An update

It has been so long since I posted to Jowls of Fury, I had nearly forgotten about it.  Hard to believe!  Me!  The hound who lived for this blog!  Well, my life has been very hectic since our last post.  I've had a lot on my hound mind.

First off, we were all very sad back in February.  Mr. Beau passed away, he had gotten very ill right after his last post and didn't want to worry anyone.  Daddy was out of town and when he returned he took Beau to the dog park one last time - we didn't get to go, but it was OK, because Beau deserved to have that one time to himself - and then he took him to the vet.  That's where Beau went to what they call the Rainbow Bridge.  I myself don't like to think about it.  Breezy took it kind of hard too, she hasn't slept well since.

RIP Mr. Beau

But life goes on.  Mr. Beau was a nice older gentlehound and he taught me a lot.  It was later in February that we got a ton, and I mean a TON, of snow.  It was higher than our heads!  Daddy cleared a path in the snow for us but it was still not very convenient to go outside and do our business.

Next time, make the path WIDER.  Bassets experience road rage.

Mama and Daddy bought a new houndmobile, we were very happy to see it had a TON of room to sprawl out.  That way we didn't have to hit each other in the legs while we slept.  But the windows are higher so it is difficult to look at the world going by.  Tradeoffs.

So much leg roooooooooooooooooooooom

We went to both our grandma's houses later in the year.  I always enjoy grandma's, because I get to see Max and Maggie.  It was about that time I noticed mama's tummy was getting bigger.  At first I thought she was just eating more food but she got really sensitive about me jumping on it.  Plus the visits to grandma's houses ended when we came home with a ton of stuff, and none of it for hounds.  Well, late one night Mama and Daddy disappeared.  They didn't come home at all that night.  I was very worried.  One of their friends came over to let us out and then put us in our crates.  Daddy came home the next morning to let us out and feed us...  and he smelled...  funny.  This went on for two days, then Mama came home.  Her belly had shrunk!  We assumed she went and saw the doctor about it and got fixed up.  But for the next month or so they left us alone a LOT.  Neither of them were working either!  And the both had that funny smell, I couldn't figure out what it was.

Well.  One day they brought home a new baby.  So that explains that.

You can see how happy we were

The new baby got all the attention.  We weren't allowed to lick him.  He takes up Mama's lap ALWAYS.  And he makes more noise than we do sometimes.  It has gotten a little better and Mama and Daddy are paying some more attention to us.  I guess it just took them a little while to get used to the baby.  He wakes them up every night to eat!  All he does it eat and poop and scream.  Like a stupid cat.

Yes we were all very happy to have this come to our house

So that pretty much brings you all up to date on what is happening at the Jowls of Fury household.  There are a few more things but I am going to let someone else talk about it.

The $125 fart

The other night Beau was acting sick.  He gets the lickies like Layla does sometimes.  Haven't heard of them before?  Well the lickies are when Layla gets a gas bubble in her tummy and walks around the house eating dirt and crud until she makes herself throw up.  Me, when I get a gas bubble, I stretch myself out until things work themselves out.  Usually I can do this without bothering anybody but sometimes I can't hide the fact.

What?  What sound?  I didn't hear anything

Well the rest of the dogs in the house are not so subtle.  Layla can't stretch as easily as me because she is so chunky, so she gets the lickies.  Breezy likes to pretend like she isn't gassy but she isn't fooling anyone.  And Beau is just too old to care.  But more often than not his lickies turn into worse tummy trouble because he breathes so hard that he sucks in a lot of air.  If he were to fart it all out at once it would probably blow the house up.  As it is he farts a lot and barks and coughs all at the same time.  It is not very endearing and he stinks the place up. So the other night when he started wheezing and his tummy was gurgling I thought 'Oh great here we go again'.  But instead he kept getting worse and worse until mama and daddy took him to the emergency vet.

I've been a lucky hound so far in life, I have only had to go to the regular vet.  The emergency vet sounds much worse.  We didn't get to ride along so I don't know what sort of torture they put Beau through.  But he came home good as new.  Daddy and mama were complaining that he just farted when they got there and it cost us $125.  I'm not sure if that is just a story they told to keep the rest of us quiet or if Beau really did just have such expensive gas.  But all I can think is how many treats $125 would've bought...  and it all went up in smoke...  sort of.

I think he just farted again

My recent visit to grandma's house

I guess I will write about Thanksgiving, since all the other hounds are too busy sleeping to do any real blogging.  It is a shame that an old hound like me has to take the time to do the work that younger hounds should be doing.  It wasn't like this in my day.

We went to grandma's house for Thanksgiving and got to see the family.  I was happy to see everyone again, but I did not care for the long car ride.  Breezy is always a bit of a drama queen and makes a big fuss if anyone bumps into her.  She needs to get over herself.

Drama queen

There is all kinds of wildlife at Grandma's, both inside and out.  There are lots of cats and dogs there, and most of them are polite enough to leave me alone.  Grandpa builds me my own personal ramp when I'm there.  I like it, but it is a bit of a challenge to go down due to how slippery it can be.  It is even worse in the snow.  And we did get a little snow, and all the dogs had fun in it.  I'm not much of a snow hound being a dignified southern basset gentleman.  We didn't get that much snow where I'm from.

Layla is built for this stuff

Of course the other hounds all went ballistic and ran all over the place.

Rosco has lost his potential dignified basset status because of this picture

Layla and Breezy behaving very unlady-hound-like

This is how a dignified hound does it

We all had a good time, but we eventually had to go back home.  But we will see grandma's family again before too long.

Son of the Christmas Pig Monster

I had not realized it was Christmas time again.  Normally you get a warning like snow or cold weather but it has been pretty warm and there has been no snow.  Daddy killed a deer and has killed some ducks so we know it was fall, but I mean we were at the dog park only a few weeks ago!  But Christmas time means Christmas Pig Monster time.  I was really happy last year because the duct tape job that mama and daddy did to patch him up did not hold up so well and they had to throw him away.  Life seemed to be much safer. But then they started dragging out Christmas time stuff, and like any safety-minded hound, I got a little concerned.  You just never know.

 What are you putting up this year?  It isn't...  pig-related, is it?

Well, I am sorry to report that they bought ANOTHER Christmas Pig Monster.  I call him 'Son of the Christmas Pig Monster'.  He is just as evil and stupid as his evil and stupid father.  They put him out there this morning.

Damn it

I was not a happy hound.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The horror

Just too tired!

We are officially just too tired to post.  It was a long day filled with great grandma's house, chasing kitties and car rides.  We shall return after some much needed beauty rest.

The worst part about summer is the flies

Summer is not very much fun when you get right down to it.  Yes it is warmer and you don't have to worry about several feet of snow, and yes the dog park is easier to get to, and yes there are things like hamburger cookouts and visits to grandma's houses.  But there are bad parts too.  It gets really hot sometimes, and we can't go to the dog park as much when it gets really hot because Beau is old and daddy is lazy.  We don't even get to stay out in the yard very much.  And hamburger cookouts are more fun for people than for hounds because we don't get to eat as much as we would like.

But the worst part about summer is the flies.  They are stupid little bugs that fly into the house when the door opens and they land on your food and buzz against the window.  I would really like to eat them but they are too fast to catch usually.  And there are tons of them out there!  I don't know if they breed better in the heat or what but every time you go out they buzz around your head to remind you they are still there.

I hate you guys

But flies outside are nothing compared to flies inside.  Inside they draw the attention of mama and daddy, and they try to kill them.  They are faster than I am but they use a rolled up newspaper to squash them.  Rolled up newspapers are also used on bad dogs.  I wasn't a bad dog but they got used on me before I came to live with mama and daddy, and it reminds me of life before them.  I don't like those reminders.  It makes me shake and worry that I am going to get swatted instead of the flies.  I know they aren't going to swat me - at least I hope they don't (sometimes I get my rump swatted when I am being stubborn but it is not mean and they just use their hands instead of a rolled up newspaper) - but still it just makes me scared.  So, I am hoping the flies all go away soon.

No thanks

Beauregard the Dignified Southern Basset goes to the dog park

So today was another awesome day in the JoF household.  Mama came home early from work and whispered the words that every hound loves to hear, "Let's all go to the dog park."

Now the younger hounds went all crazy and started whining, barking and acting very undignified.  I, myself, let a few woofs to voice my approval and then waited patiently for Mama to put my collar on.  Then we all loaded up in the BUV (Basset Utility Vehicle).  The youngin' were acting all crazy hanging out the windows looking ridiculous.

Someone needs to teach these hound some manners!

This how they should behave!  I'm a dignified Southern basset waiting patiently to leave.

When we arrived at the park, we met a nice man named Joe and his cool blue tick hound Capella.  Of course Rosco and Layla had to embarrass me by chasing a blabrador.

I on the other hand walked around introducing myself to the other dogs at the park.

How do you do kind sir? My name is Beauregard.

I traveled all over the park making new friends with dogs and people alike.  I also made sure to correct any undignified behavior that I saw.

I managed to spread the word about how to be dignified to many dogs while at the park.  Mama just needs to bring me a soapbox next time so I can command the attention I deserve.

After educating as many dogs as I could, I decided that it was time for a drink and to head back home.

Now young Mr. Rosco seems to have the potential to become a dignified basset hound.  

Here he is in his handsome hound pose.

The lady hounds on the other hand chose to ignore Mama when she called them. Ms Breezy was so uncooperative that she didn't even get her picture taken at the park.

Here is Ms Layla paying no mind to her Mama.  Very rude!

I decided to let the other hounds know I was leaving with a few barks and then started walking toward the gate.

Mama insists that you all see how well I can walk since the big ole tumor is gone.

All in all it was a good day! I met new people and dogs and was able to educate the dog masses about dignified Southern basset hound behavior.

Stupid TV Commercial Sunday # 40

OK so this commercial has been on for awhile, but it is actually kind of funny.  Not because the dogs are right at the end - it's funny because it makes dogs look stupid.  I mean c'mon, where are those fierce fangs we hear so much about?  And NO amount of doggie treats can combat their horrid dragon breath.

You guys look really stupid

OK OK OK I can't pretend it isn't funny!  And there is a website that lets you try it on your own animals.  So we tried it out on our dogs, because dentures on cats isn't funny at all. If you have stupid dogs in your house you want to try this on you can go to this site.  But please note: we didn't do it to Beau, because putting dentures on a dog old and decrepit enough that he might actually need his own dentures just isn't cool.

First here is Breezy, because she always chases us.

Looking good there you dippy dog

Next is Layla, that blimp of a basset.  She likes to chase us too but she also takes up a ton of space on the couch, space that could be otherwise occupied by us cats.

Laugh it up blimpy

And finally is Rosco, all blinged up because of his obsession with GQ models and showing off his man region.  And Santa hat.

You have something in your teeth...  bwahaha...

This has been the best Stupid TV Commercial Sunday ever!

It's my Gotcha Day!

Yup one year ago today I got to go and live with my new mama and daddy! I left behind the living in the garage thing, and got to go to a place where I got lots of lovins' right away. Daddy and I sat on the couch together and he petted me and told me how beautiful I was!

Yes I know, but go ahead and keep telling me

My new hound brother and sister were not very friendly at first and to be honest I was kind of mean to them as well - but it was a very stressful time and I didn't know what to do! Besides Rosco can be a real jealous baby sometimes.

If he sniffs my butt one more time I swear I'll...

But now I get to live in a place where there are lots of belly rubs, treats, Chicken McNuggets, and couches to lay on.

Unfortunately daddy has to lay on the floor.

I also get to dig in the blankets and hide from everyone!

I am invisible in my top-secret basset fortress

So it has been a great year! Plus I got a special nacho chip for my Happy Gotcha Day treat! So as long as the Christmas Pig Monster stays dead for the rest of all time it is smooth sailing for this basset hound girl!

Rescue Me # 5

As you all know we are big proponents of rescues here at Jowls of Fury. Recent studies have shown that 75% of all the hounds at Jowls of Fury are rescues. Technically 100% of us are because Rosco was rescued from not having a mama as good as our mama when mama went and got him. Well our newest rescue Beauregard reminded me the other day that we need to do another Rescue Me hound, since his story got so much attention from all our basset friends. He also wanted me to say thank you to all the people who have donated money to his Chip-In account. Mama and daddy are talking about taking him to the vet for surgery to remove some of his lumps so he won't breathe so hard when he walks.

I wish him luck with that. I personally hate vets.

Anyway, this week's Rescue Me hound is named Busby. Mama picked him out. And ohhhh my lady basset heart skipped a beat when I saw him. Being a red and white hound I am different colored than all the other Jowls of Fury hounds, and it sometimes makes me wish for another red and white hound to snuggle up with. The tricolors just don't get it. Well Mr. Busby is like an exotic foreign hound with his gorgeous mahogany coat! Plus he has very soulful deep looking eyes. Go see what I mean by checking out his page. He is a hound that is being fostered by Guardian Angel Basset Rescue, who we have blogged about many times when we go to their waddle.

Basset 500 hounds are the best

And I must say that while rescue hounds are great there comes a time when you can have too many bassets. We are not at that point yet here at Jowls of Fury but another hound might be too much. Still I am glad we rescued Beau, he seems like a nice hound for being so old and he definitely needs our love. I have not tried to snuggle with him yet though, I much prefer to lay on the couch with mama and daddy instead of sleeping on the floor. Hopefully his vet visit will make him jump better so he can sleep up on the couch with the rest of us (except Breezy, she does not like to snuggle - I wonder if she is really a basset hound?).

Super Beau Sunday

So today I've high jacked Bunsen's Stupid TV commercial Sunday to talk about something called the "Superbowl." It happens once a year, Mama says, but I don't get all the hype. She says that men in outfits take a ball and run it across the grass and that it goes on for 3 hours. Now I've run around with a ball, even chased a ball but I can tell you that gets old FAST. I could think of something more fun to do for 3 hours, like napping. Now that's a sport a basset can get into!

Our friend Worm over at Life As I Know it: by Worm, the basset hound thinks it's called SuperFoodbowl Sunday. He says its where all of our favorite basset foods get put into a big bowl and we all get to eat it. That sound like my kind of bowl! So far tonight Mama and Daddy have had pizza with bacon on it and they haven't shared! So much for favorite basset foods.

But Mama tells me that today is special for another reason. Today is when we will be meeting out new foster brother, Beau. She said Beau is coming all the way from the East coast and that it's a longer trip than going to our Grandma's in Michigan. Wow that's a long drive! Mama told me that Beau is a special dog because his person died. I would be really sad if Mama or Daddy died. Beau's extended family weren't "dog people" and they didn't want him. I don't understand how anyone couldn't love a dog. I mean I'm the bestest basset in our house (don't tell Layla or Breezy). Everyone loves me! I'm sure that Beau is just as lovable. Anyway he had to live in a garage (kind of like Breezy) until Mama said he could come live here. Two nice ladies named Nancy are driving Beau so he can come live with us. So I guess for Beau today is Super Beau Sunday.

P.S. Mama and Daddy said because Beau is older he has to do to the vets for a check up, to get his toes cut off (because they are really really long), get his ears cleaned, and get shots......after that I stopped listening. Anyhoo this will cost lots of money and so she set up a Chip in for those who would like to help contribute to Beau's vet care. Check out the Chip in Link on our page if you want to help.

Happy National Peanut Butter Day

What a terrific day it is! It's National Peanut Butter Day! To celebrate daddy made some cookies for mama! Except they are no-bake cookies, and mama actually had the idea. She is not feeling well and wanted some chocolate! Chocolate is something we hounds would like to try very much but they tell us it is toxic and would make us sick. I've had enough of being sick thank you very much, even if you do get cookies that way!

So daddy got the recipe book out and followed it carefully. We paraphrased below.

What you need for no-bake cookies:

- 1 stick of margarine (yum)

- 1/2 cup milk

- 2 cups sugar (to bounce off the walls)

- 3 tbs cocoa (the forbidden... fruit I guess)

- 1/2 cup peanut butter (the ingredient of the hour!)

- 3 1/2 cups oatmeal (not very tasty)

First you melt the margarine and add the milk and sugar. Then you stir in the cocoa and wait for it to boil. While you wait for it to boil you check your computer sites because you get bored. Then you boil it for 2 minutes, but curse when you forget to start the timer and just hope that it has been almost 2 minutes. Then you add the peanut butter, but you curse some more because it is hard to get 1/2 cup of peanut butter out of the measuring cup. Daddy I would have helped if you had asked! But nooooo, no hounds allowed in the kitchen. Then you add the oatmeal and stir it really good, making lots of noise and teasing poor starving hounds with cookies they cannot eat. Then you drop the stuff onto wax paper in little cookie bits so it will cool and make the whole house smell like cocoa no-bake no-hounds-allowed cookies.

It's not fair. But daddy redeemed himself - he gave us some peanut butter to celebrate National Peanut Butter Day.

This is the best holiday ever

Dear Cats

Dear Cats,

Hello! This is your best friend Breezy. All I want to do is just play with you, but most of you seem to think that I am going to kill and eat you. This is not the case at all! I merely want to chase, slobber, chew upon, and eventually maul each and every one of you. See, that's not so bad, is it? Perhaps what you need is some time to be around me when I am not so awake to get used to me. Please refer to the video below for some tips. I think this solution will benefit us all. I look forward to working with you.

Love,

Breezy

I hate sweetgum trees

I see that many of our blog followers enjoyed the sexy basset spread the other day! We were glad to see so many people happy to check out our hounds, especially our rescued hounds. However it almost didn't happen! I was just getting ready to blog that night when a terrible thing happened to me!

I went out in the yard to do my business so I had no interruption while blogging about all our sexy hounds. I was so excited about that blog that I had to romp and run around the yard. Well, I stepped on something hard and knobby and it really hurt. I stopped immediately so I could inspect my paw and make sure it was OK, and I realized that whatever it was had stuck in my foot! I wasn't happy, because it was my bad foot on top of it all. So I slowly limped back to the house, worried that my injury would prevent me from honoring our sexy hounds. Rosco and Breezy had already got inside, and daddy was hollering for me to hurry up (he is so impatient sometimes!). I finally got in and daddy realized I had hurt my paw. I bet he felt bad for rushing me. He better have.

I was so worried at that point, because beautiful hounds like me don't like to be laid up waiting for their paw to heal. I certainly did not want to visit the vet again, after my last two experiences. So I laid on my back so daddy could check on my foot and fix it and hopefully rub my belly afterwards. Well, I may not have mentioned it before but daddy is a doctor. He's not a vet kind of doctor though, he studied lizards or some silly thing - this was all before my gotcha day so I don't know the details, Rosco can tell you sometime - but he knows enough to fix feet I guess, because he pulled the thing out. Then he showed it to me and said 'Layla this is a sweetgum ball, they come off trees. Mama and I hate these things.' Well I hate them too, I'm the one that had it in her paw!

The culprit fruiting body

So I decided to educate myself so I know how to avoid that problem in the future. It turns out sweetgum balls are horrible things and sweetgum trees are hateful, terrible plants that exist to drop stupid little spiky balls all over a hound's yard and make it nearly uninhabitable. A sweetgum tree can drop lots of these stupid little things! And they persist for a long time. Daddy explained to me that he and mama set the yard on fire not too long ago (that was another terrible day, they wouldn't let us out of our crates and the yard stunk and was all black afterwards) to get rid of dead leaves and other stuff, but the sweetgum balls were still there. Upon learning this I asked daddy to chop the tree down, but he explained that it was in the neighbor's yard and we can't cut it down. So I have decided to step lightly in my own yard and bark at the neighbor at every opportunity for having such a dumb and basset-unfriendly tree.

And these keys are way too small!

But I might be a little too dramatic here. My foot was OK after that and daddy gave me a treat for the trouble I went through and told me I was beautiful and that I would be OK. That calmed me down, and then he said 'Layla we have sexy bassets that need our attention'. And then we wrote the blog!

But I still hate sweetgum trees!

The best place on Earth

Have I mentioned how I love the dog park? I know I talked about it before, but lately mama and daddy have been taking us there every day. We get to do loads of fun stuff once we get there, and we are getting pretty good at recognizing the driveway to the dog park.

Yes he really is that whiny

Once you get inside the dog park you get to run around off-leash. It is totally fenced in so you don't have to worry about your people wandering off and forgetting you. There are lots of interesting smells and you can hang out with all the cool hounds.

This thing has been peed on a lot

For two days in a row we met another basset hound at the dog park. Now usually it is the longer-legged hounds that are there with their people letting them throw the ball around, and that can be difficult to keep up with if you are a short-legged hound like me.

This is patently unfair

Anyway we met more basset hounds recently. Her name was Butters. There was another hound named Drago but we did not get a picture of him. He was a red and white colored hound like me and he liked to run like me also. Too bad we missed his picture daddy! But Butters was a cute hound, although she was young and little.

Rosco meeting Butters

Even though the long-legged hounds can outrun me, if we team up as bassets we are able to hold our own and even make them think twice before laughing at us.

There we showed that dumb lab who was boss

I have to hand it to Rosco, he really does a good job of running and howling at the same time.

How does he do that anyway?

Even Breezy, who is usually such a bossy hound, had a good time (and I think she found a boyfriend named Copper).

She showed him who was boss

This little dog was very friendly

But eventually the fun at the dog park has to end, because we get hungry and need to get mama and daddy home before they catch a cold. So we go back to our house and have dinner. Then we settle down for our customary post-dinner nap.

It is hard work, being a hound

Another Christmas Pig Monster

I thought with Christmastime ending that the monsters would be gone, at least for a year. But as they were putting things away the other day I noticed something. Another box, with another monster in it.

He looked like this

What is a hound girl supposed to do? Sure they are locked away in the garage in boxes, but I know next year there will be two of them instead of just the one. I fretted over this for a few days. Then I had another worry piled on top of me - it turns out there is an entire race of Christmas Pig Monsters, and they laugh at you from the tops of rickety buildings and rocks and stuff.

This is even worse

I was pretty concerned about what next year might hold. If we get enough Christmas Pig Monsters they will probably try and come inside and steal my warm spots and food. I am more than ready to kill them all but I am only one hound and many pigs could overwhelm me! Rosco and Layla are no help, they just lay there and sleep. If we are going to defend this house from them it is up to me.

So I did some online research. It turns out that Christmas Pig Monsters (and non-holiday pig monsters as well) have a weakness. Angry little birdies evidently kick their butts.

I'm glad these guys are on our side. The little yellow one is the best

So it turns out we have a bird feeder in the front yard by the door! And the cats are always watching the birds eat. I would be pretty angry if I had cats watching me eat the entire time so I'm sure those birdies are pretty angry too! So I guess we are safe. And if any Christmas Pig Monsters get past the angry birdies, I will be ready to bite them once they try and get inside. In the meantime, I am going to take a nap.

Rescue Me # 2 (and a year in review)

We have decided to end the year here at Jowls of Fury on a high note. So let us introduce you to our second 'Rescue Me' hound.

His name is Livingston, and he is being taken care of by Hounds Haven Basset Rescue of Iowa. He is a 4 year old handsome boy who is looking for a forever home and a gotcha day to celebrate forever and ever.

How can you not love this face

My lady hound heart got all aflutter when I read his page. Mr. Livingston was found in rural Missouri - where I live! - running around as a stray dog. He had a really bad eye infection and the vet determined that his right eye doesn't produce any tears. This means he needs to have eye drops put in them to keep it moist and healthy. My heart breaks for this poor hound, because I hate medicine and the very idea of them putting it in my eyeball makes me want to bite someone. Livingston looks very rugged and in need of a lady hound's attention in that photo, squinting with his one eye that needs the eye drops. He is also afraid of people but loves little kids, kind of like Breezy. This means he was probably abused as a puppy. If he were around I would give him kisses and take care of him. But I'm sure he will find a good home with such a sweet face. If you would like to know more about Livingston you can find his page here, and you can find Hound Haven's page here.

So now on to the year in review! We have had a really busy year here at Jowls of Fury. We started new traditions like Famous Basset Hound Friday, and the other dumb ones that cats do. We tried to win prizes for Mango Minster but we weren't successful. We survived Snowpacolypse and we gave Breezy her gotcha day (although I didn't like her much at first). We had to deal with extra cats coming in the house and then we had to take the blog back from evil cats. We got to see our Michigan family this spring, and we got to go swimming at great-grandma's house and see our other family there. We didn't care for the swimming part. We had a basset GQ page (and hopefully we'll have another one soon), and we went on many car rides. Unfortunately I had to go to the vet's twice this year and I hope I never have to go again. I discovered how tasty cicadas were even if they were really noisy, and I rediscovered my dislike of daddy's walking habits. We began our HOSA dog training and we went to our favorite basset party event in the world, the waddle! We moved into a new house, one without so many steps! We visited a new dog park and we will be visiting it a lot in the future.

Oh and check out this really neat basset statue we got from Aunt Melissa, Uncle Zane, and puppy cousins Chopper and Aksel.

We have good puppy cousins

Plus grandma got me some new toys for Christmas, a new squeaky pig and a new ball.

Rosco is trying to steal my ball

Oh and Breezy is a big wuss about snow, it is the best part of winter.

I am in my element

But at some point you get cold and have to run inside for the heat!

OK enough of this, basset power activate!

So all in all it was a good year. We had our ups and downs but we ended it with a nice time and lots of love and family. We would be remiss not to remember the hounds we lost this year, so we dedicate our last blog post of 2011 to our hound friends (like Woody, Romeo, Cleo, and Flash) who are at the bridge waiting for their people to join them. If we forgot any other hounds who went to the bridge this year we apologize - please leave their name in a comment, we don't want to leave anyone out.

Famous Basset Hound Friday # 42

Today's famous basset hound Friday is a little late because it has been a busy day in JoF household. This morning started bright and early, when we woke Momma so she could make us breakfast and get preparation started for today's honorary basset hound. Today is Daddy's birthday and Layla, Breezy and I decided he could be today's famous (almost) basset hound.

So bright an early, we urged Momma to get under way (and after much grumbling and some caffeine, she did). The first step in the Daddy birthday plan was to assemble his big new grill. Grandma and grandpa thought Daddy should have a safer way to cook steaks that didn't involve matches, lighter fluid and charcoal so they gave him the great big box (which Momma said contained the grill). Well after many hours and a couple naps (for us hounds) the big box turned into a big shiny grill. I was very proud of how well Momma put it together and being that I am a gentleman hound will not divulge any of the "colorful" words Momma used when putting it together.

Here it is in all it's assembled glory. Any Daddy would be proud.

Next it was on to making Daddy his birthday cupcakes. He asked Momma to make Apple Pie cupcakes with cinnamon buttercream frosting. Now as the resident HOSA dog, I had to make sure that Momma was safe in the kitchen.

This work area is HOSA dog approved. Proceed with cupcake baking!

Shortly after Momma baked the cupcakes, we welcomed Daddy home in grand fashion.

The rest of the evening included making dinner, watching movies and giving Daddy the card we picked out just for him.

We know its not a basset but it's still a pretty cool card.

So here's to Daddy, our honorary famous basset hound. Happy Birthday Daddy!

Here is Daddy, "Grillin' like a Villain!"