Gumption: Meet Rolo

I don't think you two have had a proper introduction.

Meet Rolo.

This is our two year old, so sweet, goofy, left-pawing (I'll explain in a bit), so-adorable-I-can't-take-it basset hound. I have featured him sporadically on the blog, but plan to do so more often, so I figured you needed a complete introduction.

Rolo was an engagement gift from my husband and when G got him, he looked like this:

I wish I had more photos of him as a puppy to show you, but they are all buried in my external hard drive somewhere. But he was just the most floppy, scrumptious thing you'd ever have seen! He's grown so much since then, but has seemed to level out.

I have to admit: although I absolutely adored him when we got him, I was a bit intimidated by the timing. (And I am sure I'm not the first to say that puppies are a bit frustrating at times...the peeing, the chewing, the pooping, the peeing, the chewing, the pooping, etc.) But now, I honestly cannot imagine our little family without him. But before I gush any more about Rolo, I think I need to explain: why bassets.

Basset hounds are the only kind of dog my family has ever had. My parents rescued one when they were first married. They named her Candy. Unfortunately, they had to give Candy away when my mom was pregnant with me because my mom started developing allergies towards her. (So sad!)

Then, when I was in primary (elementary) school, my parents rescued another basset (notice how many times "rescuing" comes up...they're a wandering breed) as a present for me. I named her Hershey. (Since my parents had previously named their basset Candy, I wanted to keep with the candy theme.) Hershey had a long and wonderful life - it was actually so cool to see her transform from being terrified of humans (we think she was abused when we got her), to absolutely loving them - and then went to doggy heaven around my sophomore year (grade 10) in high school.

Then, in our sadness over Hershey's passing, we decided to get another basset - a puppy. This was the first time we got a basset NOT from a rescue group or the pound. It could be coincidence, but this basset has (I'm embarrassed to say) been our least favorite; and I say this as lovingly as possible. She is moody, greedy, and lazy (and we think a runt of the litter); and this next factor is our fault, but we think her name has something to do with it. Somehow, we convinced ourselves to break the candy theme when we were naming her and called her Ginger. Then after it was decided and done, a friend told us it sounds like a stripper. And it kind of does. This is Ginger now:

To be fair, this was Ginger as a puppy…

So then, in our subconscious frustration over Ginger, we rescued another basset! This time, we hit the jackpot! We went back to the candy theme and named him Heath. Heath is unbelievably happy (we say that with him, everyday is Saturday and every night is Friday night), sweet, goofy, and dirty. He's like pig-pen from Charlie Brown. Heath and Ginger are still doing well and are with my parents and little brother in the US.

This is Heath and Ginger now (I know Heath doesn't look too happy here but I promise he always is. :)