by bill rice
(Ridgecrest, CA)
Beauregarde's last pic
at vets, waiting to give him away
After I had him about 2 weeks his back legs quit working. I sought help on the net and left a phone message with Daphneyland, a member of the Basset Hound Rescue Network. I was instructed for the next several months via phone on how to rehab and train him. Deep tissue message, Welless glucosomine, yucca powder, ARTH 9, range of motion exercises.
I adopted his 2 year old father to provide him with companionship and motivation. It worked. over the next 5 months he improved so much he became capable of taking 3-5 mile daily walks.
This Christmas he swallowed something that wouldn't pass. He very nearly died. If not for the extraordinary efforts of Dawn Smith at Daphneyland Ranch, a member of the Basset Hound Rescue Network, he would have. I surrender my little buddy to her and he is now on the long road to recovery. As a result of this emergency it was discovered that he is in a precancerous state with low white count and badly swollen lymph glands. Dawn tells me she may still be able to save him.
There are three things I want this story to tell. First that Dawn and the volunteers at Daphneyland is the ONLY rescue kennel in North America. So please, please go to Daphneyland.com and adopt (Daphneyland has more then 60 hounds) or donate. If you have a Basset in need of rescue contact Dawn,s e-mail address is basset911@aol.com. The kennel phone number is 1-661-269-2682.
Second, that the Ridgecrest, CA area as far as I know has NO reputable breeders. The area has a terrible reputation for inbred Bassets. Contact Dawn for more information.
Third is the emotional hell I am still going thru. Putting him in that SUV for transport to West Lake for emergency surgery, knowing I would in all likelihood never see him again was hell on earth for me. Bassets have an extreme tolerance for pain. They've been known to take terrible injury and barely whimper. If any of the breeders in this area had seen him, head down, tail down, to week to move, and WHIMPERING IN PAIN, their tunes would change. I cried for a week. Every morning I get up and still cry for a minute, there's only one bowl to prepare, the bed room is silent no deep, loud, happy baying (He has a big beautiful voice) demanding his breakfast. These breeders aren't hurting only Bassets, they are hurting people too.
As I have taken my daily miles long walk with Max, Beauregarde's dad, and Lemon Drop, his sister whom I am rehabing for poor socialization skills (she has spent the better part of her 8 months in a trailer house, only out twice a day for a few minutes), I have had the opportunity to meet quite a few people in this small (20,000) rural town. There are dozens of Bassets in the area. Yet, I see no one walking their Basset. When I ask how many miles a day they do with them I hear "Oh, we have a large fenced yard for him." ARRRRGh!!!
But I think this conversaion I had with a Basset owner says it all. I was walking Beauregarde's mother, Molly, for her owner (I hate that term for a Basset. You DON'T own a Basset. You are the dominate member of a life long friendship). This gentleman (I'll call him Stu) asked if I wanted to breed Molly to his 1 year old Basset. I told him that she was an inbred. He replied "That's Okay mines not." So pointed out the precancerous cysts that are all over her. He still tried to get me to arrange a pairing of the two. I told him that the only way he could be sure his dog wasn't inbred was to do a 3500 dollar genetics study to determine it. He told me it wasn't true, that his papers proved it and ask if I knew any where he could get his friend bred. I gave him Daphneylasnds kennel number. SICCUUM DAWN!!!
Source: http://www.just-basset-hounds.com/beauregardes-rescue.html
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