[JerseyGirlsMom]

Our little Jersey Girl that we adopted last week is almost seven years old. She gets around VERY slowly! She actually CAN run because I've seen it, although not often so far. I had a Cocker Spaniel that got around really slow at this age so I was wondering if this is what all dogs do when they are this age or is it a 'Basset' thing or what? I'm going to take her to a great vet on Monday to get her thoroughly examined but I was just wondering what you all thought about this subject!

 

[dreamons]

Maybe that's why they call some Bassets speed bumps. Maggie is about 2 1/2 years old and moves slow until she wants to move fast and then I should change her name to Flash. Daisy is about 1 1/2 years old and moves pretty fast most of the time.

 

[CatherineM]

They can move surprisingly fast when they want to.

 

[Mikey T]

It depends entirely on the dog, the problem with most older basset is the where never given the opurtunity to stay in shape, and two tend to be overweight to obese on top of that.

Mariah at approximately 8 years old

strdelength.mp4 video by toughynutter - Photobucket

Mariah :: ace2008standard.mp4 video by toughynutter - Photobucket

Mariah :: title.mp4 video by toughynutter - Photobucket

 

[Wworm]

Wow!! that is so cool, Mikey T. i wanna do that too, methinks. tho some of that looks scarrry, like the skinny A frame.

well, and to answer ur question, Jersey, ya might have to explore all the circumstances she might run before deciding she doesn't move fast. for me, i am mellow at home and never bark or anything, or on walks. i'm actually not that fast at all usually.

but when my human started taking me to dogparks and playin' w/other dogs offleash, i can take off like a bullet! everyone was surprized. people said 'i never seen a basset run so fast.' i only run like that when i have a smaller dog to chase. otherwise i just walk and lurk around. i tell ya this, because it was 6 months before my roommate Auntie M found out i could run so fast when she came w/us to the doggie playgroup. tho she sees me everyday, she never thought i could run because she never saw me, and it doesn't come up day-to-day at home.

my 2 cents..

plus, isn't Jersey still recovering from her surgery??? how is she doing today?
--Worm

 

[paisleysmom]

First of all I agree with all of the above .....BUT Ya aint seen slow until you've seeln SSSSLLLLOOOOW.... that being when she just does not want to do anything ....then its reeeeeeeeeel sllllllllooooooooowwwww.

 

[Soundtrack]

Mine are NOT slow - and that includes the 10 year old (who is just crazy) and the 13 year old.

 

[Annie714]

Annie is 6 yrs old, will be 7 in December and she isn't slow at all. Well I take that back...sometimes when she is scared (fireworks!!!!) she slinks, as in she gets even lower than she already is and walks super slow like she's walking on eggshells or something. But as for normal behavior...she won't win any land speed records or anything but she does like to chase little dogs around lol.

 

[JerseyGirlsMom]

Thanks everyone! Yeah, she is still recovering from surgery. She was spayed on Monday. But she was slow pretty much before surgery anyway. I just thought all Bassets were this way but I've never really been around any for any lengthy period of time. We take her to the vet to checked her checked from head to tail on Monday afternoon. I hope he can find out why she is this slow. I know we've got a lot of work to get her healthy but she is worth every minute and dime spent on her. I've never ever had a better dog than this one and I'm so thankful for every day I have with her!

You guys are the best! Thank you so much!

P.S. The broccoli in the picture is what was left over after she spit it out and only ate the turkey wrapped around it. She's quite smart she is! LOL!

 

[shallhb]

Mine aren't slow at all, even the 10 year old. Pearl (the 10 year old) trots around the house after me all day when I'm home. Bella (7 years old) can run like the wind (and frequently does, if there's food involved). I think the reputation bassets have for being slow is in part because of a tendency to let them get too heavy.

 

[shallhb]

Mine aren't slow at all, even the 10 year old. Pearl (the 10 year old) trots around the house after me all day when I'm home. Bella (7 years old) can run like the wind (and frequently does, if there's food involved). I think the reputation bassets have for being slow is in part because of a tendency to let them get too heavy. Not to say your girl is--in fact, she looks really trim in the picture. Some times they appear slow when they are thinking or stressed. Maybe she's just getting settled in your home.

 

[Mikey T]

like the skinny A frame.

A-frame is not skinny it is 3 feet wide. the long skinny obstacle that in one video mariah slipped on is called a dogwalk, cositing of 3 12" x 12' planks. I have found for the bassets I have trained the two scariest obstacle to be !. tunnels and 2 the Teeter however if scare means least likely to perform than that is the pause table. because having to stop once you get your momentum up is not fun for any basset I have trained.

Training the dogwalk with Mariah ar the speeds you see in the video actual to less than 5 minute but she is an exceptional dog when it comes to agility. IMHO she is in the top (( percentile of all dogs in basic competency, motivation and ease of training when it comes to agility and that includes all breeds It is hard to believe that there is or ever will be a dog that was easier to train. I used a process called backchaining that can be effect technique in any sort of sequence training That is you train the last behavior first and keep adding behaviors onto the front end. This is general counter intuitive for humans that learn by starting with step one. but by starting with the last step the process is getting easier at the end which tends to reduce fustration levels which abosultely destroy the ability to learn. So in the case of the dog walk it was a 3 step proces with no repetions. I put her on the down ramp ran to the end reward. Moved her to the Beginning of the top plank run to the end reward. then run the whole thing reward. That was the extent of her training literally. There are probabily a few trainers more than agast at the speed and progression and lack of repetion etc but by the time she ever saw a dogwalk I Knew what she was capable of and more extensive or a more causious approach was not needed. Actual on her third of fourth full performance she fell off for which most dogs would make them more cautious the next time not her, she was back at it full speed,. Her lack of cautiosness in regard to agility I have to be concious of and giver her good approuchs to obstacles because unlike some dogs she will not do that on her own.

 

[Lightning&Stomps]

When I got Stomps, he had spent the first few years of his life tied up outside. So he had very underdeveloped run muscles. After I got him, Lightning would tear around Stomps in large circles, and Stomps would just pivot in place because he didn't know he could run. It took him awhile but he finally figured it out. He never was as fast as Lightning, but he was no couch potato. So maybe your girl was in a similar situation. Lightning is 13 and still runs around like a crazy thing, although for much shorter periods than he used to. Stomps, sadly, ran to the bridge.