[Dailydrool] Vernon Q Basset's new skill

[Mary Wilson]

Vernon Q Basset has learned to pick blackberries! He's very good at
it. He approaches the blackberry bush with caution (they're very
prickly, and the danger of snagging a lipflap is considerable). He
sniffs the berries appreciatively, seeking a ripe one. Then he extends
his lips, and carefully plucks it from the branch. Never a green one,
never one that's under-ripe. Since the delicate berry-picker weighs
close to 60 pounds and is possessed of particularly floppy lips, this
is a pretty entertaining sight for the onlookers, let me tell you.

He may have learned his skill from Paddi B Basset. She doesn't pick
blackberries (I assume she doesn't like them), but she does pick
tomatoes if I leave a plant in a container where she can reach it.
Only the ripe ones, and with reasonable care not to damage the plant.

If let into the garden, they both excavate potatoes. No random digging
-- they sniff along the ground, then a few noses and the potato is
theirs.

I did know bassets were hunting dogs when we got them... how is it
that no one told me that what they hunt for is fruits and vegetables?

Blackberry drool to all who have suffered loss lately,
Mary
& the fruit-and-veggie twosome