My Three Bassets

by Suzanne
(East Moriches, NY)

My husband and I went downtown one day to buy a desk lamp for our new office space. The store that we were going to wasn't opened yet, but next door was the Anti-cruelty Society of Chicago. So we went in just to take a look and in the bottom cage was a basset hound named Chester. While all the other dogs were barking and carrying on, Chester was sound asleep. Well, we talked to our landlord that night and the next day we came home with our first basset. He was about 1.5 years old.

After a move from Chicago to NY and two children later, he was the king of the house! Unfortunately when he was ten he suffered from bloat, and had to be euthanized. What a trauma for all of us. Our beloved dog gone in an instant!

Then came Taylor, a Retreiver mix, about 7 months old found on the street. She lived with us for about 3 years and then a woman I worked with knew of somebody that had a 1.5 year old basset. The owner had a heart attack and couldn't keep her. So along came Ellie Mae and how much fun we've had with her!

Ellie and Taylor went on the boat with us all summer! Then about 5 years later Taylor developed a tumor around her liver and died from it rupturing! Another sad departure!! About a year later a friend of mine asked me if we wanted another basset hound. When I asked the circumstances she said that her friend, our vet., had a basset that someone dropped off at the office to be euthanized because his mother got sick and nobody wanted him. When I asked what his name was she said "Chester". Well, needless to say I knew he was coming home with me!! He was older - 10. And for a year and a half we had Ellie Mae and Chester.

What a pair they made. They would play in the backyard and have a ball together out on the boat! What we didn't know about Chester was that he had a bad back. We got him through a couple of bad episodes of his back going out on him. But then around New Years 2008 our dog sitter said that she couldn't get him up the step into the house. She had to lift him. Well I knew it was his back again and thought I would just get him to the vet when we got home. Unfortunately though it was much worse and finally in Feb. he could no longer walk. Even though we only had him a short time, we had all bonded so well. We all miss him terribly. We laugh about his antics out in the backyard.

I absolutely love rescuing animals, but especially basset hounds!! Now I'm looking for another male to bring home. I wouldn't do it any other way than adopting a rescue.