[Dailydrool] Sisters & bro's, etc.

[Riche Churchill]

Speaking from my incredibly vast experience and time in the company of 
dogs, I think everyone should remember that dogs vary mentally and 
personality-wise just as much as people do. Bassets are not different in 
THAT way from other dogs, whether the others are pure whatevers or 
mixes. There are Bassets who are highstrung and never quit being so, 
there are those who don't act the way one expects them (or any hound 
type to) ever. Some will do and even like to do things you'd expect from 
a different breed, and some who apparently couldn't care less about 
anything but food, or  some who don't care all that much about eating. 
(Some people are like the latter, too, and I'll never understand them, 
either!)

Over the years, people have warned me that female Bassets were more 
likely to get into fights with other female Bassets than males were 
against other males (and that males "never" fought a female). This is 
one of those "expert opinions" that are right sometimes and wrong 
sometimes and occasionally utter rot (especialty the last one).

The important thing is to remember each dog is different -- not only 
different than the one you used to have, but also from what you have now 
if you've added one, AND different from what other people have. That is 
not to say it isn't good to express concern and ask advice, as long as 
you remember your individual dog (wonderful or not so) is uniquely him 
or herself. Your experience and that of others may sometimes seem very 
much the same, but they can NEVER be identical. We can offer advice and 
suggestions, not to mention condolences, but what worked for us MAY work 
for you, or may not.

Personally, with years of multiple Bassets -- as few as 5 and as many as 
25 at a time, I had only Basset on Basset fight. Except it wasn't really 
a fight, so much as the entire pack of 5 adults nearly killing a puppy 
they had seemed perfectly accepting of earlier. As it turned out, the 
puppy was a hemophiliac -- which we hadn't known until the pack-attack 
or whatever it was. Did they do it because THEY knew something was wrong 
with it? We'll never know. We had bought her a few weeks earlier and 
everyone seemed happy about her presence. An attack like that never 
happened again, even though occasional new Bassets joined the family as 
the years went by.

Well, to end on a cheerier note, I absolutely agree with the "fact" that 
Bassets recognize other Bassets -- which I think is terribly clever of 
them, although I haven't ever asked anyone owning some other breed if 
their dog recognized dogs of his or her own breed. Maybe it's common, 
but I like to think not. On the other hand, that's not always a good 
thing. My dear departed Becky could not stand Basset Hounds. She never 
fought them or even growled -- she just acted as if they did not exist. 
Except for the one in the mirror at the motel when we took her to a 
Michigan BR Waddle. She was horrified that there was another Basset in 
OUR room and never passed that mirror without telling that other Basset 
to get the hell out. She also ignored every other Basset at the Waddle 
except the then King, whom she promptly nipped when he tried to say 
hello to She Who Was Supposed To Be His Queen. Children can be so 
embarrassing.

Riche