Basset Fauve De Bretagne Discussions

No!

Lol....really didn't want another dog. Our previous dog Lolly the boxer broke our hearts when she passed away and we were not ready to make another commitment. 12 years on and still adamant I didn't want another, my wife calls me over to a stall at a kind of boot fare and says have a look at this dog...I said no thanks....she said, no come have a look.....I walked over and saw the sweetest little thing I had ever seen peeking up at me....love at first sight...... she has kind of changed our lives....we certainly go for more walks...she kind of insists....
And yes I know the buying and selling of dogs at a vide grenier /bootfare is illegal in France, the pups were marked up at 10 euros each...The price went up to 30 euros when she heard we were English....hmmmm.........But of course she was still a real bargain......she is priceless.....

Andrew - your wife did the right thing. The price, even at 30 euros was peanuts for such a gorgeous little girl and I am so pleased you gave her a forever home. She is so sweet and who cares if she is not pure bred. Neither is Tikva and I still love her!

Enjoy your gorgeous girl - give her love, and accept the love she gives you back.

Thank goodness she found you - prices like that do not indicate that her breeders attach much value to puppy life. What has she been like to train? Fauves have a reputation for not having much of a recall, but perhaps your girl's 'other side' will help to mitigate this.

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Tootsy is a very clever little dog, she understands everything...Not sure what you mean by recall ? She is certainly good at being deaf when she feels like it....I have a lot of countryside walks on my doorstep, I take her past the farm on a leash but once she is off she runs away to get on the scent of bunnies etc...She can disappear for ages scenting animals...its a wee bit worrying at times but she always comes back, eventually, puffed out. If a tractor or truck comes near she will sit on command and wait for it to pass....My point is you don't really have the control that makes the walk comfortable for me but I think her free spirit is in her nature and VERY difficult to alter. Rather than tell her off I always praise her when she comes back but its never easy when your dog disappears off into the wilderness for sometimes minutes at a time. Luckily her nose always gets her back to me.....thank goodness...
I think these dogs have been bred for hunting and well known for their free spirit..

Tootsy running back after the chase.....

Recall is coming back when called. And praise when she comes back means a lot to her. As long as she does come back, then I would just accept that she will come back when she is ready and not just go run run and disappear. She comes back when she is ready, which might not be what you want but that is what she wants. And it is far better than going run run and not coming back.

She sounds like a really lovely little dog who has a mind of her own - let her have that mind and the enjoyment she obviously has in life with you - she will always come back to you because she obviously knows that you are her home.

The fact that she will sit on command when tractors or trucks come past is excellent. As I live on an agricultural Moshav where there are frequently large tractors and trucks going past, Tikva will bark at them but that is all - although she is on a long tether when she is out so she cannot get to them. But she thinks if she barks enough they will go!

One important thing about your lovely Tootsy. Has she been spayed? Because I am sure you do not want another litter in a dirty wooden box in a dirty wooden box in a boot fare

Tootsy has had her first season and is booked in to be spayed mid October......lots to look forward to there Tootsy.......
A spooky thing happened yesterday on one of our country walks. As I have explained I live in a bit of a wilderness here in Southwest France. Tootsy and myself went up a path we don't often frequent where upon I spotted a strange large rock sticking out of the ground. At the same time Toots ran over to the rock scenting something and disappeared from sight. I heard a kerfuffle and Tootsy ran out in front of me with a wild boar in hot pursuit. It was a fully grown female boar, running full tilt.....The worst bit was that Toots, sensibly, decided to run back to me, the only problem was the boar followed her, running at full tilt, straight toward me. If I didn't wave my hands and a stick in the air and shout I believe the pair of us would have been squished by the angry critter.. I was quite surprised just how fast and how menacing a full grown female boar can be running on a collision coarse.
I know the BFB dogs were used for hunting, but I think Tootsy, even though she flushed out the boar, was more like bait to catch the boar rather than the aggressor...if that makes any sense......
Moral of the story....I will need to carry an even bigger stick.....

Eeeekk! Think I'd carry a pig board.

I think a double-barrel shotgun more handy. Mind you I would have to buy another freezer or three as I am sure Tikva would enjoy the meat!

Whoops ..... think I put this in wrong bit b4........
Anyhow...Tootsy didn't ask to go for a walk first thing this morning....Which gave me the chance take it easy first thing...I gave her a walk in the afternoon...Its still pretty hot here in the South of France so she didn't go nuts and we had a pretty pleasant laid back walk.....which was nice.....didn't get to see her bum running off into the distance.....too much......

I hope it was not as hot there as it is here.

OK....Tootsy is so picky with her food....I have always been used to dogs wharfing their food back. Tootsy isn't like that.... So.. I mixed Mackerel fish in with her Purina crocks.........I called her in..she was outside munching on something rather horrid.......and wow she came in and checked out her food......turned her nose up straight away and went back out and carried on munching on the...ewwwwwwww....stuff.... She did come in a bit later and eat all the mackerel bits up, but not the crocks....hmmmmmmm.....BUT...she ways a ton......sneaky eating I reckon....

But the not eating thing is a worry..........not what I expected when I got a dog..........

Tootsy had her operation to be spayed about a week and a half ago. The vet had to give her double the anaesthetic to put her to sleep. She came back a pretty shell shocked little dog. She didn't really eat for days but her scar healed nicely and she was still strong in herself. She plasters herself to my lap whenever I sit down, something she used to do when she was a pup....
Saying that....she is slowly getting her confidence, appetite and well being back......but it wasn't easy for Tootsy......

I am so pleased that Tootsy has gotten over the spaying, luckily mine never bothered after they were spayed and were back to normal almost immediately.

I am slightly confused what you mean about her food being Purina Crocks. Do you mean kibble? Whatever she was munching on outside which you think was horrid, was it some sort of dead animal or bird?

I not know how easy you would find it, but have you ever considered raw feeding Tootsy?

Anyhow, please give her a gentle cuddle from me. xx

I hope Tootsy is soon fully fit again. Like Malka, mine have never had any after effects from speying either.
Is she eating any better? I wouldn't worry as long as her ribs are covered and she has a rounded belly. As you suggest, being a rural dog she will have access to lots of things that we would probably prefer not to know about. I would want to keep her regularly wormed with a broad spectrum wormer.

Not sure what raw feeding is, I guess eating raw meats......Toots does eat a lot of bones, French butchers are very kind, she does love her bones....a lot.....maybe you might be right about that one...but she will eat vegetables mixed in with our dinners...I do like the idea of her eating some vegetable matter.. thanks for all your help and concern....and yes she is regularly wormed so that shouldn't be the problem....The weird thing is when we weighed her when she had her stitches taken out she was the same weight as she was before the op....hmmmmm....maybe I worry too much...

@Andrew Sheldon - raw feeding as I do it involves two meals a day. My little girl is a cross Dachshund/Minpin and has a frozen chicken wing or neck for her 10am breakfast. I buy fresh from my poulterer, pack individually and freeze, and she has it straight from the freezer, Doxies having extremely strong jaws and teeth.

Her evening meal, at 8pm is a "soup" made from various supplements, all to make sure she gets what she needs mixed in a bit of hot water [some of which are added to tinned dog food and kibble, although in very small amounts]. To the "soup" I add meat - usually turkey giblets, hearts, and ox lung, with liver once a week. Also bought raw and packed and frozen by me, but those I defrost and cut up when adding to her bowl. Plus a large handful of mixed vegetables.

I am very limited in what meats I can buy but Tikva is thriving on it.

An excellent guide to raw feeding, which taught me when I changed my previous girl from kibble to raw is by Tarimoor:

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=137215&highlight=raw feeding

Lol......your dog eats better than me......I'm guessing that kibble is like dog caviar......It is funny though, just this evening, Tootsy bought home an uncooked chicken wing....UNFROZEN.....I took it off her because I thought chicken bones were dangerous for dogs....Don't know where she got it from, I live in a French hamlet with only 3 other houses...must be one of them...but why throw away fresh chicken wings....I quite like them....cooked of course.....