The Love Dogger

He was a surprise for the boys.


24 hours after arrival to his new home!

 It was a good time for our family to have a dog again. We knew we wanted a Basset, and so we began watching Craig's List ads, the paper, and checking online at Basset Rescue sites. We made a lot of inquiries, but nothing panned out. Until Gilbert.

We found him through a Craig's list ad. His owner loved him a lot. She spoke of him and I could tell her heart was all tangled up in his long ears and his over-sized feet and his love-me eyes. I totally understood. I've been tangled up in all of that before myself. She had gotten him as a little pup. He was eight. She was married now with a newborn and a toddler. Her husband was in the military and they had to move and just weren't sure that taking Gilbert with them was the best thing to do for him.

I told her of my own love for Bassets. Told her of the boys and all the room out here for a dog to follow his nose. She told me it sounded wonderful but she just wasn't sure yet. We agreed to talk in a week. All the while, the boys had no idea. We didn't want them to be disappointed if it didn't work out, and we just really wanted to surprise them if it did.

We got a sitter for the evening, went out for supper at a nice Mexican place near the lake, and then drove out to meet Gilbert at the farm. Gilbert was eager to have company and sang us a welcome greeting as only a Basset can do! He was everything I imagined. His owner was a warm-hearted woman and when he jumped into our Explorer, I knew I was taking a part of her with us.

The boys were definitely surprised and it was love at first sight.

At first there were some ground rules Gilbert had to learn. The first and unspoken rule was that I loved dogs more than Hubby did. Gilbert decided that needed to change.

 The next rule that Gilbert needed to learn was that furniture was for people and not for dogs.

Ok fine. But no sleeping on the beds.

Well, needless to say, Gilbert wasn't a "rules" kind of dog. He was a "people" kind of dog.

He didn't mind that we had names for him. Names like Big Bad Basset.

Gilly-Berto.

And Love Dogger.

He was the Love Dogger.

Gilbert was taken from us tragically on Friday afternoon.

We miss him.