Bassets have been my passion for a very long time. Back in 1999 we adopted our first Basset hound, Bucksnort. He was a gift from my husband - a way to say "we made it" through the previous year long breast cancer battle I (or shall I say
we) had just completed.
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| Bucksnort |
Here is Bucksnort as a puppy. Sadly, we lost our guy on October 23, 2008 to cancer. It was a heartbreaking day for all of us. See
Bucksnort's Story for more.
Bucksnort was also the reason I started volunteering for basset rescue. Everyone needed a pal just like him!
Basset Buddies Rescue, Inc. is a great organization. BBR covers Minnesota, Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. Want to check out a Basset rescue in your neck of the woods? Check out the
Daily Drool's Rescue site for information.
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| Bosco |
Not too long after Bucksnort joined out family we did a transport for BBR. We picked up a stray basset from a shelter in Wisconsin and had the task of delivering him to his foster home. Only problem? He never left! We had become "transport failures" and adopted Bosco in January of 2004. Isn't he handsome? He is a basset/German short hair springer mix and a real love bug!
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| Bullet |
After Bosco we took a bit of a break. Did some fostering now and then. After moving into the house in Ramsey we were asked to foster an old guy named Bullet. What a character he was! After a year of fostering it became very apparent he was already home right where he belonged. He lived to the ripe old age of 13 (or so - never really knew for sure). He has Lupus, congestive heart failure, spondylosis....as I said he was an old guy. Think of "grumpy old men" and you'll have the right idea about Bullet!
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| Bo |
We'll fast forward a couple years to when we fostered a bonded pair named Bo and Luke. They were adopted by a wonderful family - but when Bo didn't get along with the family's rescue parrots (or maybe he got along too well...as in drooling and licking his chops) he came back to us. In the end he became a member of the Ritchie pack. Daddy's "baby rhino." You would have to have seen how he walked to understand that. Just suffice it to say he was one of the best hounds around. Bo went to the bridge in January 2010 after having a "failure of body." He was losing strength and had a hard time getting around. Just wasn't easy for him so we
held him close as we said goodbye.
After losing Bucksnort, Bullet and Bo within about a year we were pretty raw with emotions and just couldn't imagine adding another basset into our lives. The losses were just getting too hard. Until....
Snickers. She arrived - all 95 pounds of her - looking for a foster home. Within a couple months she was an official Ritchie. Snickers is now a svelte 74 pounds. She credits her weight loss to diabetes.
This is our first female dog (we've always had "our boys") so it has been quite the experience. A bit bossy. The real ruler of the house. She is slowly losing her eye sight and hearing which are learning experiences for us all! But we do love her!
On Thursday, December 23, 2010, we lost our Snickers to Lymphoma. She had dropped a bit over to 20 pounds weighing a mere 50 pounds at the end of her very full (literally so) life. She was indeed one-in-a-million. There will never be another Snickers. We were going to give her the gift of letting her go to the bridge. To be free of pain, To once again be the pack leader of her brothers as she was meant to be....but it was her who did the giving. Even at the end. She went to the bridge on her own, while laying under the Christmas tree on her favorite blanket. Just hours before "the appointment."
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| Snickers December 2010 |
Our family will forever be indebted to the folks at
Ramsey Animal Hospital in Ramsey, MN. Their guidance and compassion helped through a very tough time.
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Bones Basset
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At the end of May, 2011 we added a new addition to the family: Bones Basset! Bones was born on October 11, 2010 so he came to us at 5 1/2 months old. It has been a long time since we've had a puppy in the house and our skills at training puppy are being tested! He is a bundle of energy and very smart! He is currently going through basic obedience training in the hopes of continuing on in agility or tracking! It is nice to have a young dog again to help keep me active! Bosco isn't as excited...but he only pretends to not like him. When we aren't looking they play and play and play! Even the old fart, Bailey, doesn't seem to mind him too much.
