[Dailydrool] Empty homes

[Pamela McQuade via Dailydrool]

Many years ago I overnighted a tiny basset who had been left at a kill 
shelter. It turned out that this little guy had a very serious health 
issue. But everyone who transported him fell in love with the little 
guy. He could have been adopted over and over again because he was such 
a love.

He ended up staying with Tri-State's then president. He and his wife had 
plenty of hounds in their home, but this little guy carved out his own 
special place. Unhappily, despite two surgeries, he did not live long. I 
remember the president commenting, after they lost him, that the house 
seemed so empty.

How could it be empty, I wondered, with all those other hounds there. 
Now, after having lost four bassets, I know just what he meant. It's not 
how many you have, it's the personality of each that makes you miss that 
special one who has headed Bridgeward.

I still think of that little hound, though he only spent a night with 
us. I understand how much it must have hurt to have had him for longer, 
loved him more deeply, and lost him.

I feel for all those people whose homes seem a bit more empty. But know 
that you loved your hounds well, and they will never forget.

Pam, food slave to the Dashing Bassets