bubbad

As a puppy Grace was the best. She never chewed anything,housetrained easily,like to spend days curled up with Snitt the cat and was just a very sweet girl.When she got to be about two I realized there were two things she absolutely hated,one was the guy who read the electric meter and the other was snakes. The poor meter guy had to come inside our gate to read the meter and if I wasn't aware of him in the neighborhood and Grace was in the yard she would not let him in the gate. She would go ape shit on him.I do believe she would have bitten him given the chance. Sometimes he would bring dog treats but nothing he did could win her over. He seemed nice enough but who knows. I never saw her go after anyone else before this guy or anyone after him for the rest of her life. When you live in Florida you get use to all the wild life,it is everywhere. We lived in a country club area but you could find everything from Egrets to rattlesnakes. Foutunately,we never had a run-in with a rattlesnake but there were lots of black snakes.When I would be gardening I would usually run across one ,it scared me for a moment but it would usually take off. Once I let Grace out, she ran to the gate and a three foot black snake flew through the grass,up a pole on the fence and literally flew into the air about 4 feet then dropped to the ground on the other side. She was within an inch of grabbing him. The one day a snake got into the pool area,I was doing something inside ,heard her barking,looked out the window,saw the snake she had cornered and ran out calling her so she would leave him alone. Grace took her eyes off the snake for a split second to look at me and the thing whipped around and bit her shoulder,as quick as that was Grace whipped around and bit the snake. I heard bone crunch ,she was not fooling around. She came to me and I got her in the house. I went over to the damaged snake,she had broken it's back, but it was still quite annoyed. I took a rake ,lifted the snake up and dropped him on the other side of the fence,he gimmped off into the long grass. I don't remember seeing as many after that. Photo of pool is where Grace had the snake cornered.

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Sophie.12

Sophie always seemed to bark particularly loudly when meter men arrived Once I allowed them in and she knew I was ok with them she was fine and all over them and most of the time they were all over here too - bassets are hard to resist. I always put it down the the hat and brightly coloured uniforms they weer. But this just reminded me - when Sophie was less than 1, we had a neighbour from down the street knock on our door. A beautiful lady with lovely very fark coloured skin. Even when we let that lady in Sophie kept barking. The lady wore her hair in plaits in different directions all over her head - I never did work out whether it was the plaits or the lady's georgeous skin colour which spooked Sophie but she was very ... unsure during the entire time the lady was in the house.

Sime ago now my Aunty was at my house and the meter man arrived and said where's the girl and my Aunty assumed he was referring to my daughter explained my daughter was at school. Confused - the man said - I meant the dog. The man didn't remember my daughter but Sophie sure must have left a lasting impression on him Bassets are so good at doing this without even realising. They make everyone who comes in contact with them feel special without even trying.

Lightning&Stomps

I configured my invisible fence specifically so that the meter man could get to the meters but my dogs couldn't get to the meter man. It's worked out great for the meter man, but it confuses my house sitters to no end. And my greatest fear is that Lightning will one day come trotting in the house with a snake in his mouth. He's no hunter, so he'll have to think it's a chew toy or filled with peanut butter or something. I work for an African wildlife organization, and I had entertained the idea of moving over there with Lightning. But there are a ton of snakes over there--many of them deadly. The last thing I need is to worry about Lightning trotting into my hut with a black mamba in his mouth!

dreamons

I take the dogs frequently to run in the desert. Thankfully they haven't found any snakes so far. But one day as I let them out of the truck my phone rang. After answering it I looked down and saw a tail hanging from Maggies' mouth. I dropped the phone and pried open her mouth. A tiny mouse hopped out and ran about 2 feet before Yogi swooped in and grabbed it. The poor mouse was dead when I got it away from Yogi. That's why I sometimes call them killer 1 and killer 2.

Princess Buttercup

From the time Princess Buttercup was a puppy she has always had a thing for our landscapers. It's absolutely hilarious because she's not a fan of loud noises and gets skittish with all sorts of sounds. However those landscapers can be on the riding mower using a leaf blower in one hand and a weed wacker in the other & she still goes crazy!! She starts whining & whining and can't wait to go see them. Then again they loooove her too, and always stop to say hello and pet her belly! Who can resist those buttery soft ears?

Otis and Family

Otis was bit by a rattlesnake as a puppy. The breeder kept him an extra two months before making him available to us because she wanted to ensure he was going to make it. He's 3 now, and the fang marks on his front left knee are still very distinctive. He almost got the moniker "Snakebite" until my daughter vetoed it.