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Chip has a seizure

July 24, 2010 By Elizabeth 2 Comments

So, on Wednesday, I took Chip & Quincy to Keylore Kennels for dog day care like we do most weeks.  I dropped them off at about 8:45am.  At 9:45 am I got a call from Lisa in the office telling me that Chip was having a seizure and that he needed to see a vet.  I freaked out.  Luckily for me and for Chip, they remained calm.  Everyone there is trained about what to do in the case of a seizure and I’m really grateful for that.

Chip was outside for about 15 minutes when Ranae noticed him sitting next to the gate and his head was tittering.  Then, he ended up in a full grand mal seizure, legs paddling, he was disoriented, he had a panic stricken look on his face and he was convulsing.  He became really hot after the seizure (the vet says because of all of the energy his body was exerting and the adrenaline).  Sharon cooled him down with cold wet towels.

I made it to day care and Sharon rode with Chip & I to the vet and gave them all the details.  I’m very grateful for that. I wasn’t there and it would be just too hard to relay the information telephone game style.

So, the vet said that sometimes a dog just has one seizure and never another one. He is quite young for epilepsy.  He is only 7 months old.  The vet also indicated that he was pretty young for some of the other problems that can cause seizures.  He did a full blood panel and that looked normal.  He does have a yeast infection in his right ear, but that is unrelated, his tympanum looks good. 

So, the vet wants him watched for a few weeks in case he has another seizure.  We’re going to take him to Keylore Kennels for the next couple weeks just so that he will be always supervised.  I feel nervous about leaving him in his outdoor kennel for fear that he has another seizure and then his body is too hot and he can’t get his core temperature down on his own.

He is acting normally now.  He was acting strangely that morning and from reading the Canine Epilepsy website, that is typical.  Now that I know what the odd behavior is, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for it. He didn’t drink any water with his breakfast (was not dehydrated though when he had the blood panel) and he was whining in the car really bad all the way to daycare.

I also called the breeder to see if other dogs in the line had ever experienced seizures and she indicated that they have not.  I’ll keep her up to date on what happens with Chip.  I read a lot of information on Thursday online about seizure disorders. It was making me very nervous. I also read some threads at Basset.Net from other folks with Basset Hounds that had seizures.  I decided not to read anymore about it unless something else happens, but I am thinking about going to a pet first aid class now. 

I’m very hopeful that this is just a fluke.  I was just so devastated when they called me and worried, but he seems to be back to his normal self now.

Chip & Quincy my Basset Hounds

Chip & Quincy hanging out in the yard

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Quincy

June 15, 2010 By Elizabeth Leave a Comment

I’ve been photographing Chip so much lately that I thought Quincy needed a couple pictures.  ;)  

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She has been doing really great. She is a wonderful big sister to Chip.  She feels sad when she isn’t with him and vice versa. She has been doing well in the house and has even been getting a bit more confident around strangers.  I took them both to the Sniffer Dog Demo at Key-Lore Kennels and am excited about starting to do some scent work with her.  More on Sniffer Dog soon!  I’m excited to give these hounds a job!  Basically we learned some initial activities to do to teach your dog to track some scents. It is kind of like Geo-Cacheing with your dog.  I plan to start doing some exercises with the dogs and more posts are sure to come!

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Inquisitive Chip

June 10, 2010 By Elizabeth Leave a Comment

What a sweet boy!

Chip, Basset Hound

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Frankenmuth Dog Bowl 2010

May 30, 2010 By Elizabeth

Steve, Quincy, Chip and I ventured out on Sunday to the Frankenmuth Dog Bowl at Riverplace in Frankenmuth, Michigan.  Entrance to Rescue area It was an incredibly hot day.  I think temperatures were over 90 degrees.  The dogs were hot. Steve and I were hot.  So, we didn’t do as many activities as we would have liked and we didn’t get as many pictures as I wanted to. However, we did have fun. There were a lot of good vendors there.  Doodle Dog Bakery had a booth and there was a booth selling elk antlers and the like (we buy these from Dotty’s Pet Center in Clio and love them).  They had a lot of activities happening including:  Dock Dogs, Disc Dogs, Sheep Herding, an Off Leash Dog area, a Doggie Dash for all dogs to participate in, Wiener Dog races, Dogs of the World Parade and probably a lot more that we didn’t get to see. 

Chip was so incredibly hot that he couldn’t keep his tongue in his mouth. Both dogs were very good because they just wanted to lay in the shade.  Our friends met us there with their dyed pink dogs. That was pretty neat.  We did take Chip and Quincy to the off leash area for some fun. Offleash dog area Chip was playing a lot more than Quincy.  He wouldn’t go in the water though. 

It was a fun, but hot day.  I wish that we could have stayed longer and enjoyed more of the activities, but here is what Chip & Quincy looked like when we got home after only a couple of hours:

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It was fun for Memorial Day weekend to go and check out the activities. We also got to see a few of the balloons that were there for the Great Lakes Ballooning Championships. 

Here is our whole photo album from the Dog Bowl. 

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A couple sleepy hound dogs

May 22, 2010 By Elizabeth

My basset hounds, sleeping on the couch.  Chip loves being so close to Quincy.

Chip with his arm around Quincy Quincy my pretty basset hound Quincy and Chip Couch Hounds

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Great American Waddle 2010 Slideshow

May 17, 2010 By Elizabeth

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Michigan Basset Waddle 2010

May 16, 2010 By Elizabeth

Steve, Quincy, Chip & I all headed out this morning to participate in the Michigan Basset Rescue’s Basset Hound Waddle in Birmingham, MI. This was our first time attending and I am SO glad that we went. 

We collected pledges for the dogs ahead of time.  Upon arriving, we registered our Basset Hounds for the waddle and each leash was tagged with a pink ribbon.  Quincy was representing Key-Lore Kennels and wore their bandana. Quincy   Chip showed his love (or maybe mine!) for the Detroit Tigers and sported a baseball bandana.  Chip Both dogs were very excited, but well behaved all day. Chip was pretty sure the party was for him!  He wanted to meet everyone and thought everyone should pet him and love him!  He had strangers giving him belly rubs, tried taking ice from the hand of a stranger, met a million dogs and befriended a St. Bernard.  Quincy as usual was a bit more reserved, but wasn’t shy or nervous or anxious at all. She did seem hot and was very patiently waiting by lying down almost the whole time.

Steve and I waited for the shuttle for a while, but we ended up just walking down to the staging area from the registration desk. It wasn’t too far, really.  Then, we waited around in the staging area where they had basset games going on.  They had a “Basset race” where they had to jump hurdles.  Basset Hurdles

Eventually, everyone got ready to waddle!  We were near the middle of the pack.  Both dogs walked nice on the leashes and were well behaved. Both were excited and trying to pull a bit, but they didn’t get tangled or refuse to walk or anything really embarrassing!  IMG_1447 We came around the first corner and there was a man videotaping.  Quincy went right up to the camera and put her face in it!  It’s like she knows she’s a star!  Hopefully she’ll be in some video of the event, that would be great!  By the second corner, Chip was really starting to slow down, but he made it to the end. 

They had a few vendors set up and we bought a giggling hydrant (Quincy had one before and loved it) and a very cool Basset Hound welcome mat.  Then, we headed to the car. Chip barely made the last corner to the car. He was so tired, when he tried to step over the curb he face planted in the grass!  They had water stations set up in plastic kiddie pools but Quincy didn’t seem to enjoy drinking from a bowl that other faces had been in!  So, everyone had a drink and then we headed home. It seemed like a long day, but it wasn’t really that much walking. Chip was fast asleep within minutes.

What a nice day!  I’m so glad that we went. This was also good practice for Chip before the Dog Bowl and just with socialization in general. 

I posted a whole photo album of the pictures, check it out!  I’ll be adding captions to the pictures in the album later this week, but I just wanted to get them posted. 

I’ll post later this week with the slideshow after I get titles and captions in.  If you were at the waddle and have a site with pics, please leave a comment with links!

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Nice Weather, Dogs Playing in the yard

April 30, 2010 By Elizabeth

 

Just a few shots of my favorite basset hounds enjoying the nice weather!

Chip Basset Hound      Chip Basset Hound Running

Chip and Quincy

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A New Basset Hound

February 13, 2010 By Elizabeth

So, Shadow wasn’t quite the right dog for us. She really needs a more active household and is much happier where she is now.  However, we decided that a 2nd dog might be a good idea. We started looking around at other breeds, but decided that the basset hound is a dog well suited for our lifestyle and we also know that he will be a good fit for Quincy.

 

Steve wanted a male dog and preferably one who would be a little more likely to bark when folks come into the house and yard.  After a search, we found a breeder in Sterling, MI that we felt confident in.  Up North Bassets hand raise the puppies and let their hounds live in the house with them.  Jody seemed very knowledgeable and easy to talk to.  They had a litter of pups on December 8th.  They had 5 boy puppies born. A tragedy lost all of the girl puppies and cost the mother any chances of future reproduction, but 5 beautiful healthy boy puppies were available.  We settled on one and picked him up on February 13th.  What a great Valentine’s Day present!

 

Here are some pictures of him and a few of he and Quincy.  His name is Chip. The breeder used it at home, so he already knows his name.  That made things easier!  They’ve become fast friends. Quincy is teaching him all about the rules of this house and his training is going pretty well. He needs a lot more work on housebreaking and all of his commands, but hopefully he’ll be a quick learner.

 

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chip 3  chip 2

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Long time no blog

January 4, 2010 By Elizabeth

It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged.  For New Year’s I thought I should write some kind of blog and get back on track with this. 

 

Update on Shadow (my found Plott Hound):  We ended up not keeping Shadow. No one ever contacted me from the Michigan CoonHound Rescue despite my repeated emails, phone calls, facebook requests and Tweets trying to get their attention.  I wasn’t really impressed by that. I honestly needed some help with that dog and I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her. I think she was mostly a Plott Hound.  My Dad used to breed Walker Hounds and one of his buddies is still really into hounds of all kinds.  He ended up taking her.  He was all set up to have the hounds. He had 3 in his pack already.  He hunts Bear, Raccoons and Cats with them.  She turned out not to be into Bear or Cat hunting, but he is going to keep her around for the raccoons.  At least she is well fed, cared for and safe.  I never could have kept her from running in our unfenced yard.

 

Update on Quincy (My beautiful Basset Hound):  Quincy has been doing really great. She is completely housebroken and spends all of her at home days now free of the crate.  We ended up taking the crate out of the house and she hasn’t seemed to mind. She still gets some crate time at Doggie Day Care.  Steve and I are considering getting her a new basset hound friend in the spring from the same breeder (if at all possible). 

 

Update on the House:  Steve and one of his friends covered the crawlspace in a 6 mil plastic.  They used spray on adhesive to adhere it to the walls of the foundation and allow any moisture to run off and prevent it from getting stuck under the plastic. This completely solved our moisture problem in the house. It is now almost too dry!

 

Update on The Backyard: We’ve been keeping up with the feeders, but I haven’t had time in my schedule to participate in Feeder Watch (no 2 days in a row to be able to watch).  We are seeing the usual suspects.  Also, we were observing at least one bat every night until pretty late in the fall, so I am pleased to report that our local bat population seems not to have changed.  Steve and a couple of his friends saw a mole in the backyard above ground this fall.  That was our one notable sighting.  Squirrel numbers are down from last year (only about 4 – 6 per day instead of 10 – 18).  I have still been seeing pheasant and turkeys, but not in the backyard, just in the neighborhood.

 

Update on Steve & I:  I am going to rededicate myself to this blog and some outdoor photography.  I’ve been admiring a lot of other people’s nature photos on Facebook and resolve to take more of my own.  We also are going on a New Year’s diet and hopefully going to get a little more active, hopefully that will include spending more time in the backyard.

 

So, how have your new year’s been?  Any new interesting winter bird sightings?  More posts to come (with pictures!).

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