[Dailydrool] Making Progress: Mom's sleeping in a crate; basset chariot under development

[Val Brewer]

We are starting to make some progress on a few of our basset problems.

We had solved one problem with our crazy basset, Bo, but it came unsolved. Bo is afraid of the dark. We have doggie doors and a fenced yard at our rental, but Bo would not go out at night until we provided him lighting. We have a solar sensitive light outside the dog door which comes on after dark and a nightlight just inside the dog door, such that the steps and the areas both inside and outside the door are lit at night. This was working fine until....our landlady installed sprinklers on a timer to do the lawn at night. One night Bo went out to do his business at exactly the wrong time in exactly the wrong spot and got hit by water canons from all directions. End of going out in the backyard after dark. Beginning of peeing on the carpet during the night. Hmm. So we started taking Bo for a long walk at about 9 PM to empty him out before bedtime (a little later than our usual walk time before). Good idea, didn't solve the problem. Okay--how about
 confining Bo to the screened porch at night? No dice--he bays so loudly that car alarms go off all along the West coast of Hawaii (well, not really, but you get the idea). How about crating him? Even worse. Both our hounds were multiply pre-owned over-crated rescues who are now claustrophobic. Aroo aroo aroo aroo aroo. Even our vet doesn't cage them. Besides, I like sleeping with them. How about closing the hounds in the bedroom with me? Same problem. Claustrophobia--shut doors in small rooms with high windows (my bedroom) raise anxiety to unmanageable levels. My bedroom is basically just big enough for the bed and a tiny aisle from the door along the wall. Solution--we now put a folding-standing screen which is basically thin lattice-work (like a chain-link fence gate made of wood)--across the door at night with me and the hounds inside. My husband says it looks like we are sleeping in a huge cage/jail cell. Voila! Crate the dogs and the mom
 together. Perfect. No more night-time peeing.

Our second problem was how to go hiking with the relatively normal, energetic basset, Harley, and the crazy, couch potato, flat basset, Bo. I had written a few weeks ago asking about basset wagons. We purchased a low-end garden cart at Home Depot. Very nice--green wire mesh with fold-down sides, big tires, about 4 feet by  2 feet, $85. Just the right size for a basset and holds up to 700lbs. (which Bo has not reached yet, though he is working towards that goal). We put one of the dog-beds in the bottom of it, put a dog harness on Bo and secured the harness by rope to each side of the mesh on the wagon so Bo can't jump out. We took the contraption for a test ride last night. Wow--it works great.....on flat ground. Going up hills isn't bad either though it takes a bit of strength. But, lol, going downhills we could be training for next year's luge event at the Olympics. Holy cow. Both Bo and I were moaning piteously as I labored to keep both of us from
 sledding down the road into the ocean. We're going to have to work on downhill, I can see. Where we live is kind of hilly. We may need to drive over to the nearby federal park--it's pretty flat there. So that is what we've been up to. Drool to all in need. Val (who now sleeps in a cage), Bo (who is high maintenance, to say the least), and Harley (the most normal of the crew), and DH Bill (who pretends he doesn't know the first two)   


      
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