[Dailydrool] New basset variety

[Anne Savidge]

Our family hound Clover (ATB) was obviously one of the recently-named "basset escendo" variety. When she was still in her chewing puppy stage, we tried keeping Clover in the family room by blocking the only non-door route out---between a filled etagere and my father's recliner. Clover learned how to get out of the barricaded family room by climbing into my father's recliner, waiting until it tipped backwards with her weight, and then marching across the back of the tipped chair onto my mother's ancient steamer trunk, then jumping down to the other side of the barrier.

On other occasions, Clover climbed onto the back of the family couch, which was against a wall. Once, she wanted some ice cream that I had, but I was sitting on the far end of the couch, where there was no access to the top, and my siblings were sitting on the couch next to me, so that wasn't clear, either. Undaunted, Clover climbed the end table at the other end of the couch, vaulted to the top, and then like a caterpillar, inched her way down the length of it until she could hang her head over my shoulder and make a play for my ice cream. At that point, I let her lick the bowl because she'd gone to such effort. We even took pictures of that escapade. She was no puppy at that stage, either. 

Clover also got up on the dining room table at least once, and her version of the Basset 500 included not only running through the house at top speed while barking, but also leaping on various pieces of furniture and bouncing on them like a pogo stick before leaping off to the floor and continuing the "chase."

My mother swore that Clover was part mountain goat.

Auntie Anne