Pinkwhip

Thanks to Dean and Slingblade's encouragement my husband and I did take Belle and Gunther to the Labor Day Rabbit Run and I want to share that it was AMAZING!

First of all, Dean is very hot. But you guys probably know that already.

Second, I don't think I have ever been so scared -ever. I could barely comprehend what people were saying because my heart was beating 100 miles per minute and my face was getting numb from a small panic attack. This is particularly interesting to me because my personal hobby is bike racing and I have never, ever, ever, been scared like this - even though it's pretty easy to get injured or worse. Additionally, my husband used to race Formula cars ---- and I wasn't even scared then. But the thought of my little baby basset getting lost FREAKED ME OUT.

Dean and the whole group were great and made us feel very welcome - it is definitely a family affair and everyone was wonderful. Of course, I still felt like throwing up, but I managed not to.

Thank goodness we got to out right away - before I had a chance to high-tail it outta there. Dean loaned us radio tracking collars just in case. So, Belle and Gunther's necks were loaded down with their own collars, the club's radio collars and the regular club hunting collars. They look like rapper's wearing a lot of bling.

The way the whole thing works is way different than I thought it would be. There were kids and women and actual scary men hunters in our group - and everyone was very supportive. Our group was with our dogs the whole time. The fields were cut out like chess boards so even if they went into the brush you could walk a complete square around them until they came out. AND you are allowed to follow you dog, go get your dog, put your dog back on her leash and everyone in the group helps keep track of everyone. Plus, if one dog gets lost everyone stops to look for him.

Out of six dogs Belle, The Bun-i-nator, placed 2nd and Gunther, the Ambassador of Goodwill, placed 5th. Gunther is more of a sit-by-the-fire-with-a-hot-toddy kind of Basset.

We left early because I was exhausted from being so scared and it was a ton to take in. Plus Belle and Gunther were racked. They did not even move for about four hours after we got home - and these dogs get walked three times a day for about 45-minutes to an hour each time - so they are in good shape - I just think they were excited, working hard and overwhelmed. I don't think my jaw stopped clenching until about 5pm - and I am more tired then I have ever been even after a bike race. Fear certainly wrecks havoc.

I'm taking Belle back tomorrow for the State Championship - if I can force myself to get out of bed at 3:30am.

If you guys haven't done this and are thinking about it - it is a blast!

Susan O.

BubbaLeroy

Sounds lake a blast. Sure wish we had something around here like that. Bogie gets so excited when the wild bunnies hop through the neighborhood. I'm afraid Bogie isn't a pheasant retreiver, nor could he swim after downed geese or ducks, the big hunting sports in SD. Can't wait to hear more of your adventures.

__________________
You don't own a Basset, a Basset owns you!!
Aroooooos from Bogie !! - Trumbull's Who's Teasin Bogart CGC- Born April 21, 2005
ATB: Bubba - (Trumbull's Surley It's Stormin Norman) Sept. 8, 1998 - Dec. 20, 2005

Pinkwhip

Bunny Hunting - Day Two

This is a whiney story so be prepared - I'm probably writing it more for me

Belle - The Bun-inator and I packed our car last night and set our alarm for 3am. The plan was to take Belle to Day Two - The State Championships and leave Gunther and Scott at home - Gunther was limping from his 30 minutes in the bunny starter pen - he is unfortunately a product of bad basset breeding and has lots of leg and back problems - nothing too serious but he gets very stiff and can't run like the other dogs for very long. Although he did go deep into a thicket and got himself out.

Anyway - car packed, all set - but some doubts:

1. Can I really drive at 3am? - I was totally trashed from the fear factor of Saturday - I literally exhausted myself (yes, I know the dogs are supposed to be the ones working).

2. It's a long, long time for Belle to be without Gunther. Although we are working with this in small increments - this would be an incredibly long time away for her. She is a completely different dog around Gunther. This has gotten much better since we've been working with her, but when I first brought her home the difference was tail jammed between legs, shaking and cowering, stressed out face versus tail straight up, happy face, running and playing all other. For some reason, when I met her for the first time, she decided that she would trust me and we are strongly bonded. In fact, she hid from or ran away from all the people that tried to take care of her before - but she let me snuggle and hold her from day one and I'm the only who can put on her harness or clean her ears or clip her nails. So anyway, I feel honored by her trust in me and I don't want to do anything to erode it AND I balance that with teaching her to have trust in other people too and not letting my ego get in the way. I was just feeling like this might be too long of leap for her and erode some of what we had built. I'm sure she would have been okay and next time we'll go alone, but two hard days and one without Gunther by her side seemed like it could have been too much.

3. I thought - well, I didn't lose her day one, should I risk a second day? Okay, I'm a chicken sxxt and let the combo of relief, exhaustion, worry, concern, over-protectedness and maybe I will give myself one point for a deep friendship with Belle and a desire to earn her trust and do right by her - cause me to stay home and take Belle and Gunther to the dog park instead. Actually, I have been known to not race my bike on day two if I had a good day on day one - hmmmm.....

So, now I feel guilty - in the "should've gone" phase AND I'm EXCITED ABOUT NEXT TIME and I'm so proud of Belle. She clearly loves bunnies and she is has the desire to do this. So now I just have to learn how to help her do it.

Next steps: find out when the next run is, find out more about training, find a place near my house where I can let her practice and she won't get lost, read the AHBA rule book, by a doggie GPS tracking system and perhaps a 3-mile leash.

Dean's club is really great and may be the closest to my house - so I have to also figure out how to join either that club or another.

Thanks again Dean and everyone for all your support through this - in all the sports I've ever done where people show up en masse from all over the country, this is BY FAR the nicest, funnest, most relaxed and welcoming group I've ever been with (bike and car racers tend to be stressed out and have lots of dirareaha in the porta-pots before races).

Dean does an amazing job bringing everyone together and you can tell when you talk to anyone there that they love him very much. He is the heart of the club.

Happy Bunny,
Susan O.

Elvismom

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us, Susan! From what Dean had posted earlier I knew it would be a great day. I confess, I'm a bit envious....

Don't second guess yourself! You went and had a great time and you can go back and do it again. Today you can relax with your 4-leggers.

I can only imagine how most of mine would've loved it!

Congrats to all of you.

__________________
Chris
Foodslave, chauffer & doorperson to Elvis, Georgia, Ginger & Maggie, Crissy & Dart

Pinkwhip

Thank you - that's exactly what I needed to hear - and you are so right! I appreciate the support and I'm going to let go of the guilty part and start looking forward to next time.

Susan O.

Elvismom

Since you'll be an "old pro" next time out you can take pics! Or put a collar cam on one of the hounds! That would be very interesting.

__________________
Chris
Foodslave, chauffer & doorperson to Elvis, Georgia, Ginger & Maggie, Crissy & Dart

Dean

You have nothing to feel guilty about-- you managed to overcome initial concerns about the babies and gave it a try. I'm sure you were more wornout than the hounds. Next time will be much easier on your nerves . Perhaps bringing Gunther, but not entering him would work on the second day -- have you tried glucosamine -- worked wonders for my geriatric crowd's arthritis

I have already heard some comments about you being nominated for the "Nervous Mommy of the Year" award

Pinkwhip

I am almost 100% certain that I should win that prize. Unless someone else actually did throw up or go completely unconscious. I hope it comes with a t-shirt or trophy!

Regarding Gunther, that's a great idea - and thanks for the glucosamine suggestion.

We do give him Glyco-Flex which is a glucosamine/chondroitan supplement, plus he gets EPA/DHA, Zeel and Traumeel (homeopathic remedies for sports injuries, inflammation and arthritis), coconut oil and he just finished six acupuncture sessions which seemed to make the biggest difference of everything we've done so far.

He is definitely fitter and less stiff than he was when we adopted him, but he is not as limber and pain free as I would like. If anyone has other suggestions I'd love to hear them.

What's interesting is that since that experience on Saturday we have gone hiking twice and both times Gunther went into the tall grasses and dense forest and just kept going - he must have learned something because he's always just stuck his nose in before and then continued on the path.

Scott asked if there was a leisure hunting class or perhaps a hunting class where the bassets just have to find big pieces of steak that appear right in front of them - Gunther would really like that.

Dean

Scott asked if there was a leisure hunting class or perhaps a hunting class where the bassets just have to find big pieces of steak that appear right in front of them - Gunther would really like that.

There is -- it's called the refrigerator

Elvismom

My hounds do great in the refrigerator class! Several of them have figured out how to open it, so they don't even have to wait for me!

But I still think they prefer chasing the bunnies.

__________________
Chris
Foodslave, chauffer & doorperson to Elvis, Georgia, Ginger & Maggie, Crissy & Dart