a 
physical need.
 
There are no other places for off-leash running.  What do other basset  
owners do?  How do people in cities meet this need for running?  I  want her to 
be happy, and I was so happy the months we've been at this park,  before 
she discovered squirrels.  It breaks my heart that we can't go  there, and 
that she won't see her friends anymore, and won't get this "full-body  workout" 
that she loves.  She's such a wonderful dog, and I feel like I'm  letting 
her down.  I'd do anything for her.
 
What do others do?
 
Thanks so much.  Debra and Molly
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