Monday 23 May 2011

Bassets. It takes all sorts.

I don't know if anyone remembers that Sting song where he has one bottle and throws it in the Ocean then finds to his relief and consternation that there are 100 million bottles washed up on the shore?

We felt a bit like that yesterday when we went to New York.


We've had Lily the French Basset Hound three years now and have NEVER seen another PBGV in all that time. If you are the only owner you have no idea whether all the little quirks and foibles are perfectly normal or if we are just being weird. Surely every PBGV doesn't travel around in a red plastic box in the front of the car? Surely they can't all be NEVER let off their leads? Do they ALL lie on their backs with their legs up in the air? 


Well yesterday we went to a National PBGV open day party near New York in Lincolnshire and had the bizarre experience of meeting dozens of "Lilys" in what felt like Planet Basset.






It was a relief to discover that very few were let off their leads and every single one had their own red plastic box in the front of their car so were able to talk to people who didn't look frightened or worried about our dog owning tales.






One person did look worried, however.


Step forward Master Clever Clogs the Tibetan Terrier. 


The sight of dozens of Lilys rather blew his mind, particularly when we bumped into the only Grande version Basset there who turned out to be called, er.... Oz. Even when he got first prize for oldest dog he was still nervous that the World had actually ended and he'd been sent to the wrong planet.

Lily came nowhere in the prettiest dog category but we all knew she should have won. Although the puppies were very cute, we did manage to come away with no more dogs than we arrived with.




10 comments:

Macy said...

Hard to go wrong in life if you always leave with the same number of dogs and children as you arrived with.
The puppies are so cute though....

Pat said...

Message in a bottle - I remember clearly.
The dogs are sweet. I didn't know Lincolnshire had a New York. I was thinking that's a lot of travelling.

Dave said...

I lived near it for many years, Pat, in Boston (the Pilgrim Fathers actually set sail from Boston, Lincs, originally, calling in at Plymouth before crossing the Atlantic).

Please stop sowing pictures of dogs. It makes me whistful.

Z said...

I wonder if they know they look alike.

Pictures of dogs make me wistful too. But I still like to see them, so please don't stop.

tony said...

I am not sure I would like to go to a Show where everybody looked like me.........

Sarah said...

Tee hee.

I would be terrified to go to a Patterdale Terrier gathering......if they all behaved like Tilly, it would be very dangerous !

What were PBGV's bred for....are they hunting dogs?

Annie said...

Lily was robbed.

PUPPIES!!

Rog said...

Macy: Actually Oz was more taken with the puppies than ex-single-mother Lil.

Pat: Going to a party in New York sounded quite hip!

Dave: we should organise a whist drive

Z: I haven't showed you the compound full of adult dogs waiting re-homing. Now they did look wistful....

Tony: sadly we left before the "dog looking most like owner" competition. Me and Oz were a shoo in for that.

Sarah: they might surprise you! PBGV's were hunting hounds in France I believe with rough coats to dive through brambles. Lily wouldn't hurt a fly.

Annie: well spotted! Judge should have gone to Specsavers.

Z said...

Not everyone can cope with the red plastic box and AWOL tendencies, then. Lily is so adorable that she's worth it, I'd say.

savannah said...

adorable!!! xoxo