[Dailydrool] Old lady seeks new dog

[Elizabeth Lindsey]

It's been about a year since my parents' Jack Russell Terror, Daisy,  
died. My mother's sort of thinking about getting another dog. At the  
moment she's still ambivalent about it, but the longer these  
neighborhood burglaries go on...... She also misses the companionship  
of a dog and the way they can help a person make friends in the  
neighborhood. The goal is to find an older dog (eight or over) with  
excellent manners and housetraining already in place because my  
mother's good at maintaining what she has but isn't good at starting  
it or improving on it.

My mother wants a small dog, "a dog I can pick up if I have to."  
She's in love with her audiologist's Yorkies, who get a lot of  
attention and activity every day. I've already told her I don't think  
she should be bending over to pick up a dog with her balance. But I  
believe what she's really saying is that she wants a dog she has a  
chance at controlling, especially when she has to open the front  
door. I've already given her my Obedience School speech and told her  
that the best approach is to leash the dog, not try to pick up it up  
while it's struggling to get at whoever's on the other side of the  
door. I'm not sure if my wisdom has fallen on deaf ears or if she's  
heard me.

My sister, husband, and I all want to avoid her getting another  
Daisy. That dog was simply awful. The sad thing is that Daisy could  
have been a great dog if she'd been with someone whose activity level  
better matched hers and if she'd had some training. She would have  
been terrific at agility, but my mother wasn't interested. I'm  
actually quite afraid of my mother getting another terrier because it  
could well become mine to care for someday. I just can't live with  
terrier intensity for more than a few hours at a stretch, and at some  
point I'd like to have more pet rats.

I've given my mother some dog breed books and suggestions to visit  
various rescue web sites, regardless of their geographic location,  
because so many of them have helpful pages that tell you what it's  
really like to live with a certain breed--the good, the bad, and the  
downright ugly. The AKC web site, on the other hand, lists only a  
breed's positives, so you end up thinking almost any breed will be a  
good fit. The web site says nothing about a basset's drool, hound  
odor, shedding, and inclination toward glaucoma, back problems, etc.  
So that always makes me wonder what isn't the AKC web site saying  
about the other breeds?

I'd really appreciate hearing thoughts from Droolers about what breed  
or breed mixes might be suitable for a 70-plus-year-old woman who has  
the activity level of a slug (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit) and  
probably won't become a whole lot more active with a dog in the  
house. I'm open to any size breed because I remember something Bev  
wrote (was it Bev??) a couple years ago about how large dogs can come  
in handy when you've fallen in the middle of the floor and need  
something to steady yourself on when getting back up again.

My mother's a strong believer in getting pre-owned dogs from a  
shelter or rescue, so don't worry about where this hypothetical dog  
might come from. I'm urging her to go with a rescue that uses foster  
homes, however, so she'll have the best idea possible of what the  
dog's personality, energy level, and house manners are like. Because  
this discussion will most likely not involve bassets, please e-mail  
me off-list with any suggestions you might have.

But to make this somewhat basset related, ever since Daisy died, our  
Elsinore and young Charlie have gone over to my mother's house to  
spend the day with her at least two days a week. She really enjoys  
them. They make her laugh and keep her busy (especially Charlie!),  
and she loves the way they'll cuddle with her on the bed when she  
naps. But despite all that, she's adamant that she doesn't want a  
basset of her own. I really don't understand why not, but because  
she's as stubborn as a basset, I know it's useless to try to persuade  
her.

Elizabeth