Stella Is Adapting Very Well - Sadie Has Stopped Pouting

With each hour passing I see Stella's personality slowly emerging. Yesterday she was trotting at times on our daily walk. She also is wagging her tail more and also requesting a little more attention from me.

She is starting to nose her way in among the other hounds to get a nose or head rub. She is also working well with me leashing her to go in and out.

Let me explain why I have to use a leash to let her in and out and also why I have to put her on the tether in the back field. For those readers that do not know, I live about 85' up a hill from a US Highway that has heavy traffic. It is a main north south route in southwestern Indiana. For that reason alone I cannot put Stella in a position to fail by letting her walk without a leash. Maybe many months from now.

Now my other 3 hounds have been around long enough they do not need to be leashed to go out and will stay in the backyard. I always escort Sadie outside without a leash but Winston and Heidi will go out and come back in on their own without running off. Heidi will venture just to the edge for the front flowerbed but never any further. 

At times I have had a deer that has been hit on the highway and landed in the area of my driveway or yard or some other animal hit in the road ... my hounds will smell that immediately when they go outside but will stay "up here" while they sniff the air to try to recognize what it is they smell.

By that time I can control them by either getting them back inside or headed to the backyard. Never had a problem so far.

The tether idea happened when Sadie was a young puppy. I use to let her out running free first thing in the morning. She would following Winston around .. no problems ... until the neighbor bought some rabbits for his younger kids and kept them caged outside. One morning as I am making coffee to take on the drive to work, I hear this loud bloodhound baying and find Sadie standing on her back legs with her nose pressed to the rabbit cage at the neighbors house, way outside her boundary.

Needless to say that at 6:15am, the neighbor and owner of those rabbits, was not a happy camper.

I knew the typical cork screw anchor for dogs would not work with Sadie who was stronger than an ox. So I found an anchor that is driven 2' into the ground and is used for horses. This was pulled up only one time by a local farmer with his tractor scoop, he couldn't pull it out any other way after trying to pull it out of the ground himself.

Center Of The Photo

The climbing rope is cut to 50' for only one reason. If it were any longer, Sadie or now Stella, would wrap that around the tree limbs to the right of the field as their noses would lead them into the woods. I know this from experience. So basically it does give them room enough to roam the field and also brings them right to the corner of the house for me to unhook them, without me having to go out in the rain to do it. (lazy)

Needless to say, Stella doesn't mind being tethered. She is NOT left out there on her own or in a situation where you might think that I tie the hound up in back and leave her there. I'm always outside with her. I know eventually she will be able to walk free when I am outside with her, like all three of the other hounds do now ... but right now she has a lot of curiosity and smells a lot of new things she is not familiar with.

I think by the photos below you can see she does enjoy hanging out in the backyard but she is very aware of that noise from the highway 80 some feet down the hill.

Always Aware Of New Noises

She Seems Pretty Laidback

I'll go into the reasons I don't have a fence in a later post.

We are into Day 3 and I can say she is doing fantastic. She follows the routines of the other hounds ... who knows, maybe that is what all dogs do ... probably is. It's similar to this:

• After the first hound wakes up, they all wake up wanting to go outside around 6:15am
• Out long enough to pee, back inside for a milk bone type treat and Heidi gets her dog food
• During this time I load the coffee pot
• They head back to sleep and at times I do also
• When I get up to pour my 2nd cup of coffee they want to go back outside.
• This trip is for early morning exploration and inch to inch inspection of the field
• Also a perfect time for a photo shoot unless it's raining
• Basset hounds never go out in the rain but will stay under the house roof overhang
• Sadie doesn't care about weather ... rain, hail, sleet or snow ... she's in the field
• Back inside and all 4 (now) hounds find their spots and go to sleep
• We go outside at their request. Sometimes a million times in a day ... in and out.
• Heidi starts barking around 1:30pm if they have not been fed yet.
• All outside for more field inspections or in this case Winston lies in the sun and sleeps
• Back inside for more sleep
• Depending on the temperatures outside we do a late afternoon or early evening walk
• Heidi decides when she takes a walk or not, not much this past year with her skin issues
• Winston will stage a boycott at times by standing at the edge of the yard until I hook him to a leash ... other times a leash is required because his walking pace is just too damn slow.
• Leashed he still walks his slow pace with multiple stops to wait for him
• Back inside for more sleep since they feel the walk exhausted them.
• They sleep the rest of the night while I watch ballgames UNLESS they hear food or smell food

That is the basic day of the hounds. Some think all they do is sleep and are couch potatoes and in most cases that would be a very accurate assumption. This poster sums it up pretty well for both types of hounds.

Sadie is slowly breaking out of her pouting period. She was a little upset about the new bloodhound. I remember Bertha being the same way the day I brought Winston home as a 8 week old puppy. You can tell that Berth (1999-2008) was not happy but eventually became his best friend ... they were inseparable soon after.

Here is Bertha the day I brought 8 week old Winston home in 2004.

Not Thrilled About A New Puppy In 2004

Bertha & Winston

Bertha & Winston

Sadie has stopped sitting next to my desk chair temporarily. Until Sunday night she would spend all her time there sleeping while I was on the computer. She stares at lot at me with that sad bloodhound face and she wasn't hopping and jumping around with excitement anymore when we went out for walks or getting ready to eat. Of course her appetite for food has never faltered during the pouting period.

Yet, early last night she came in where I sit when I'm on the computer and slept right next to Stella. She also was back to being excited about going for the afternoon walk. I mean she has spent EVERY DAY for 7 years, jumping up and down at meal time and at walking time. So it was obvious she was a little upset.

Ed made a comment the other day that both hounds looked the saddest he had ever seen dogs, from the photo below. I think he was taking it as bloodhounds just look sad in their normal expression but looking at the photo I believe both were really sad at the time the photo was taken.

First Night

Sadie was definitely looking sad and protecting her prized bone because she is very concerned about losing her position as pack leader. Stella is looking sad because she just got moved from her home, confused, strange hounds around her, wondering where "her" boxer is. So yes they do look sad, the more I looked at that photo.

I'll try to get some photos of them in the back of the FJ. There is enough room for Winston, Sadie and Stella in the back to lay down and sleep, with Heidi in her normal shotgun position in the front passenger seat, guarding the food container. Both bloodhounds jumped in back of the FJ on Monday when I opened the back door.

THE PHOTO SHOOT COMEDY

Yesterday afternoon when I saw Heidi had decided to come outside, I thought I might try to get a photo of all of them at the same time.  LOL ... what a plan that was. First Heidi had no interest in any group photo and she walked in the opposite direction until Sadie and I tried to convince her to join the group.

Away From The Group

Sadie Suggesting She Should Join

Heidi Thinking May I Will

By the time she came over to the backyard where the other hounds were ... all 3 walked away!!!

"I'm Here .. Now What?"

It's Not That Bad

So I proceed to get the other three hounds back to the spot to take the photo ... then Stella walks away!!!

Where Is She Going???

Sure enough ... Stella comes back when I called her by her new name. I turned around and Heidi is in the carport walking towards the house!!!  Unbelievable

Stella Comes Back ... Then Heidi Leaves

Finally I get all 4 of them together ... just as I am about to take the photo ... Sadie starts to walk away until I call her name.

She Turns Around

I had almost all 4 of them facing the camera when the two basset hounds look away. Now Sadie is not interested, Winston is distracted and Heidi is thinking of bolting toward the house.

By the time the photo is taken, Stella is bored and tired of the photo shoot and starts yawning. Obviously none of them are really that excited and interested in the group photo.

I was able to get a rare photo of just the basset hounds, usually Sadie is wanting to join them.

"It's Too Hot We Want To Back Inside With The AC

Although it was said last night on the local tv station that September will be warmer than normal here in "the tropics" of southern Indiana, the hounds and I will be enjoying the air conditioning and watching College Football, which starts the season on Thursday night ... another one of my addictions will be satisfied.

I'll keep you posted on the Stella developments as well as more photos as the days move on.