BJ.

The time frame fits. Hopefully it is the same boy. would be scarey if there is another one.

I was going to suggest Jan Spate as well, I don't normally use her but have for an emergency once. She met me at the surgery at 1 am, put 14 stitches in my dogs shoulder, gave me antibiotics then charged me $120.00. Emergency vet was 3 times that to walk in the door. I don't use her all the time as she doesn't do appointments and I often don't have the time to sit around. Edited to add: Are you moving here Reverend Jo? If you need a hand just yell out. Coming to Canberra at the start of winter is brave.

What is really embarrassing is they have a Belgian Shepherd who is so well behaved you wouldn't even know he was there. Mine can be pretty good when they want to be but I often feel I should send them next door for lessons.,

Our GSD will howl with sirens but they have to be fairly close to start him off. Amazingly the Basset doesn't howl with sirens but more embarrassingly does when our heavily accented Russian next door neighbour talks. If our neighbour is in his backyard I will bring Jester in and if he is here I will put him outside but he still stands at the back door and howls every time the poor man speaks. I now try and distract him with a pigs ear but not always successfully.

Do not get a Basset Hound if; If slobber and eye goobers gross you out. If frequent booming hound barking does your head in. If you cannot stand hound smell. If you want to do obedience or agility. (I do know of hounds who have obedience titles but this is more of a reflection of the owners dedication to the breed) If you want to let your dog off lead, its amazing how quickly those short legs can go when they are on a scent. If you are not prepared to walk at least half an hour every day. Bassets need to be fit for their own sakes. If you cannot resist those big brown eyes and are liable to overfeed. If you want a guard dog.

Well done, you sound very responsible! Abd nice choice with the Schipperke, I have one too! How old is your Schipp now? We already had 2 dogs when my eldest decided she wanted a dog of her own, my daughter was 12 at the time. My only stipulation was a smaller breed. She did lots of research on the web and settled on a Schipp. She then sat down and composed an email to several breeders. Long story short Elsa came to live with us, and now 14 years later still lives with my daughter and a rescue schipp as well. My other kids were not that interested in having a dog of their own but were happy to just interact with my dogs.

I keep our fruit in a roll top bread bin or Nash (GSP) will steal it. He eats anything that we do, favourite treat for all the dogs is the stem from the broccoli. Jester (basset) is not too sure about some things but if Nash will eat it he will too. Nash will also forage so now my parents have put their vegie patch behind a fence. He is quiet happy to pick his own tomatoes, peas, lettuce etc for himself. He even nibbles Mums curry bush.

I have a GSP, a Basset and a GSD and previously owned a Falcon S/W and now own a Ford Ranger diesel with the canopy on the back with sliding windows. The station wagon was not on gas but petrol,still fairly economical but you cannot buy them new anymore. Only real con was that my GSP likes to ride standing up so sometimes vision out the back was problematic. I get about 10 litres per hundred kilometres with the Ranger, good for a big car/ute but still not real cheap. The biggest draw back is the turning circle, its hard to park in tight car parks, eg shopping malls.

I just went to yell at my dogs for barking at the fence, there were 3 dogs barking with their noses pressed to the fence and my Jester (basset) turned 180 barking into the yard. I don't know if he is a dork or just clueless.

Ha ha the truth of the matter is I don't, the lounge came from another couple when it would not fit in their new apartment, I would never have bought it but when its free who can so no. After 5 years it is stuffed, the dirt does wipe off it the big problem is the dogs have scratched it jumping onto it so it looks really tattered. I don't think it was an expensive suite to start with, or should I say not very well made and the cushions have all started to come apart. I would replace it but with the dogs and 3 fluffy cats I am stumped as to what to replace it with. Our other lounge is a moran leather suite, the dogs have not damaged it but the bloody cats have destroyed the arms scratching them. So I am still tossing up whether to go expensive and hope it lasts 10 years or cheap and throw it out after 5. We have sun here now so at least the dogs are out, but they are still wet from the grass and Jester has a tide mark on his side.

I wish I had trained my dogs like my Mum, her two come inside and sit on a towel waiting to be dried off. My four run inside and jump all over my white leather lounge. I also have to go outside and hold an umbrella over them while they go to the toilet, otherwise they will not go off the veranda.

Oh no Gayle, what a shock. Lots of hugs for you. RIP Benson

Leanne, I remember Gemma's birthday from last year so pleased she is still with you, I hope the darling girl has a fab day. Happy Birthday Gemma.

Good news, the stitches have come out and he is well and truely on the mend. The vet was more than pleased with the way the muscle had healed, they were worried that at his age it could die back rather than repair. He is still being kept seperate until I get home in another week. Mind you its lovely and warm here in Indonesia and if it wasn't for the pets don't think I would be rushing home.

He will be kept seperate from the others until I get home, I have the house and yard set up so all the dogs ca n be seperated from each other if need be. I suspect but don't know that there may have been food involved, its the only time they can get snippy with each other normally and the house sitter may not have been as vigilant as I would have been. Normally I never go away for more than 4 or 5 days and one of my daughters steps in as they know the routine, but my middle daughter is graduating from University in Finland and so we are all over here for her. My lot are a big responsibility for anyone to take on which is why I tried to spread the tasks around.

I am away with my family at the moment for 5 weeks aqnd I have been planning more for the menagerie at home then for the trip, as you do. So for the 4 dogs, 3 cats and several fish tanks we have live in house sitters, 3 of the dogs also have individual dog walkers coming once a day, there is a cat groomer coming once a week and then someone to do the fish tanks once a week. Bags of food, litter, treats etc. So I thought I had everything covered but the dogs have other ideas. I have been gone 10 days and my 18 year old foxie x decided that our GSD was getting to big for his boots and needed to be put in his place. Of course the GSD snapped back he just caught the foxie on the shoulder, unfortunately the foxie is 3 kilos wringing wet and one tooth has done quiet a bit of damage. He has a shoulder full of stitches and a drain. I feel so bad for the little guy, he is sooo old and fragile and this is a pretty nasty thing to happen in your twilight years. He is getting good care buit I feel so bad that I am not there and by the time I do get home he will well and truely be on the mend, Makes me vey wary of going away and leaving them all again.

The last litter I saw advertised around here was $1200.00 a pup, so I think that BB article is fairly old. When I take my boy to the vet they go over him with a fine tooth comb, they always seem disappointed when they cannot find anything. Ears need to be looked after and we have had one ear infection here this summer, our first in nearly 4 years and I think it was that we had a humid summer and the conditions were just right. I think in humid climates you would need to be on the ball with ear cleaning every day just to be safe. Eyes also need to be cleaned daily just to stop any irritants causing problems. Entropian can be a problem so that needs to be discussed with your breeder, from memory of discussing with my vet the operation to correct this was around $300.00. A fit healthy basset should not have any skeletal issues, its important not to give into those big brown eyes and overfeed, monitor the jumping on and off high lounges etc as this puts a lot of weight through their shoulders which can lead to arthritis. A basset would be happy to lay around all day and turn into a big pile of goo, if he gets exercise and develops some muscle structure to support his frame he is much less likely to have problems later. Just like any other large breed really, they are a big dog they just have short legs.

Oh Becky was divine. I don think you will find that their is a lot of difference between older adults and younger ones, you just have to set the boundaries in their teen years. We have builders here today and the dogs have been locked in all day except for wee breaks and my Basset is handling it the best. As long as he has company and a comfy lounge he is happy.

I find my Basset easy to live with but I have no small children. Ours does get exposure to my neighbours kids and gets along fine with them. The one thing to watch with small children is that the basset is a perfect height for sitting on and their backs can be damaged. I do know of a breeder of Bassets with small children and she swears by them with children. My guy would be fine with fences that high as long as they are sturdy, they tend to bulldoze through things rather then go over.My guy would not cope with being outside by himself if we were inside, they like to be with their family. He is happy outside when we are not home but we have 3 other dogs as well. He does not seem to feel the cold but he sleeps inside in winter (well all year round). They can be barkers and suffer from separation anxiety, get your puppy used to being left alone from when young. A Basset baying because he is lonely will upset neighbours even if they are miles away, it is a sound that carries. Mine will also bark if he is happy, excited, sad, unsure...well you get the picture. It is something we have to stay on top of constantly. Mine gets about 45 mins of walking a day, but his behavior does not deteriorate if he does not get walked. I have managed with lots of patience to get my boy to play fetch so on non walk days we do this. We have 4 cats and have had no problems. Jester walks past the cats with his eyes closed. Not sure if this is to pretend they are not there or to protect his eyes if they do have a swipe. We have not done any formal training bar the basics, he knows sit and drop and sometimes if he is concentrating stay. He has learnt though what is acceptable and what is not just by repetition. Ours really thrives on routine, he likes to know where he should be at what time. Toilet training did not take too long and he was able to have free run of the house fairly early on, with hardly any accidents. He sleeps in the family room separated from the bedrooms by a baby gate and is happy with that. Anything else you would like to know just ask. PS Thought I should just add, Bassets have a distinct hound smell..not sure how to describe it, its not unpleasent but they do need good grooming so your house does not end up smelling like ḧound¨

Lol I would have said... A bay of Basset Hounds and perhaps A Bounce of German Shorthaired Pointers

Basset Hound for Hush Puppies

Try a low slung dog, who weighs 30 kilos and the car is not his favourite place. With the station wagon I can get him to do the front paws up and I lift the back end, even that is still awkward with a basset. With the 4 wheel drive I have to bend my knees and lift, its not very graceful I can tell you. We have tried a ramp but no amount of BBQ chicken would work. We tried different styles of ramps made out of different materials, nope. Tried me in the back of the car gently pulling on the lead with chicken in my hand and we got the basset flop. He will walk up said ramps when they are on the back steps just not into the car. I try to rope help in for the lift otherwise I just brace and lift. Lifting him out is not a problem, he wants to get out and gravity is a bonus.

All went well thank you. He had two teeth removed and the lump on his head. He was pretty feisty when I went to pick him up, he tried to bite me when the vet passed him to me so I knew he was feeling OK. He was much better after he had a sleep and something to eat. Barney has never been an attractive dog but with two shaved legs and half his head shaved with Frankenstein stitches he is even less so, poor little man. He is on antibiotics and goes back in 10 days to get the stitches out and to have his mouth checked.

Yes your right 4Kelpies his little face must have been painful. It came up on Saturday night and I thought at first that it was an allergic reaction. He was still eating his dry food. His last dental was last year in April. Well I dropped him off this morning, he had great fun telling off a dog that kept barking at all the other patients. He is the only one of mine that thinks the vets are great fun. I have to pick him up this afternoon at 4.15.

So I have to be at the vets tomorrow morning early (well later this morning now), but instead of being snuggled up in bed I am awake fretting. My oldie Barney is going in to have at least two teeth removed as he has developed an awful abscess. The poor little bugger looks like a 4 kilo Bull Terrier at the moment as his face is all swollen. He had all his blood work done today and everything is all normal, not bad for a dog who turned 16 in February. While he is under they are also removing a growth from his face that although benign has ulcerated and keeps bleeding. His eyes are a little cloudy and sometimes he misses things with his hearing but he has no other problems, he still comes for a good 45 minute walk everyday and has no trouble keeping up with the others, still I worry. He can be a right little bossy turd at times, snappy bad tempered, he can't stay clean for more than 5 minutes and chasing the cats is his favourite past time but geez I will miss the little bugger if something happens to him.