(Q: Matilda) First, please tell me a little bit about yourself and how you became Sassy's heart person.
(A: Sarah) My husband and I own our own business and one day a customer of ours brought in two 13 week old basset puppies. My husband called me and said I have this really cute puppy here. At the time we had a 19 year old beagle mix so we were right at the point of deciding whether we were going to get another dog or take a little break. Then in comes Sassy, and I said, ‘okay, bring her home’. Since then, Sassy has had a great life. We fond out pretty quick she could train us to meet all her needs and wants. Her beautiful brown eyes will get you every time.
(Q: Matilda) Please explain about Sassy's condition. When did you first notice that she was having difficulty?
(A: Sarah) When she was about eight or nine years old, she woke up one morning and her left eye was glazed over. So I took her to our vet that has taken care of Sassy since she was thirteen weeks old and he said she had glaucoma in that eye. He measured the vision and it was not very good.
(Q: Matilda) Before resorting to surgery, what other things did you try?
(A: Sarah) The vet gave us drops to put in her eye every day, and that kept her comfortable for about 1 year. I asked my vet if this was common in bassets he said, “Yeah when they get older, and it will probably travel to her other eye.” Well, exactly one year later on Easter day Sassy woke up and it had gone into her other eye. I could tell she was in a lot of pain so the next day we took her into our vet. We discussed our options with him. My husband and I both knew Sassy's eyes were her only problem, otherwise she was healthy. The vet gave us some more drops and put into her eyes but we had a tough decision to make.
(Q: Matilda) What are some of the resources you used to research these options?
(A: Sarah) I joined the Yahoo Basset Hound group and they helped me understand our options and educated me a lot as far as what could be done. We know how much dogs use their noses, especially this breed; her sense of smell was terrific. So since it is only my husband and I living at home with Sassy with no kids, we decided to let our vet take both her eyes out. We both strongly felt Sassy had some years yet to live. I always have Sassy monitored through any surgery; I took her in early one morning to drop her off, hoping they could take both eyes at one time so she would not have to go through the surgery twice. I went back home and just waited for a phone call to see if they were able to take both eyes out and just how she was doing. Around 3 o'clock they called me and said they were able to take both eyes and Sassy was doing fine. I was so glad everything went well. I called my husband and told him the good news. She had to stay at the vet for about two days but she was not eating, so they ask me to bring some of her food and see if I could get her too eat. When I got there, they lead me to a small room and brought her to me. She had pretty blue stitches in her eyes and was so happy that I was there but she kept going to the door. I knew she wanted to come home. I talked to the woman who did the surgery and asked if I could just take her home. I knew she would eat. She said okay as long as I called her if anything should happen. We brought her home and she went right to her dish, ate some food, drank a little water, and then took a long nap.
(Q: Matilda) After the surgery, what types of difficulties did you face? How drastically did it affect your daily routines?
(A: Sarah) The first couple of weeks were a learning process for Sassy and us. I decided that if my husband and I used the same words with her like turn or up and down, she would learn faster and it worked out perfectly. She listens to our voice and follows what we say. The only thing was I could not move any furniture around because that would just confuse Sassy and make things more difficult for her. That was okay with us. I keep Sassy on a schedule as far as eating goes and that keeps her on schedule for potty times which works out just fine. She always acts like she is starving but that is only with her Daddy not with Mom.
(Q: Matilda) Sorry I have to ask! Does she run into things? If so has it gotten better the more she is use to her situation?
(A: Sarah) Yes, she does run into things sometimes but she is now 12 years old and does not move fast so if she bumps into something it does not hurt her. She just takes a step back and goes around.
(Q: Matilda) What type of post care did Sassy receive?
(A: Sarah) About 3 weeks after her surgery I took her back in to have her stitches taken out. They took her from me and when they brought her back she was happy because the stitches were gone. As of now she hasn't had any problems as far as us taking care of her or her needing anything special. You probably know that bassets have a way of getting what they want. I tease my husband and say, "This is Sassy's house, we just live here."
(Q: Matilda) What kind of advice can you give to someone who is going through a similar situation?
(A: Sarah) The advice I would give someone who is thinking about going through this is, if you are a good heart person and know your dog like we did you pretty much know if the dog is up for the surgery. Then learn the way I did by joining Yahoo Basset Hound group. There are many people that have gone through this process and they helped me very much. It was important, because I was very scared. If you make the same decision we did, after the surgery and after your dog comes home it takes up a lot of your time to make sure they are recovering okay, but every household is different. I would not suggest this step for someone who has a lot of kids or other animals because it is a huge adjusting situation. We knew that Sassy had many years left so we took the chance. The surgery was four years ago and she is still okay. It all depends on what is going on in your home. It is a very expensive surgery. I would talk to your vet and make sure you know exactly how much it is going to cost and everything that could happen.
Matilda: OK Now that the boring stuff is out of the way lets get down to what is really important :)
(Q: Matilda) What types of things do you and Sassy do for fun? How have those things stayed the same or changed since?
(A: Sarah) Things Sassy and I do for fun: Sassy has always loved toys that squeak. I would bring her one home from the store; she just loved that and she still does. She has her own basket of toys and she goes to the basket and picks one out when she wants to play. She likes to go for walks in the evening. I walk around the yard with her, and she uses that nose to follow me, and she finds me easily. She gets tired a little more often now than she used to.
(Q: Matilda) When people loose one of their senses the others are heightened. Have you noticed the same type of thing with Sassy? Give examples.
(A: Sarah) Yes, I would say her senses became a lot stronger after the surgery. For instance she knows when daddy is coming home; she can smell him the minute he walks in the door, and then she starts barking at him like she is chewing him out for leaving home. Every evening she has to know where we are at all times. She will lie down for a while then she gets up and uses her nose to find us to make sure we are still here.
(Q: Matilda) This must have been a very traumatic thing for Sassy. What does she do to cope with this difficult situation?
(A: Sarah) Sassy deals with her situation by turning on her basset hound charm. If she wants something, she whines a little bit until one of us asks, “What do you want?” Usually it is to go outside or sometimes she is being a little lazy and wants to see how much she can get out of us. They are tricky little dogs and very smart. She already has me helping her up the steps outside. she puts her front paws on one step then I lift her back side up on the step then she moves up one step and I do the same. Since I started helping her with that, she will not come up by herself so she trained us pretty easily. She has steps up to her chair also. She will go up one step then whine a little and one of us will help her up. There have been a couple times however when I have come to clean out her ears which she does not like, so she will try to get away from me by moving a little quicker than normal and go right up those stairs by herself. I laugh and say, “You little stinker!”
(Q: Matilda) What is Sassy’s favorite kind of food? Was it the same before?
(A: Sarah) Sassy’s favorite food is cookies and ice cream, which she does not get much of because it is not good for her. She eats 1/2 dry dog food and 1/2 can of soft mighty dog food and then whatever daddy is eating she will eat also. No the food has not changed at all.
(Q: Matilda) I like to look for socks in laundry baskets what is your favorite thing to do? Was it the same before?
(A: Sarah) Sassy’s favorite thing to do when she was younger was every day she would pull daddy's socks off his feet after he got home from work because she thought if she did that, he was going to stay home. Now her favorite thing to do is go for a walk, play on the floor with us, and of course, she loves her beauty naps.
(Q: Matilda) You have some very special heart people who seem to care a great deal about you what is your favorite thing about them.
(A: Sassy) My favorite thing about my heart people is I know how much they love me. I also know that I can pretty much get anything I want out of them.
(Q: Matilda) Thank you for joining us today do you have anything to add?
(A: Sarah) I do not regret anything. It has given us four more years to spend with Sassy, and that is all we can ask for right now. I hope this was enough. It was nice to talk to you, good luck with your blog. I have read it, it is cute, and I enjoyed it very much.
The pictures are provided by Sarah they are when they first got Sassy at 13 weeks old. The other is a picture of her now at 12 years old.
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