Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Colby Chaps Lovers…
Where does the time go? Our Colby Chaps is 10 years old today and he still is a young pup in my mind.
But…today he is 10!
Happy birthday sweet darling boy. We love you in bassethoundtown. Grandma, Greatgrandma and Big Daddy hope all of your wishes come true…
More loving this boy later….Cat, Chaps and Emma ATB
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Senior Hounds Abound Calendar Contest Lovers….We all know that the residents of bassethoundtown enjoy this contest. Remember last year? Emma was a contestant and even came in second winning hundreds of votes. We were all so proud of her.
Well this year, Bumper Alessandro (of Judy, Bumper and Abby) is running to support SHB and this wonderful fundraising effort. This calendar is the big fundraiser of the year for SHA, a retirement home in Florida for basset hounds. I think it is so cool that our community has 2 dedicated homes for elder bassets that operate solely for their care. Just wonderful.
Anyway…on with the show!
Bumpers Mommy wanted to share his story and a few pictures with the residents!
This is Bumpers entry photo…
Bumper was born on February 18, 2002 on a farm in Union, Ky. We brought our baby home when he was 5 weeks old. He met Brandy our 11 year old Olde English Sheepdog, who acted like a mother to him. We decided to add Abby – his real cousin to our household 2 months later.
Bumper has had a fantastic life with us and has a great time playing with his best girl Abby and all the grand kids and grand dogs.
He loves laying in the sun, dinner time, frosty paw treats,
walks in the park, his bed and blanket and waiting for his daddy to come home from work.
He hates trips to the vet for piggy ( toenail clipping), baths, and water in general unless it is in his bowl. Bumper is our watch dog – always keeping one eye open.
We had a real scare with him the week of his 10th birthday. His right eye was closed and cloudy and he was rubbing it. Our vet thinking the worst sent us to the animal eye specialist in Northern Ky who diagnosed him with having an ulcer on his eye – common in dogs with loose droopy skin. He removed the ulcer and put in a permanent contact lens. Bumper is bright eyed and bushy tailed again. Thank dog!!
We have had a wonderful 10 years with our big beautiful – 74 pound boy.
We really hope that he gets a month in the senior calendar. That would mean so much to all of us. We love our dogs so much and would appreciate all the votes he can get. February he will turn 11 an that would be a great month for him to be featured if we should be so blessed to get a month.
Love, Judy, Mommy to Bumper!
Every vote you cast is 1.00. 100% of this money goes to the elders at Senior Hounds Abound. Also, on this link you can purchase the actual calendars. Wendie (house mother) will only print what we buy so there will be no extra at the end. These are great Holiday gifts that will make you smile every day! So, vote and order away!
More reminding you vote later….Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma ATB
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Really Pampered Lovers…Well, we all know who that is.
First off I thought I would update the residents on our fear phobia issues. To recap, Chaps has had 1.5 acupuncture treatments. As a previous blog stated he did better in a mild storm event but yesterday we had a big storm event and, well, not very good. Maybe a 3.24578% improvement. Not good. We are looking forward to more acupuncture and have more appointments set up.
But in the mean time we are going to add the following to his phobia treatment.
1.) Rescue Remedy – we have tried it in the past and it did not work but Dr. Leick said it may help more now as an added extra.
2.) Lavender oil for a calming effect. Dr. Leick said we could sprinkle it on him, his Thundershirt, and in his worry bed.
3.) Melatonin – another natural calming aide. Dr. Leick said he was very OK with trying this on Chaps.
So, I jumped on Amazon and ordered it all today. I am pretty excited. I am not going to give up on Chaps and I will keep working until I find some relief for him. There is no silver bullet. We just need to keep trying.
BREAKING TWITTER NEWS JUST IN FROM GRANDMA – OH NO!
“Latest model projections show squall line of strong/severe storms approaching #Cincinnati between 11PM-12AM.”
OK, funny in a not so funny way that she would just e-mail this twitter update….
Anyway,
Here is the Mayor this morning as we were leaving for our walk. I thought I would show you guys the lavender that Grandma and I planted next to his window next to his worry bed. When we leave we can crack the window and crush a few buds nearest to the window. As many of you know this is where he lays when we leave. What a creative idea.
I now pull the Basset Hound Hauling Vehicle to the front so he only has 3 steps to go down. He is pretty good going up steps, but not down.
I also wanted to capture a regal Chaps next to those beautiful lavender colored Hosta blooms. They are so pretty.
But then get this…as we walked through the front yard….
Hip Dyspepsia? What Hip Dyspepsia?
We made our way to another park in our town – Tower Park.
There are Chaps and I under the tree!
As we were helping Chaps up the ramp into the BHV I noticed a truck parked a space over. No big deal. I was getting Chaps water and cleaning his eyes with some drops to soothe away any grass particles. Grandma was cleaning his face, neck and ears with a terry towel to wipe away any dirt.
As the truck was pulling out the man driving rolled down the window and said,
“Wow, he is really pampered, isn’t he?”
Ya think? If he only knew!
hehehe
More loving observations later….Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma ATB
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and delicate flower lovers! I have this beautiful lipstick red flower vine that has taken forever to grow! I water it like mad and it is in a spot it clearly loves but not until last week did it take hold. I though the dang thing was dead. I almost pulled it out.
But here we have the Mayor showcasing it’s location. It starts near the bottom of the umbrella table.
It has a delicate smell which Burger Boy is clearly enjoying…
OMDog…Do we have a money shot of all the delicate flowers?
Thank goodness I didn’t uproot the beauty.
More being patient later…Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma ATB
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Base Ball Lovers. I was sniffing out the basset hounds wires this morning and came upon this story. I really enjoyed it.
From Baltimore Sun Magazine: Q&A: Orioles manager Buck Showalter
Orioles manager Buck Showalter and his basset hounds Sader (left) and Jasper. (Lloyd Fox, Baltimore Sun Photo / August 29, 2012)
Buck Showalter means business. As manager of the Orioles, Showalter has brought a shot of mojo to a moribund baseball team, thanks in no small part to his grim determination to win. In photos, his facial expressions usually range from “quasi-stern” to “full-on scowl.”
But Showalter, 56, does have a soft side for Sader, Webster, Jasper and Opie — four floppy-eared basset hounds he and his wife, Angela, shuttle between their countryside home in northern Baltimore County and their off-season house in Texas.
When Showalter’s lounging at home, each dog takes a turn napping on his lap. He even keeps “animal crackers” in his office for them.
“I like to kid myself that they come to visit me,” he said. “They act like they respond to commands, but they respond to cookies.”
Get Showalter talking about those dogs, and his piercing brown eyes start to relax. For a moment, the Texas tough guy drops his guard, and you see the real Showalter: a down-home husband who loves his hounds — and baseball too.
Why basset hounds?
Why not? There’s a story behind each one. [Opie] was a show dog. Its grandmother or something was a Westminster dog show finalist in the hound group, and my wife was going to show him.
(Opie) Lloyd Fox Baltimore Sun
We were getting ready to leave this lady’s home — the farmhouse where she had these bassets. We’d driven about two hours from Dallas to get there, to Big Sandy, Texas. We were getting ready to leave, and the brothers [Jasper and Opie] were saying goodbye to each other. Everybody was in tears.
Jasper (Lloyd Fox Baltimore Sun)
Finally, I said, ‘All right. Just go get the brother.’ So we ended up with [Jasper], too. He couldn’t show because he had a deformity in his hips. He was the prettiest dog they had, but he had a slight cut in the womb. He looks like he’s bowlegged. So we couldn’t show him.
Do you come home, pick the dogs up and give them a big kiss on the mouth?
Depends on whether we’ve won or lost.
They like it up there in the county?
The scents of living out in the country like we do, it drives ’em crazy, really. Gets ’em active. … I think the bloodhound has the No. 1 nose, and basset hounds are No. 2. I can open up a can of tuna fish on the other side of the house and these dogs just light up.
Every emotion they’re feeling is evident. They don’t get rattled too much. They’re a calming influence on everybody around them.
They can sleep at the drop of a hat. They can fall asleep in 20 seconds. Carrying that skin and ears around all day, it tires you out.
Some people would say that you don’t get rattled that often either.
Oh, I wouldn’t say that. It makes me feel a little better when I’m gone — that they’re there.
In photos, you look like a serious guy.
I don’t take myself nearly as seriously as people may think, but I do take the game seriously. I have three to four belly laughs here every day. You can’t do this seven days a week for eight months for 30 years and take yourself seriously. I mean, we’re playing a kids’ game. It’s an honor every day to be able to do this.
Do you have a pre-game ritual?
Coffee. I have a percolator back there. Nowadays — it’s our society — they shoot the water through it one time and you get it in 30 seconds. I’ve got an old-fashioned percolator [in my office]. It takes about 15 minutes to keep shooting the water back through the coffee grinds. People come from all over the stadium to get a cup.
Do you feel like Baltimore wants to believe in the Orioles?
No doubt. But we can’t go out there and say, ‘Gosh, we only had X number of people there tonight.’ When you’ve had the struggles we’ve had, you’ve got to earn your way back into the dance.
End of article –
Wasn’t that fun? I love hearing about hounds making the news!
The Baltimore Orioles are my favorite team now! I have never had a favorite team!
Go Orioles!
More loving baseball later…..Cat, Chaps and Emma ATB
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and a Message From Your Mayor Lovers….
“With the Holiday weekend over I would like to wish everyone a nice short work week. I am feeling really good and actually the rain storm that Mommy called a deluge did not affect me last night. Paws crossed the acupuncture is working. Also, Dr. Leick said that my infection, that my Mom thought came from a needle, was not the case. It was no where near an insertion point. We all think I bumped a callous on my ankle and it was just not related.
Also, I would like to alert the residents that Bumper is in the running for a month on the Senior Hounds Abound 2013 calendar. There will be more to come about this very soon. The voting is going on right now and Bumper will need our votes. Remember, all money goes to Sr. Hounds Abound as this is their largest fundraiser for the year.
Here is Bumper at a bassethoundtown walking club event last year. Darling…
Well, I am your very tired Mayor and will be signing off for now.
Sleep tight and greet the week with glee…just like me! hehehe”
More messages later…Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma ATB
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Memory Foam Lovers. Well…we are a fan of Memory Foam!
The Mayor and I have a memory foam bed. We just love it. It feels good on the aging bones.
This morning the Mayor lingered as I made his low salt turkey with low salt turkey broth breakfast. I mix in some kibble. He loves it and looks forward to it. We love being able to treat him with extras since Emma has passed away. The Mayor had to follow her diet for the most part which was pretty bland. Dr. Leick suggested the Turkey which is a cooling food. Chaps has a heavy coat and tends to be on the warm side. It makes perfect sense.
After breakfast we drove to the park. Look at the giant beautiful tree we park under. Just stunning.
If you click on the picture you can see our big boy in the back of the basset hauling vehicle.
Since the weather has been so brutal we only go for short walks. Chaps does so good.
IMG_3108 (small 5 sec video clip)
Now back to the memory foam!
Look at these memory foam bath matts we bought for the Basset Hauling Vehicle. The Mayor seems to love them!
We bought them at Krogers and they were on sale for 20 bucks a piece. Still a bit pricy but we are in the BHV enough that it is necessary. He loves them.
It’s the little things in life that make a big difference!
More cooling foods and memory foam later…Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma ATB
PS – no jolting episodes for the last 2 days. I am just overwhelmed with joy!
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and new little friends lovers…
I told you that we were hoping to see little Gus today at the dog park. We did!
Gus’ Daddy was over on the other side talking but Gus ran over to say Hi to the Mayor. It was so cute.
There were too many dogs coming and going so we just said HI and left. The Mayor was ready to go smell another section of the park. He is our leader! hehehe
We will keep track of Gus because we really like himz.
Just wanted to share…
More making friends later…Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma ATB
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and hours of fun lovers…Can you imagine howl much fun this baby is going have growing up and with life in general? I am a very firm believer of kids growing up with dogs.
Pure joy!
A match made in heaven.
More loving real entertainment later…Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Girl of Summer Lovers…
Is it really the last days of August? We are so excited in bassethoundtown. I abhor August. Well, abhor might be a bit strong. We have tried to turn August around with a few new routines. The best one is trying to get out early every morning with the Mayor and make sure we all get the exercise we so need. We are loving it. Chaps even seemed to cotton up to a red heeler pup today. We might go see if Gus is at the dog park tomorrow and push our luck. hehehe
Maybe Emma was watching over Chaps and sending him a friend.
Gotta love a girl of summer…
More thinking Gus was darling later…Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma ATB
P.S. this is what Gus looked like almost exactly.
P.P.S – Note to Gus…don’t smell the Mayor’s rear end or you will get growled out again. Didn’t phase Gus in the least.
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