[Dailydrool] Ears

[Elizabeth Lindsey]

I well remember stopping on a walk with our late Jane Basset to let a  
preschooler pat Jane. The child quickly discovered Jane's ears and  
started rubbing one of them lovingly against her cheek. She looked up  
at her mother and said in a wondering tone of voice, "Just like my  
blankie, mommy." Jane, who was so gentle with everyone, stood there  
and placidly allowed the child to do this until her mother finally  
led her away. Actually, I think Jane rather liked it.

Jane did not like it when my pet rat Ruby tried to carry one of  
Jane's ears off to her nest in her cage. This happened often, and I  
can't understand why neither of them learned anything from the  
experience. Jane would be sitting near Ruby's cage, and Ruby would  
pop out of the open cage door, dart over to grab one of Jane's ears  
in her needle-sharp teeth, and then race with it back to her cage.  
She always looked so surprised with she discovered the entire dog's  
head was coming along with the ear, and Jane always looked so  
aggrieved that she was being dragged off again by that determined  
rat. But Jane never snapped at Ruby or tried to shake her off. She'd  
just wait patiently and with a rather pleading expression until I  
rescued her. I guess Ruby found basset ears to be as "blankie-soft"  
as that preschooler did. I think it's safe to say, though, that Jane  
would have preferred a preschooler fondling her ears to a rat wanting  
to nest in them.

Elizabeth