[joshcowley]

I recently posted that my dog was howling and crying during the day due to loneliness and I now walk him before heading to work in the morning and have bought the dog treat dispenser.
Well I saw an add last week "basset pups for sale" and gave it a bit of thought. My husband has been driving me mad for years trying to convince me to get a companion for our 9 year old basset. well i went at lunch time and fell in love with all 7 puppies. I have put a deposit on a male tri colour - must say he is gorgeous -they all are gorgeous. I suppose im just wondering if any of you have brought a puppy basset home to an older basset and how did it go ? I will have 2 male bassets as I have read before that female bassets are a bit high maintentance. If anyone has any tips on introducing dogs / settling the pup etc please send them on.

 

[clarejon]

female bassets are a bit high maintentance.[/b]

:lol: :lol: :lol: yes they are!

sorry no advise for introducing a puppy to an older hound but thought it is a funny by true comment about females!!!!!!!

 

[Baxter Basset]

I have 2 Labs - one is a 14 year old female, which is pretty old for a large dog, and a 5 year old male. When I brought Baxter home he was 3 months old. The first couple of weeks I had to watch them carefully, especially the male. The female seemed to see him as a real nuisance who wanted all her toys! BJ, the male, is big and just too rough. Every time Baxter got close to him he'd growl, although he didn't try to hurt him. Baxter is now 4 months old and loves everyone. He gets a bone and lays down next to one of them and pays no attention to the fact that they are not comfortable with him so close! But they are getting a lot better with him and BJ rarely growls anymore. If anything, I think he's just a bit jealous of Baxter and all the attention he gets. I always try to include BJ in everything though, and make sure he's involved with the play time. He is, after all, only 5 and has a ton of energy. My only real concern is that because of his size and strength, if I don't keep an eye on them, he will hurt Baxter, who is still small but fearless!

 

[Aruuuu]

Why do you consider females to be 'higher maintenance' than males?

 

[Mikey T]

Why do you consider females to be 'higher maintenance' than males?
[/b]

Females in general are bossier, higher drive, and more active than males.

 

[joshcowley]

I dont consider the females in that regard - I have no first hand experience with female bassetts, but when I was thinking of getting a pal for Josh - who I might add is a male basset - very like having an old man in the house, set in his ways, doesnt like to be hassled and has his own routine, i read that female bassets by nature can be a bit more highly strung than the male basset. I thought it would be best to have like with like but I will wait and see. I will be picking up the new basset on 26 December and I will see then.

 

[Rubydoo]

I think high maintenace really depends on the personality of the dog. I had a male basset when I was a child and he was healthy until about age 10 and very good natured and sweet.

Ruby is from a good breeder of champion stock and she's been sick a lot her entire life. She's highly intelligent and she's well taken care of. She's more of a family member than a dog, if you know what I mean.

Just make sure you get your bassets spayed and neutered.

Here's Ruby thinking about whether she's high maintenance or not!

 

[ra5146]

I've had male and female dogs over the years and have introduced both sexes into our home , never had a problem with either they just need watching for a few days and stopping if their behaviour becomes unacceptable. I have a basset bitch and a chow bitch at the moment but have had a chow dog and a chow bitch and a chow bitch and an old english sheepdog bitch they have all gotten along fine. I also get my daughter's staffie cross to stay quite a lot and we never get any problems.

 

[bassetgirlsmom]

We have a 3 year old houndie and just in the last month or so brought home a 4.5 month old mini Dachsund. We introduced them out in the front yard. Lucy was pretty cool towards him for the first couple of weeks and even quit eating all together unless it was table scraps. I feel like I live in scenes from the Ugly Dachshund. She isn't near as big as Brutus, but thinks she can fit under the tree and under the couch, ect. We have had moments of the Houndie 500 where they run around the house at top speed. I will say that they are the very best of friends now. One would be heartbroke without the other!

 

[PiedmontBassetlover]

We have an elder (almost 14) Bassett, Maggie, who has been blind for 3 years. We introduced a pup Annabelle into the house two years ago May, and it went pretty well except that Annabelle exhibited alpha tendencies, such as always getting in Maggie's path, blocking her, which really annoyed the poor old blind girl. Unfortunately, we lost Annabelle to Diamond dog food almost a year ago, and my wife and I swore as we had her put down, no more dogs, ever ever ever. One month later we (well, actually me, I waited another month to tell my wife!) signed up for another pup from same excellent breeder; same mother different dad. This would be Scarlett, brought home in May. She exhibits none of the assertion her older sister did and the two actually get along much better. I'd say it's a mistake to generalize about these kinds of additions to the house; it all depends on the individuals.

On another front, we are having to keep our daughter's 7 year old Lab for 6 months waiting for clearance to emmigrate to England. She is a sweetheart (blockhead Lab, known to be more docile than thier standard counterparts), but it is hilarious how she absolutely avoids the older blind Bassett, who has been know to chase after her, barking, and being blind running into cabinets! So the Lab spends her days on the landing, where the older one won't go. As I said above, it all really depends on the personality of the individuals. This same old Basset shows great tolerance to her Basset sisters, just really doesn't like that Lab! One other note; I take the Lab and 9 month old Basset pup on long walks around the lake. The Lab of course loves the water, and the pup now thinks she's a retriever too. I've seen her leap into the water when it's 35 degrees before the Lab! Silly dog, she's a HOUND!

I've seen it said on these boards, and tend to agree, that I think Bassets don't do as well left alone as when they have a bud. However, it can get expensive caring for a pack! Oh well, kids are all gone now gotta have something to spend it on!

 

[vienneau4]

What is "Diamond dog food"? Just wondering what happened.

 

[PiedmontBassetlover]

Diamond food has corn in it, and a number of their products was made with corn that was contaminated with mold, specifically aflotoxin. It was recalled, but much too late for many of us. It was never revealed how many dogs were affected, but some web accounts numbered hundreds of deaths. Our pup went through a horrible last 24 hours, it basically shuts the liver down. While I will never use Diamond products again for obvious reason, I will say that they did reimburse us the $1600 vet bills and $1000 puppy cost. I am sure that many products containing corn are just fine, but I just prefer to avoid corn foods for my dogs. Of course, at $40 a bag for what we use (Wellness) we could be raising another child, but on this I won't skimp.