Our favorite purebreed dog is the Basset Hound

by Elena
(Mississippi)

I have always favored purebred dog breeds over mixed breeds or mutts. For years it had always been my ambition to own my favorite purebreed dog, the basset hound.

Five years ago, my family was fortunate enough to become the owners of a very beautiful basset named "Atticus". Atticus was a joy from the moment we brought him home.

My husband and I could spend hours just watching him nose around the house on his short, fat legs. Atticus quickly became very attached to my husband and, to this day, is a certified "Daddy's Dog". He loves our whole family, but my husband is his favorite person. You can tell by the way he grins when my husband comes home from work. He gets this look on his face that we only see when he is around my husband.

I think it all began when my husband was playing on the floor with "Attie" when he was a little puppy. My husband was making barking sounds at Atticus, and for the first time we heard Atticus bark too! I think that moment convinced Atticus that my husband was just a big dog, like him, and from then on he was completely devoted to his master.

To this day, my husband will brag that he taught Atticus to bark. My first favorite memory of Atticus happened when he was about 7 weeks old. He was restless and so I let him get on the sofa and snuggle up with me late one night. The next thing I knew, it was six hours later and I awoke to the smell of puppy breath, as Atticus kissed me on the chin and whined at me. He had spent most of the night curled up on my chest. It was a sweet moment that I will never forget.

Atticus was our first basset hound, and in the next couple of years, we added 3 more bassets to our "herd". They are all males and each one is an AKC purebred dog. We are proud to say that two of them are older bassets adopted by us after being given up by their previous owners. Maybe we should get some female bassets and open our own kennel. We certainly love them enough to have many more bassets join our family.