Humphries
My family adopted an elderly basset hound named Humphries about three years ago. I had contacted the NTBHR through the website. They mentioned that they had a couple of older Bassets and Humphries was the oldest,10yrs. old. I was definitely interested even though I knew he had a few health problems. We took our Basset, Fred with us to meet him. They got along together just fine. Humphries became attached so quickly to Fred and the whole family. He was just a big Baby! Loved to cuddle and have his ears rubbed. He loved his big soft overstuffed pillow we got him to sleep on. His eyesight worsened as well as his hearing this past year. He also developed a gum disease that I understand he had a few times before we got him. His hind legs were a bit wobbly and in November seemed to get worse. Our Vet tried everything to help him without doing surgery. He was too old and weak to go through a surgery. The week of Christmas he was unable to walk at all and his gum infection came back and he was unable to eat. There was nothing else we could do for him. It was heart breaking. We all loved him so much but at the same time we knew he was suffering. He was in so much pain and so frustrated because he couldn't get around. We had a wonderful three years with him, he didn't have all of these problems until the end. Our family spoiled him rotten! I have enclosed a couple of pictures of him I hope you will enjoy seeing. Kathy C. and family

Hobbit Hill Hercules
Died of Addison's disease May 27, 2001 Beloved companion of Stacey and Shawn Stewart

Scooter
My Scooter went to the Bridge on Friday, May 31, 2002. She had been my best friend & companion for over 10 years. A tremendous bed hog, she was a sucker for a pig's ear and a belly rub. She was a love bug - she knew my moods, and was always there for me with a "head rub" when I was down. Scooter had a seizure in late December, and had never been the same since. She lost a lot of weight, was generally disoriented, and was constantly walking in circles. She got progressively worse. However, that still didn't stop her from always offering a tail wag and an attempt to greet us when we came home. You were a great friend, Scoot-monk. I hope that I was able to show you half as much love as you showed me. I know you were suffering, and were trying to "hang in there" to make me happy. You are in a better place now, but I still miss you more than you'll ever know. You'll Always Be My Girl. Mary Kaspar Lewisville, TX

Velma/Virginia

Velma/Virginia/NTBHR Shuffle Queen, 2014
RIP 02/28/15

•    In 2012 NTBHR posted a foster request for a female basset from a Collin County shelter--we had fostered (our first) Marvin in 2010 and failed!  Her picture looked just like our Mabel and so we decided to try again.  We named her Velma.
•    Just like Marvin, we quickly decided Velma was the PERFECT basset hound and thought we’d be “foster failures” again.  After 4 months, how could we give her up?  She was laid back, well behaved, loved her walks, and got along immediately with our 3 resident bassets.
•    We took Velma to adoption events, meet & greets, and she was a hit. It made us laugh that people called her “Grandma.”  And yet, she was a leader (maybe she was a “wise old girl”) and so energetic.  One of our happiest memories was of her at a basset meet & greet, leading the pack, baying, and chasing a small dog like a rabbit!
•    An NTBHR old-timer, Mittie, helped to find Velma’s home with a previous adopter/ NTBHR supporter, Rick Gaydosik.  Velma became “Virginia” and was adopted on January 9, 2013.  
•    We missed Velma/Virginia and could have so easily kept her.  However, being “successful” fosters gave us the ability to foster several other bassets. 
•    And well, Virginia turned out to be a “big deal.”  She has the fame of being the 1st Queen of the NTBHR Shuffle!  A fitting legacy.
•    Life often does come full circle and two years after fostering, we had the blessing of caring for Virginia at the end of her life.  We were asked by Virginia’s owner (via Mittie again) to keep her while he went on vacation this past Christmas.  It was supposed to be for 10 days.  
•    Virginia had been steadily losing weight; her owner, Rick sent her with her preferred diet of chicken thighs and macaroni/cheese (Rick had been trying anything and everything).  His vet was in the process of medical workup; we also wondered if she was depressed because Rick’s other basset had died a few months earlier.
•    Sharing pictures/videos of Virginia with our dogs (she had more stimulation, contact, was eating better)-Rick asked us to consider more frequent visits and then asked if we would consider keeping her.  It didn’t take much thought – our answer was “Yes!”
•    Medical workup sadly revealed oral squamous cell cancer.  Virginia didn’t appear to suffer; she ate and went on her walks right up to the end.  Her quality of life was good; the morning she died, she couldn’t settle and we knew it was time.  It was one of our North Texas ice days.  Virginia died on the way to our vet – her time, her way.  We are beyond thankful for having the honor to foster her and to have her return to us, if only for a little while. 

Duncan

About 10 years ago I was given the great privilege of adopting Duncan, as soon as he was brought over to the house he knew he was at his forever home. He and my other hound Rusty were buddies from day one. When we lost Rusty, Duncan did not understand what happened to his buddy. Duncan gave me so much love .  The past couple of years was hard on Duncan he had to have so many tests done his spine had started to fuse which made his back legs not work so good and a couple of months ago we found out he had Cushing’s disease. I lost my beautiful Duncan on October 13^th 2016 he was 12.  I am so sad he was truly my buddy where ever I was Duncan was right there with me.  The first day after I lost him I walked out to the kitchen there was no Duncan to greet me I thought my heart was going to break in half. I loved you so much Duncan hopefully I will see you again.  Please give Buddy and Rusty, Barbie and Jake lots of drool and kisses. Please run free with no more pain all my Love Mama Judy Thank you to NTBHR and Julie Dorsey for bringing this beautiful hound into my life.