Which Breeds Are Compatible ?

I decided to post something a little off topic from my normal stuff this morning. The hounds and I just got in from our morning walk. It will be about 30° warmer by late afternoon but this morning wasn't bad. I'll post the pictures of that walk later today as I try to combine a full day of information instead of halves of two different days.

I received an email yesterday asking if I would be interested in looking at a graphic they had made when researching just what breeds were compatible when sharing the same house. I guess they had noticed I had two different breeds and different sizes sharing my house after finding my blog.

Like I said yesterday, I've always liked and at times wanted a bulldog, maybe a mastiff or even mutts from the animal shelter. But for 30 years I've always had basset hounds and then my first bloodhound 20 years ago.

A few of them were from basset rescue that is linked in the upper left corner, a couple were from the local animal shelter. To be honest, I have never had a dog work out that came from a shelter but the two bassets I've gotten from Guardian Angel Basset Rescue in Illinois have been fantastic.

When I bought my first bloodhound I just assumed without any research, Max would get along with my two basset hounds Harry and Maggie. They got along great, never fought over food and as the temperatures got colder they slept closer together. The other combos I have had with different bloodhounds and basset hounds have always worked out, even though there is a huge difference in size.

I found their research at PuppySpot.com interesting enough to not only write about it but post their graphic for you to see, just in case you might be thinking of adding to your crew of dogs. I'll admit I was a little disappointed they did not cover the basset hound - bloodhound breeds and almost didn't post this because of that.

On a side note, my niece had a mini-dachshund years ago that did not like girls/women or other dogs. She was fierce and would bite people, vets and other dogs ... except my basset hounds and bloodhound when she would spend a weekend at the house while I pet sit. Here are a few pictures of her with Arthur on the couch and laying next to Winston. I will say though, she ruled the house when she was here and the hounds always stepped back when she was here and let her drink their water, eat their food, and sleep on their blankets.

She was small (4.5 pounds) but fierce.

Sleeping with Winston.

Who is going to move first?

So take a look at all of the different combinations of breeds they have found compatible and if you would, leave a comment on your thoughts and/or experiences living with different breeds in one household. I think you will find their results interesting.

If you have any questions about the basset hound or bloodhound breed getting along with other breeds, send an email to me or leave a comment and I'll answer. Throughout our travels my hounds have had visitors that were different breeds.

I had second thoughts about putting their website link in the upper left sidebar, so I removed it this morning. My decision had nothing to do with them or what they do (place/sell puppies). I've never had affiliate links, nor was their site an affiliate link, but I just didn't think it kept with the theme of my blog which is "living with the hounds in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana".

While writing this post I realized it was 30 years ago when I bought my first basset hound while living in Oak Harbor, Washington. Harry lived to be 13 years old and lived in Oak Harbor, then Breckenridge CO and later in this house in Indiana. Even as a 8 week old puppy he was a wanderer and that never stopped for the next 13 years. He was sneaky quick, disappearing within minutes and how he ever survived the highway in front of the house ... I don't know.

He would sneak off to the DMV in Oak Harbor a few times. I'm told he would walk in the open back door of the office and choose a desk to lay next to for his afternoon siesta. I'd get a call at work to let me know he was there. Here in 'the tropics' I'd get a call from the landscaping business just south of me, telling me Harry was sleeping behind the counter next to the cashier and that I could come to get him after his nap was over.

Enjoy your weekend and I'll be back later this afternoon or early evening with our post about the hounds and their day.

Hounds Walk In Freezing Temps

The snow started late yesterday afternoon as I glanced out the large window next to the kitchen table. Snow flurries interrupted my game of Mahjong.

I knew it wouldn't last nor would it get very deep. All of that was heading east. By 1am when we were outside for the last trip of the night for the hounds, the temperatures had dropped considerably and those predicted temperatures in the teens felt like they were just a few hours away.

Sadie was out early to check the amount of snow and just how cold it was. Facebook's program where they show a picture you posted a year ago or more, showed it snowed this time last year but just a little more than what we had today. It has really been a mild winter in the topics of southern Indiana.

Still it was cold enough this morning that Sadie didn't beg for a walk that early, she headed right back to the house. By 11am the temp was up to 18° and the "feels like" was around 6° ... so there was some hesitation in deciding if we should walk today. Is that too cold on the paws of their feet.

Knowing we had walked in blizzard conditions in the past, in deep snow, I decided it was safe for us to take a walk this morning. I didn't feel anything except on my face with the freezing cold wind coming out of the NW. Yet it wasn't at the level of being miserable.

Stella wanted to show me she was in her 2nd day of her new routine. That is walking with us instead of staying back and eating anything she could find under the thick grass and leaves. It's funny how she changes routines every few weeks, in an instant.

I thought it was a pretty strong wind as we walked but it wasn't until I turned the first corner that I really felt it. If you look at those tall light tan bushes you can see them blowing in the wind. It's hard to believe by tomorrow afternoon the temps will be in the high 50's for the next three days and then back to the 40s. That sounds good to me.

While Sadie broke left to head to the field, Stella headed to the far right corner. She had not been up there in a few weeks. I thought I might need to follow her to keep her going but I thought it was cold enough that she would catch up to us on her own.

Sadie was curious on what Stella was doing and wondering if she was coming or not. More than likely she was interested in what Stella was eating. They cannot see that far so what scent is she picking up to have her look that way?

It didn't matter, she not only took off down the edge of the field but caught me by surprise as she went sprinting into the 'no fly zone'. She never does that unless there is deer in the area. I saw nothing in that direction.

The scent that Sadie was chasing must have been strong because Stella was sprinting toward us. I looked in that direction again but didn't see any deer on the horizon. She smelled something so they may have been over in the woods.

I didn't want to chase Sadie into the next field, the wooded area, with the weather being this cold. So as I yelled her name, she made a big looping run and came back to me where Stella ran over to meet her. Yet, there is something over in that direction that interested them a lot.

I had the leash inside my pocket for Stella just in case I needed it, but I didn't have to use to use it this morning. I called Stella's name and said "lets go home" and she headed down the path in a slow trot.

Sadie continued to track different scents all the way home while never getting to far away but never on the path with Stella. Like I have said before, she has a much stronger nose than Stella and has heavy instincts in her natural tracking ability.

While Stella stopped to scratch ... I wish I knew what was making her itch this past month ... Sadie was still interested in something back in the northern direction.

Stella took a short time to check out the neighbor's woods and then turned and trotted toward the house. It must have been the cold weather that motivated her enough to head home with me giving a command.

The closer we got to the house the faster they ran.

Soon after we got back from the late morning walk, Stella started howling for lunch. That pulled Heidi out of a deep sleep to where she started barking along with Stella ... Sadie just hopped up and down in excitement to eat. A quick trip outside after lunch and I was back to reading books.

Heidi is looking better than she has in a long time. Hair has grown back on her front paws, not all but most hair as returned to her rear paws and is trying it's hardest to fill in her rear legs. Those are places where a vet told me a couple of years ago not to expect that hair to ever grow back.

She has shown a lot of improvement after I started feeding her Rachel Ray's beef and rice. Why beef?? She always had had problems with food that had chicken as their main ingredient, so I thought I'd try something with beef. That food had high protein (26%) and high fat (14%). She is also adding a little weight and her coat is soft and shiny.

It wasn't too long after lunch where Sadie started letting me know she wanted the 2nd walk of the day. I was reading the other book I picked up yesterday and wasn't sure I wanted to take a walk. We normally take an afternoon walk later in the day but if she wanted to go that bad, then why not?

But this afternoon's walk had a problem. It looked inside that Sadie was wanting to walk but that was not the case ... she wanted to eat poop. That never makes me happy, honestly hate it. Stella also wanted to do nothing more than that.

It was such a nice day I continued walking and figured they would eventually catch up with me. But the further I walked, I started changing my mind. Neither hound had moved and I was more interested in reading.

I took a few more steps and decided to turn around. Here I was going on a walk when I really didn't want to. It was obvious that neither hound wanted to walk. They did not even lift their heads when I yelled their names.

So I turned around and headed home. A short walk for this afternoon. (Editors Note: After taking a short 42 mile afternoon drive in the Z4, I hooked Stella to the 25' retractible leash, let Sadie outside and we had a nice late afternoon walk)

I picked up another John Grisham book at the library yesterday and then noticed when I got home I had three of his paperbacks on my shelf and I don't remember reading any of them. I've bought a lot of books that I have not read. I figure I have about a month left of reading before my focus turns to outdoor activities as the weather gets warmer.

A couple of readers commented yesterday that my red mirrors looked like a sore thumb. I sent both of them a link of all the different mirror covers available and not even the solid black is an option. I did get two email answers from owners that I asked where they got their black covers ... both were part of their new car order from the factory in Germany.

Of course one thing to think about with my ever changing mind ... If I ever decide to go back to the 'stock' look of that model, then I can install the red stripes again and then the mirrors would be part of that standard option. The hood stripes needed replaced anyway because for some strange reason they had deep enough scratches on them, as I was peeling the stripes off, they followed those scratches in a different direction.

Still I like the all black look the more I look at it. Most that have emailed me along with forum comments also like it. One in particular thought with the stripes removed made the Countryman model have a much cleaner look. Whereas the two door coupe models that I had before, the stripes looked good.

You may have noticed a new link up on my upper left sidebar.  (Removed - 2nd thoughts) I don't put everything up there until I look around that particular website and decide if it pertains to what we talk about here and if it might be of interest to our blog readers.

I'll post about that website within the next day or so but in the meantime take a look at puppyspot.com especially if you are looking for a puppy that is not a bloodhound or basset hound. This brought up the question "what breeds are best to mix and match". I'll also post a graphic they have made after their research on choosing different dog breeds to live together.

Since I am a hound lover I've always had bassets and bloodhounds. Although there are other breeds I have been interested in such as bulldogs, mastiffs, and mutts from the shelter. I will say the mini-dachshund that I use to pet sit for my niece years ago, did like both basset hounds and bloodhounds.

I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon keeping warm and reading books. All of the hounds are sound to sleep for their afternoon siestas.

Life is good here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.

Stella Starts A New Routine

I am not sure if Stella's change today is a routine yet, but I'm hopeful.

After missing the walks yesterday due to rain I figured today that Sadie didn't need to wait for me to finish my 2nd cup of coffee before we walked. I could have it when we got back from our walk.

The first surprise was Stella charging out in front of us, leading the walk. In the past few weeks she never left a spot about 100' behind me in this picture. Still, there would be plenty of chances up ahead to see if she would be distracted by a scent ... or the woods behind the neighbors house.

That didn't mean she trotted all the way. She still had to stop a few times and check things out but I will say her 'eating' today was non-existent. Sadie on the other hand, was high energy and spent most of her time off the path, charging through the thorny bushes along the edge of the field.

I remember when she was only a few months old she was doing that and caught a thorn with the inside of her ear. The thorn cut her ear open like a sharp razor blade, luckily not all the way through but enough it needed stitches. The scar is barely visible today.

About the time I turned to see where Stella was, she sprinted by me and caught up with Sadie. It was like old times, just like walking last summer where Stella made the full walk every day.

Sadie was pretty intense today with the deer scent. She was focused and was having a lot of fun charging through the brush.

As we were walking the back edge of the field, Stella was heading our way. It was good to see that she was getting in some exercise instead of spending her time in one spot eating deer scat. It was also a pleasant surprise.

She still had plenty of places to check out, but was moving most of the time. I've been feeding her a little extra kibble each meal hoping to put some weight back on her. She was getting too thin.

Without saying a word, she came running toward Sadie and I.

I could tell by the way they were acting that it wasn't long ago deer had been moving in this direction. When Stella stopped and looked over the fence toward the field behind us, I could the deer had jumped the fence and headed that direction. In the past I have actually seen the deer do that.

She was very interested in walking in the 'no fly zone'. As she walked that direction, she would stop and sniff the air. The deer scent was thick today. I kept calling her name and that kept her somewhat in control to where she would walk out there but in my direction.

This next picture is pretty far away from me. She gradually walked in the direction of the woods to the north. She was almost in a 'quiet' mode so I would not hear her and she did get pretty far away before I said something to her that was not only funny but got a strange response.

I said "do you want me to put you on the leash" and she immediately started walking toward me. I couldn't believe it !! LOL Then she got on the path to the left of me, right next to me and started walking as if I had put the leash on her.

We were not quite to the corner where we veer left to head home when Sadie sprinted past me and Stella followed. She never stopped to look in the direction of the woods behind the neighbors and never headed to the middle of the field. She followed the path all the way home as if she was on the leash.

With temps in the mid 30s it still felt nice outside and the sunshine was trying it's best to poke out through the dark clouds. After having a high of 56° yesterday, the forecast is showing high 20's by tomorrow and then back up to the high 50's by the weekend.

I know all of my book reading right now is a 'winter thing'. Once it's warm outside and sunny I know that I will be spending most of my time outside this spring and summer. The list of things to do is much longer than last year. So it will be back to the warm weather routines for the hounds and I.

I checked eBay and Amazon last night for the Absolute Black mirror caps for the Mini Cooper. Absolute Black is the official name for the color of my car. No luck, which I find just amazing. Since I see other pictures of the same car in different colors, many of them have black mirror caps. It must be something you could order as an option when you bought the car brand new.

I am going to check with a couple of body shops I've used in the past, and see if I can set up an appointment for them to paint the ones I have. I think I am a good interior and exterior house painter but I have never done well spray painting anything. Therefore paying someone to do a professional job is the best option for me.

Not much is planned for today but it is beginning to look like the perfect afternoon to pickup the latest batch of fallen tree limbs and add to the burn pile. So far the burn pile is much much smaller than this time last year.

I've been having a strong urge lately to go play some craps at the casino. It might be hard to believe but when I get these urges that never go away, the results are pretty profitable. They don't happen often and my last trips to the craps table was over two years ago. Yes, I add what I win or lose to my spreadsheet tracking expenses and income.

For all the readers that are working, it's 'hump day' for you and another 'day off' for the hounds and I here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.