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Basset Love

Updated on June 11, 2012
Ruby in the long grass
Ruby in the long grass

RUBY

I have always, always wanted a Basset, a big-eyed, floppy eared giant bundle of love, and when my husband finally got used the idea and decided just before Christmas that we were going to find one I couldn't quite believe that it was true.

We did a bit of internet surfing and finally found a good breeder with a solid pedigree line and so one rainy cold day we set off to travel to North Wales to have a look at the two puppies that they had available. Well halfway there my windscreen wipers decided that they had had enough and just weren't going to work anymore, it was pouring, it was muddy, the spray from the lorries on the motorway meant that we kept having to pull over, jump out and pour bottled water over the windscreen. Two hours in I was soaked, muddy, tired from trying to peer through a windscreen covered in mud and water and just about to give up when the rain stopped just as we got to a farm track that looked like hell. That was it I was not going to go all through that and go home with nothing. We carried on, the rain stopped, the sun came out and lo and behold a big old farmhouse with two of the most enormous bassets in the paddock were barking their heads off.

We were warmly greeted by the woman who ushered us into a big farmouse kitchen to be greeted by two puppies running around with their mother standing nearby watching us carefully. My daughter was sooo excited, big fat puppy bassets who could resist, she kept saying that she wanted the really fat one, but this was to be my basset and I wanted the puppy to choose to be with me and not the other way around.

So we had a cup of tea, slowly dried off and while we were chatting the smaller puppy, white and red with those adorable ears came over, looked at me, turned her back as though to walk away and then plonked her big fat bum onto my feet and stayed there. I had been claimed, heart and soul we belonged to each other.


Now if you've never had a Basset you may not understand the link between owner and dog, ever since Ruby claimed me I have been a different person, Basset owners are a breed all to themselves, we will do anything for our dogs, we abandon cars by the wayside, and dive out to have a look at other Bassets and meet their owners as though they are old friends,and that sort of thing is totally normal in Basset World.

Ruby is now two, she is as mad as a box of frogs, she runs round and round the dining table waiting to be chased, she walks along the top of the sofa like she's a cat, amazingly she hasn't fallen yet, she uses my husband's cocker spaniel, Maisie, as a cushion, but what she doesn't do is she doesn't slobber and she doesn't howl. I always thought that would be a problem as I'd heard horror stories about owners at the brink of madness because of the howling and mess. Maybe she knows I couldn't cope. She loves her morning toast and ADORES coffee, yes I know they're not supposed to have it BUT she's a basset, and .... SHE'S MINE!


Looking for a Basset?

If you're thinking of taking on a Basset and you're in the UK and Ireland please take a look at the website called Preloved Pets they constantly have Bassets that are being rehomed. Something to note is that Bassets are a special breed and want to be with someone, preferably another Basset or you, so if you're out for long hours they will howl or become what some owners call destructive, they're not they're bored, they're highly intelligent and they're stubborn so think carefully before you take on a Basset it's a big commitment.

Dog Hammocks

Everyone loves to pamper their dog and I am no exception, but one of the most useful things that I've found in years for my dog is not to pamper them but something which I could no longer live without, a dog hammock for the car.

I mean I love my Basset but my car is black inside and she is white, and when Ruby gets in the car everything very quickly turns white with hair and brown and smelly with mud after she's been for a walk.

Some of the hammocks I've seen even have utility bags to hold things like the lead/leash, toys and water, mine is waterproof and is made of a fabric that repels dirt, why can't all fabrics be made like that? Even better it attaches inside the car in minutes and packs away quickly when you want humans in the car instead of the dogs.

I think the best ones are the ones that zip in two so that you can have a passenger in the back as well as the dog, just as long as they don't mind being treated as a dog toy.

I've linked a range of different options, sizes and prices below:

And finally .........

And finally just to leave you smiling ................ is it me or is the other dog gloating?



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