I will start by saying that I used to be afraid of bassets When I was a young woman I rode my bike to work every day....and nearly every day was chased by
what still seems like the biggest male basset hound I've ever seen...arooing all the way
All of my dogs have been from shelters or cast offs, and several months after the death of my beloved Murphy I was browsing the shelter. Nothing caught my eye. but in a back corner my hubby spotted a young red and white basset.....who immedicately came to the gate and demanded to come home with us. His name was Winslow and there was little info except that he was an owner surrender and that he was 11 months old...would celebrate his birthday on Valentines Day
What a ornery young man he was...I have pictures of him on top of the fridge searching for a treat. Don't let anyone ever tell you that bassets are lazy and/or stupid. We bonded through obedience/agility classes. He earned his therapy dog title and did nursing home visits. And he got me interested in basset rescue,,,and through the rescue community we made lots of friends and traveled the east coast to rescue events.
When he was 6 1/2 I started to notce he'd drag after these walks....and at one point he was so wiped out that I needed to carry all 70 pounds of him from the car to the house. He'd seem recovered the next day and initally I wrote it off to middle age and the notorious basset bad back syndrome. Then one afternoon I watched him drain a 2 galloon water bucket. Finally a light went off in my head. That night at work I picked up a urine strip at work (I'm a nurse) and low and behold 4+ sugar
Except for a recurrent UTI early on he was remarkably easy to regulate. And it didn't slow him down Since being diagnosed we've walked the Blue Ridge Parkway, climbed Kennesaw Mt in Ga, hiked the New River Gorge in West Va and traveled nearly every mile of the Allegheny passage between Pittsburgh and Maryland
But he's now an old man (13 on his next bd)and over the last year has lost his vision and his walks are pretty much limited to 1/2 mile or so and trips to the dog park...he knows it so well he can wander freely or submit but belly rubs. Winnies is what I've heard referred to as my "dog of a lifetime" my best buddy my Little King of Everything
Enough?
All of my dogs have been from shelters or cast offs, and several months after the death of my beloved Murphy I was browsing the shelter. Nothing caught my eye. but in a back corner my hubby spotted a young red and white basset.....who immedicately came to the gate and demanded to come home with us. His name was Winslow and there was little info except that he was an owner surrender and that he was 11 months old...would celebrate his birthday on Valentines Day
What a ornery young man he was...I have pictures of him on top of the fridge searching for a treat. Don't let anyone ever tell you that bassets are lazy and/or stupid. We bonded through obedience/agility classes. He earned his therapy dog title and did nursing home visits. And he got me interested in basset rescue,,,and through the rescue community we made lots of friends and traveled the east coast to rescue events.
When he was 6 1/2 I started to notce he'd drag after these walks....and at one point he was so wiped out that I needed to carry all 70 pounds of him from the car to the house. He'd seem recovered the next day and initally I wrote it off to middle age and the notorious basset bad back syndrome. Then one afternoon I watched him drain a 2 galloon water bucket. Finally a light went off in my head. That night at work I picked up a urine strip at work (I'm a nurse) and low and behold 4+ sugar
Except for a recurrent UTI early on he was remarkably easy to regulate. And it didn't slow him down Since being diagnosed we've walked the Blue Ridge Parkway, climbed Kennesaw Mt in Ga, hiked the New River Gorge in West Va and traveled nearly every mile of the Allegheny passage between Pittsburgh and Maryland
But he's now an old man (13 on his next bd)and over the last year has lost his vision and his walks are pretty much limited to 1/2 mile or so and trips to the dog park...he knows it so well he can wander freely or submit but belly rubs. Winnies is what I've heard referred to as my "dog of a lifetime" my best buddy my Little King of Everything
Enough?
