Daisy, my bassett hound love.
Guess which hound dog breed is my favorite of the hound dog breeds? Easy answer, indeed. And, as is often the case, this is due to my long positive relationship with a great representative of the breed. Daisy, ‘my’ Bassett Hound Dog Girl was all that! She was a great family dog. And very well socialized with people and dogs. Years after knowing her, I remembered that I had met her in her youth at Larz Anderson Park in Brookline while out with Szap. Daisy was running full tilt boogie down the hill to say hi to all the dogs…her gorgeous ears flowing back like the straps on a WWII fighter pilot’s hat while flying topless. Fast forward several years and I came up with a little jingle that described those ears, in that mode– ‘the wind in the ay from chickabay’… straight from a Jodie Foster film, Nell. And, I gave her a middle name ~ Daisy Mae!
Daisy wasn’t perfect but, she sure was charming! Her Mom said she had everyone in the house trained… I witnessed this ‘control’ as a short cluster of bassett hound barks that immediately sent Mom to the cupboard to get her a treat. Not a problem at all as just one-half treat would satisfy (I have no idea how many times a day this sequence took place…). The only problem I ever had with her was about competition over ‘food’. It just happened once or twice and from then on, I was on the lookout for that head up, air scenting posture that indicated, ‘something nasty (my perspective)/yummy delicious (Daisy’s perspective) is just over yonder’. It wasn’t so much that she would roll in it or eat it, but that she would defend it from any dog who came into her personal space… or that of her ‘quarry’. For that, I nicknamed her ‘crocodile dog’ so, you understand why I was so diligent about cutting her off and redirecting her attention to me before she really even started to go for it . I didn’t ever think of this behavior as problem behavior. Afterall, a Bassett Hound has a certain set of skills bred in so that anyone choosing this breed should expect a strong response when on the scent.
What else about the breed and this representative of the breed? Well, Bassetts are also thought to be a very friendly breed. Check. And, a challenge to train. Not when one uses food and positive reinforcement dog training methods! And, never to be off leash. Wrong again! Where appropriate, Daisy was always off leash. She spent hundreds of hours in the woods with her family and with me. They tend to become overweight. Daisy’s waistline never expanded until just before the end. She was very well cared for. Bassetts frequently have serious ears problems. In her last year, Daisy had recurrent ear, skin and eye problems. Bassetts live ten to twelve years. Daisy was 13.5 years when she left us. Still not long enough…
I’ve seen dogs do some funny and sometimes surprising things. So much so that I’ve had a hard time convincing friends that I wasn’t making it up. Daisy and Szap did this ‘song and dance’ thing so many times that it was amazing that only I got to see them do it. It went like this… Szap would lie down in the grass – an invitation I guess – and Daisy would beeline it to him, stop about 6 feet away, play bow then bark . He’d return the favor of barking. She’d run around him, stop – play bow – bark. He’d run around her, stop – play bow – bark. This would go on for 3 or 4 minutes. Not one other dog ever tried to join in. I recall a few of them watching the loud dizzying spectacle 🙂 ! I know that I never saw Szap do this with any other dog. It was their dance and theirs alone. The sound of their voices is now, a chorus dream. Oh, and the surprising thing I saw Daisy do? Eat a raw potato after sniffing it out of a luggage bag… The not so surprising thing? That she and Szap had their own special relationship. They were constants in one another’s lives for almost 10 years.
Does Szap know she’s no longer here? I think so. Daisy’s sister, Rosie, a black shepherd cross, knows Daisy is not here anymore. Rosie now snuggles with him in my van as Daisy often did. Perhaps the two of them knew things were changing for Daisy in those last days. Hemangiosarcoma came on quickly and took her away swiftly. We loved her dearly and miss her intensely. Good bye old friend.