Little Miss Beatrice is doing well and settling in to our wonderful if not hectic family life. The only problem we seem to be having is when it rains. When we purchased our little bundle of joy, I did some serious reading and research on her breed. All the websites and books that I read say that the Bassett Hound is "Water Resistant", "Weatherproof", "Water rolls right of their coats". This is why many hunters use them for tracking prey.
I THINK NOT! Although Little Miss B likes to go for the occasional swim with Mr. P in the pool, she absolutely DETESTS the rain. And in New England, that is pretty much what you get A LOT of the time. Our little ritual in the rain goes a little something like this.
I say, "Do you need to go potty?" Miss B responds with a wagging of the tail and runs to the door. Out we go. Little Miss B hits the ground running, only to stop abruptly, look up at the sky and make a beeline for the cover of the front porch. When I pick her up and place her in the yard, yet again saying, "Go potty", she then runs UNDER the front porch and looks at me with the sad Bassett eyes as if to say, "You are the absolute meanest mom in the world for making me get wet." After a few minutes of crawling through the mud, grabbing at whatever extremity on her little body I can reach and pulling her ever so gently (Right!) out from under the porch, we have a moment of World Wrestling Federation worthy squirming to get back to the front door. It is at this point that I head back into the house, wet, dirty and pissed to find an umbrella, the only one of which we have left is so small that it barely covers Little Miss B's nose, never mind the 2 of us together. So, out I go again, and while I stand soaking wet with umbrella over Little Miss B, she meanders through the yard, to find that perfect spot and FINALLY does her business. When finished, she looks up at me with that special look of disdain and again makes the mad dash back to the house. So dry, relieved and happy, she either lays in her bed or plays with a toy and waits for me to dry off, change clothes and return to pay her the attention she so determinedly feels she deserves. I need help, I am an enabler. I can't believe I actually hold an umbrella for my DOG!
So, as I figure out a way to get Little Miss B to do her business in the rain without cover, I will also spend some time figuring out where exactly I can file an official complaint of False Advertising regarding the weather worthiness of my new dog.
