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166 Posts
I drive a Fedex route and today I backed into a driveway where a male hound was barking and was apparently disturbed by my intrusion. As a hound owner (Lollypop, with whom some of you may be familiar) I was needles to say excited to greet a basset and see how he was doing and what all his bluster was about. I got out of the truck with my parcel while he barked away, but his hackles were not up, nor was he baring teeth so I thought he was just a verbose fellow. Perhaps I was overly demonstrative, but I bent down to greet him formally, and perhaps quell his ardor, when before I knew it he chomped down on my left ankle leaving a rather nasty and bloody canine tooth puncture. I was shocked. I grew up with golden's and bassets and have never been bitten by a dog (I'm 47). I confess I was disappointed that my biting debut was with a hound as I like to fantasize that all hounds are sweet and well mannered, as the best canine breed (in my opinion) should be. Oh well. I did call the owner (who was not home which may have played a large part) to see whether he was up to date on all his shots, which he was, so I 'm not worried about any possible unfortunate residual effects of the bite. The owner it turns out was as shocked as I, as his hound had never bitten anyone before, nor had he shown any inclination to do so. He is 12 years old and apparently a tad cantankerous, but that's nothing new, I've met many a cantankerous old hound. So what gives? Was he simply protecting his property? Was my approach too abrupt and assuming? I obviously wasn't showing any fear (maybe a little AFTER the bite). Should I have been more cautious? or am I simply on the wrong end of a basset in a bad mood?
