[stepheny_ann12]

My husband was wondering if Bassets like the water?? In the summer we (me,hubby, and lizzy) all enjoy the beach and was wondering if our new addition wouold too.

My second question is about cleaning his Buster's ears. I have read that you should clean their ears once a week, but when i asked my vet (he's good, but a bit old fashioned a "true country" vet) he said that it wasn't nessacary. What do you guys do?

Any comments are appriciated!!

 

[faysie]

Clean his ears as often as they need it. If you lift it up and see something icky, clean it with a baby wipe. If they have an odor that doesn't go away ...or they have excessive " ick " in them :blink: ...see your vet for medicines.

Their ears should stay as clean as possible. Bassets are prone to infections.

And most don't care for water ...although I've seen photos on this forum of Bassets swimming in pools, lakes and oceans.

 

[Daisy'sLady]

I have taken daisy swimming in the lake. She is pretty good at it but she doesn't really like it. We take her out a ways and she just swims back to shore as fast as her little legs will take her.

As far as ear cleaning, when daisy was a puppy i cleaned her ears weekly and they definately needed it. I don't know if it has to do with age but now she is a year old and i find she can go a few weeks without needing them done.

I agree, if they look dirty or you can start to smell them, they need to be cleaned.

 

[dhatt]

None of my Bassets have ever liked water or swimming. However, they all LOVE!! the beach. They love collecting dead sea creatures. . .or trying to. You'll want to collect a small piece of drift wood as soon as you hit the beach to use as a pry bar when you need to remove a mystery-meat dead sea creature from the back of the Basset's mouth. They love rolling in dead sea creatures and rotting sea weed (definitely requires ear cleaning), they love chasing sea gulls and the squirrels that live in the break-water rocks (which they can never catch). Mostly, they love snagging snacks from all the kids. Never ever tell the mom of the kid who just shared his hot dog with your Basset that the last thing in your Basset's mouth before the kid's hand was a fish that had been ripening on the beach for at least 3 weeks(g).

I clean ears, inside and out, numerous times a week, at the same time I brush teeth.

 

[BubbaLeroy]

Basset inner ears are prone to infections doe to the fact the long heavy ear flaps so not allow air to circulate. We clean Bogie Carter's ears twice a week with "VET ear cleansing solution" that we purchase from the vet. You drop in 1/4 tsp using an eye dropper in each ear, hold ear flap straight up to allow it to run in, and massage the ear at the base of their head. Then we place some of the solution on a cotton facial wipe and wipe out the inside of the ear as far as your finger can reach. Bogie's ears have stayed healthy and we have never had a problem.
Our other Basset, Bubba now at the bridge, had infected ears when we got him as an eight month old. After several rounds of antibiotics the vet finally put him to sleep so she could deep clean and get all the gunk out, and then we followed the above procedure. No more problems and healthy ears.
As for swimming, Bassets usually are not great swimmers due to their heavy front ends. Ours have enjoyed wading, but that's about it. Getting water in thier ears at the beach is another reason to take care of and regulary clean the ears.
We also brush his teeth, no doggy breath, and he has sparkling white teeth. We use the VET toothpaste and the rubber finger tooth brush. Bogie was not thrilled with either procedure in the beginning, so you will have to get your basset used to doing this. Now he is fine with both, and getting a cookie treat afterwards really helps.

 

[Maggie's Mommy]

My kids HATE the water. We have an swimming pool so we thought we would teach them how to get out just in case. Rusty is so bulky he sinks like a bag of rocks!!!!!! Putting an orange traffic cone on the top step and teaching him the word target didn't work. Even with using tons of treats . He is so panicked even with a doggie life vest on he just goes in circles. Stickers won't even get near the pool. We aren't encouraging them to jump in and take a swim but with them doing the Basset 500 someone will eventually fall in. After months of trying we decided to permanently keep the child safety fence around the pool. We can't take a chance with their lives.

I don't know any Bassets personally who like to swim but I'm sure they're are some out there.

Here is Rusty "trying" to learn to swim!