Basset Hounds From The Past

Here are the basset hounds I have had over the last 31 years. Living in Washington, Colorado and Indiana, these hounds were able to handle any kind of weather. One of these is a mix Basset Hound / German Shepherd ... can you pick him/her out?

Walks Cancelled & Lots Of Old Photos

By the time I sat down to write this post it was 11:30am and the temperature outside was 'up to' 9°.  Consequently there were no early morning hound walks today. Heidi let me know that after her brief trip outside after she woke up, that she would not be leaving her bed of multiple sleeping bags under any circumstances. In the mean time, to come up with a blog post, I decided to post a LOT of OLD PHOTOS from current and past hounds I have had.

Stella had gotten to the point of needing to go outside bad enough that I heard her trying to open the round door handle with her nose. When I opened that kitchen door leading to the carport, the storm door was frozen over along with a handle that would not move due to it being frozen. At 10:30am, it was up to 6°.

Sadie was excited of course. She thought once she saw my camera that we were headed out for her daily walk ... but not today. I wasn't going to take the hounds out in single digit temps ... only bathroom runs today.

By the time I walked around the corner with the camera, Stella had already walked out into the field to dump her tanks and was waiting for me on the red tiles. She wanted to get back inside. With the wind from the NE, those cold temps were like cutting me with a knife ... even Sadie did not venture toward the field.

About the time I reached for the door to go back inside I glanced over at the carport thermometer. It's protected from the wind since it's back in the corner with two walls guarding it. Just a few degrees warmer without the wind blowing against it.

But Heidi wasn't moving. She had gone out to start her day around 7:45am when it was 3° and a wind chill of -7, ate breakfast in less than one minute and sprinted for her bed of multiple sleeping bags. I have found out that nylon does NOT irritate her skin like the Mexican wool blankets I have used for years.

So, with these being the only pictures I had taken this morning, I had to come up with something I thought you would be interested in looking at. I was going to just post a picture of each hound on the today's date one year a part ... but I didn't have a lot of good photos to choose from. I kept finding better photos I wanted to post, and some of them had never been on the blog.

Here are 22 of them, mostly of Sadie with a few of Stella, Heidi and Winston scattered in.

I didn't realize that I was still keeping Sadie on a tether and walked her everyday on the retractable leash until 2015.

Taken 3 years ago today.

Just a few hours after Stella's arrival from Kentucky. Sadie wasn't sure what was going on.

Winston loved the snow. It's been a lot of years since we had snow this deep.

Sadie enjoys any kind of weather. You may notice that dead brush area along with the sapling to Sadie's right ... is the area I cleared in April 2014 and planted grass to expanse my yard.

I can't wait to feel the weather as warm as some of these photos.

Four hounds at one time are my maximum number but almost too many for one person. I didn't plan it that way but after seeing pictures of Stella needing to be rehomed in August 2015, I couldn't resist.

It was a great move bringing Stella home ... it gave Sadie a friend that was as big and strong as she was. She had not played like this since she was a puppy in 2008. Definitely great for Sadie, she was turning into a couch potato before Stella arrived.

Taken last year on this same date. It was much warmer than today but you could never tell by Heidi's expression.

As sad month only two years ago, 2015. Winston had hurt is back, was paralyzed and Sadie didn't know what to do.

Taken a year ago today ... much much warmer last year.

One of the few walks taken by Heidi anymore. These are from just last April ... 2017.

I remember letting Sadie out one Sunday morning at least 5 years ago, as I poured her breakfast kibble. I am not sure what bit her or what she snorted but her whole body was covered in these bumps. Benedryl solved the problem and she was back to normal within 30 minutes.

Both pictures above were taken a year ago today.

Sadie loves chewing sticks in the spring and summer. She doesn't eat many of them but when she does she enjoys them by biting them off about a 1/2" at a time. Most of the time after biting them into smaller pieces she spits them out.

Still under control of the retractable leash as late as November 2014.

This was just a year ago ... after dark.

Winston and Sadie trying to stay warm on the couch sometime in 2014.

The first day of Heidi's arrival ... June 28 (?) 2011.

After going through and selecting those 22 photos, I decided 'why not' add a few of hounds I have had in the past before I started blogging, plus some pictures when Winston was younger. Here are the final 11 photos.

Harry was my first basset hound in 1987. We lived out by Ft. Ebey State Park on Whidbey Island. That is between Coupeville and Oak Harbor Washington. He followed me to Breckenridge Colorado, back to Whidbey Island and then to Indiana in 1994. He spent his last two years at the house I live in now. He was always a roamer, could never find him ... liked to take naps at the Landscaping business just down the road (they'd call me) and even walked in the back door and slept once at the Oak Harbor Washington DMV (License Branch) ... they also called me to let me know where he was.

Maggie was my first two tone basset hound, lemon and white. She loved the field that we walk though currently but cancer took her at 7 years old.

Arthur was before Winston. They had the same mother and the exact same personality. He and Bertha (bloodhound) were great pals plus the Mini Dachshund we would pet sit for me niece.

In the summer of 2004 I decided to pick up Winston at 8 weeks old. As you see he wasn't much bigger than a 16oz Pepsi.

Bertha started playing with him the first day he was at home ... they were inseparable for the next 4 years.

Yes ... same field, same houses, different camera ... notice how much of the field is grass without any kind of weeds or wild flowers that have overtaken the field in recent years?

Not in the correct order but this is Bertha at 13 weeks old. By one of the few date stamps I have on my photos, it confirms it was August 1999. That is her and Winston in the photo below.

Some would say I bought Sadie as a 12 week old bloodhound puppy too soon after Bertha died, but Winston really was affected by Bertha's death in July 2008. He was affected enough that I had to take him to the vet because he had stopped eating and howled all the time. The vet suggested he might need a new puppy since he was then solo and had grown up with Bertha.

My PC crashed back then so I lost all of my photos of Sadie when she was a puppy. I had a lot of photos of her playing with Winston in the fall of 2008 and she proved to be exactly what Winston needed to get back to his old self.

This is the only photo I have of Sadie when she was a puppy, date unknown.

It will be another day inside, with Sadie going crazy with 'cabin fever' but no way will we take any walks today because it's just to cold. We'll keep warm inside, might watch more moves or football games or continue reading a few books I have started. Heidi will only get out of her bed to eat lunch ... which btw I need to do for them since I have Sadie and Stella standing right next to my right elbow wanting to eat.

Sorry if all of these photos were slow to load or used up to much data for those on limited data plans. I hope neither occurred.

Sunny but the coldest day this winter to close out 2017 in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Some Past Hounds

With it raining a couple of times this afternoon between the times the sun came out, the hounds and I didn't do enough to blog about anything. Stella slept, Heidi slept and Sadie paced the house and looked out the door at the rain. 

So instead of leaving the blog blank tonight I thought I'd write something short about some of my hounds I have had in the past. I have not scanned any of my photos that I had planned on a few months ago, but I did find these on my computer. I did lose a lot of photos of them in 2008 when I had one of those moments you wish you could forget ... I reformatted my hard drive thinking I had done a complete backup the week before.

Anyway here are a few of my hounds I had in the past.

Maggie

I bought Maggie as a 8 week old puppy from a type of breeder that is despised by most and gives legitimate breeders a bad name. She was one of many basset hound puppies ... a true puppy mill ... but I didn't know any better as a buyer and besides ... she was a fantastic basset hound.

She was another great hound that I had and hated losing. She had just turned 7 years old when I noticed some swollen lymph nodes that you can see on her neck. This was one of the last photos I took before I had to put her down. She also loved roaming the field in back, never ran away. Heidi's personality reminds me a lot of her.

Bertha

I bought Bertha as a 12 week old bloodhound puppy. Sadie's personality is so close to Bertha's that it scares me sometimes. She did the daily walk, roamed the field for hours on end without ever running off on me. She was 5 years old when I brought Winston home as a 8 week old basset hound puppy ... from that first 5 minutes they were inseparable until Berta died in 2008.

She was pretty large, too overweight by the time she was 4 years old but with some portion control on her food and exercising she dropped over 30 pounds. I don't ever remember her destroying much of anything like Sadie did as a puppy. Bertha loved riding in my Miata with the top down. In fact having the top down was the only way she could fit sitting in the seat.

The link in my upper left sidebar that shows Basset Hound Rescue ... it's GABR in Illinois. Max was my first adoption from them. I drove my Miata 4 hours north to pick him up, not realizing that basset hounds could be much bigger than I had been used to. Max was HUGE ...

He came waddling out into the living room in the home I had driven to and I couldn't believe it. I honestly didn't know if he was going to fit in the passenger seat of the Miata. He did though. His head was laying over the console of the driver side and my 6-speed gearshift was somewhere around his neck ... inside all that excess skin.

He was 81 pounds at the time I got him. The owner said "he only eats dry food if you put cottage cheese on it" ... I thought to myself "no way". I changed him from Pedigree and cottage cheese to the premium food at the time in 1999. One the daily walk, the same path we take now, he didn't make it out of the backyard before he had to sit down and rest (30').

Max

Over the years of walking and giving him better food, his weight dropped to 60 pounds. Two years after I picked him up he went 100% blind with retina degeneration. It didn't matter to him though and friends didn't know when they saw him unless I told them. I kept his chair in the same spot and his food bowl ... he carried on like that for his next 5 years until he passed at the age of 12. Here is a photo of him walking in the field totally blind.

This next bloodhound you already know ... it's Stella this evening getting in a long yoga stretch after sleeping most of the afternoon. She didn't even wake up to change sleeping spots.

Well it took all day but at 7:09pm, the sunshine is out, not a dark cloud in the sky and the birds are all talking at the same time. The ground is too wet to do the late evening walk ... but I have a couple of bloodhounds wanting to go outside.

A beautiful Friday night here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.