woodrowsmom

I am so glad to have found this site. I recently got a basset hound puppy named Woodrow. He is 11 weeks old today, and is too adorable. I am having a great time with him, but do have a few questions. The one that has been bothering me the most is about his ears. Everytime he eats and drinks, his ears of course drag in his dish. I am always worried that having the tips of his ears wet will make him cold. It might sound silly, but I worry about it. Do they have alot of nerves, etc. at the bottom of their ears that would make him cold? Thanks for any answers!

Again, I am so thankful to be here, and I'm sure I will be posting lots more questions in the future.
Attached is a picture of Woodrow and I on Thanksgiving Day.

Booya

they make bowls especially shaped in order that Bassets' ears don't drag in it.

mgbrown66

Hehe. But why bother? A basset was meant to get their ears into everything. It's what they do. It's what they were bred for!

Your basset is going to get a lot worse than food and water on his ears. They just find a way. Enjoy it! The dog certainly does!

Rocket

You can get what is called a Spaniel Bowl. This is a bowl with a small top and a larger bottom so the ears fall on the outside of the bowl. The other thing you can to is to buy or make a snood. This is just a tube of fabric with elastic on both ends. Slip it over the head and tuck the ears into it before the dog eats, or goes out when it is muddy, etc. Lots of show dogs use them. You can see one at: http://www.snood-dude.com/

__________________
Kathryn
Scooter & Rocky

mgbrown66

The breeder where I got my two dogs makes snoods as well. I have a few pink ones for the girls that seem to draw a lot of attention at the dog park.

http://www.oldefashion.com/snoods.html

Is her site. Plus there are so many basset pictures there you can spend hours on that site!

Kezzy&Snoops

But then they just turf out the food onto the kitchen floor and eat it from there.

My boys spend hours cleaning each others ears.

clarejon

dont worry about it - as your puppy gets older he will realise that he must clean that part of the ear himself. sometimes they get a bit 'crusty' so i just use a wipe, a bit like a baby wipe from the pet shop, to clean them off but only every now and then - usually when i know we are going to visiting people and i want her to look her best!!