Comments

1. Mary Bauer
   January 13th, 2010 | 10:20 pm

   I love how he waddles on through the door with tail wagging. He is soooo pleased he has opened the door and come into the next room. I love it!

2. Janet
   January 14th, 2010 | 1:29 am

   Those darn lever-handled doors! I wonder if he was taught to let himself (and his compadre) back in….! That would be a great ‘trick’!

   I have a lever-handled door from my kitchen into my garage. Thus far, only two Bassets in my home have figured out how to open it (thank goodness!). The first one was a foster Basset, Gidget. I came home from work one evening, waiting in the driveway as the garage door starts to go up, when all of a sudden 3 pair of eyes are in the headlights, and out come three hounds with the speed of a bullet! I flew out of the BUV, heart racing, wondering how in the world I was going to be able to capture THREE of them by myself, with no leashes in my hands?!

   Gidget was a bit timid, and when I called her name, she bellied up and was easily put in the backyard. My two, Jackie and Kim, were another story….they took off down the alley like they had just been shot out of a cannon! Each time I called their names, they would stop, look at me, then turn and run even further down the alley!

   I jumped back into the BUV and headed down the alley. The two escapees had exerted more energy than they had in awhile, so with tongues hanging out, drool dripping, they were now quite content to let me load them into the back of the BUV and drive them back home…..

   The second event happened just this past Saturday evening. Same scenerio, but I now had four Bassets shooting out underneath the garage door!

   One is 11 years old, and has wonderful recall – Max just hung around me. Two are the same culprits (Jackie and Kim) of event number one mentioned above – and Mom coming home means its usually chow time (and the chow is kept in the garage), so they didn’t go past the end of the BUV this time. The last one is the culprit behind this entire situation – Sophie is my Basset who I swear is a canine with ADHD!

   Since coming to live with us (me, the three Bassets, and my cat, Lincoln) the end of September, 2009. Sophie has kept me on my toes with more events than just opening the lever-handled door from the kitchen to the garage. Sophie has also:

   1. Stepped up on the hearth, on to the recliner, then to the end table, which allowed her to then go through the ‘pass through’ from the living room into the kitchen where she landed on the countertop, promptly turned over a small, closed bin full of cat food, knocked it onto the kitchen floor, then flew off the countertop to the floor and promptly ate the entire contents of said bin full of cat food. I have rearranged my living room furniture as well as put a baby gate in the ‘pass through’ so that I can continue to afford to feed my cat.

   2. Done the same process to get onto the kitchen cupboard AGAIN and eaten 2 bags full of homemade dog treats which I made during the holidays. The package was so pretty, too!

   3. Destroyed 3 Christmas present packages which were sitting in the middle of my dining room table. Yes, Sophie jumped onto one of the chairs and contorted herself until she was able to get onto the dining room table.

   4. Counter cruised up on the kitchen cupboard and snatched the bag of 4 Hallmark ornaments I had just bought as stocking stuffers for my daughter and her family. Those Hallmark ornaments are REALLY collectibles this year….since I had to go buy them AGAIN!

   5. Figured how to nose open the cabinet doors under the kitchen sink and proceed to pull out as many items as she could before I got home from work last night. I came into the kitchen and found spread all across the kitchen floor the following items – rubber gloves, sponges, a package of dishwashing machine soap packets (thank goodness she didn’t open them!), a package of dusting wipes, and a small dustpan and broom.

   Sophie is a well-bred Basset from champion stock. She’s been kept outside the last 3 years of her life, so she came to me with absolutely no manners whatsoever. And, even though this post sounds like she’s a devil child, she really isn’t….she’s just full of energy, tons of love, and so ready to make up for the last 3 years of being neglected of human contact (with the exception of being fed and given water daily). She loves to be in my lap for awhile every evening, has to lay on her back and get her belly rubbed, then she’ll fall asleep and look like such a precious angel….until she wakes up and the ‘fun’ starts all over again!

   Watch out for Bassets who know how to open lever-handled doors! You never know what will be happening on the other side of that door….! :o)

   Janet
   Jackie, Kim, Max, Sophie and Lincoln (the cat)
   Texas

3. Audra, Colby Chaps & Abby
   January 14th, 2010 | 11:07 am

   How cute…..Bailey can open doors too (he just barks at the back door and my Mom comes running to open it! Works everytime!

4. MaureenandSlinky
   January 14th, 2010 | 11:13 am

   This Basset is not going to be put out of any rooms.

   The real trick is she learn to close doors behind him.

5. Trisha, Jaws, Brutus, and Lulu
   January 14th, 2010 | 7:46 pm

   Wow Janet! Thanks for sharing, now I know someone else has destructive basset too! Mine chewed/ate 8 dogs beds in 5 days. Just because. She isn’t a puppy either and has more energy that our friends’ black lab puppy. We have lever doors also that we keep locked so the sneaky girl doesn’t come in and eat our couch when we’re at work!

6. OneMom
   January 15th, 2010 | 7:21 am

   Brilliant! That is one smart, self-efficient basset hound.

   When I saw the title of the post, I thought maybe it was about Chaps half-in and half-out of the doggy door and heating all of Eastern Kentucky!

7. Karen M
   January 15th, 2010 | 4:21 pm

   Wonderful video. Cat, how is Grampa doing, if I may ask? Hope all is well!

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