Post by Southern Bassets on Apr 21, 2004 17:34:19 GMT -2
A Friend in Low Places
They smell, they drool, they're stubborn as a mule. They're loving, low-slung and lumpy. They've got short, silly legs, long, laughable ears, bodies that go on 'til next week, and voices that come out of the ground. They're older than dirt, pretty as sin, tolerant as the day is long, and comfortable as an old shoe. They're woeful-looking hush puppies, distant kin to the bloodhound and to the immovable object and the irresistible force as well. They're to-own-one-is-to-love-one. They're basset hounds: the breed that invented casual.
People who know basset hounds only through television or advertising may think they were produced in Hollywood, but bassets are, in reality, finely crafted hunters from the land of the rising baguette. Indeed, there are few creations wherein form shadows function more doggedly than it does in the basset. Abbreviated legs discourage flights of fancy while compelling the basset to keep its nose to the groundstone, thus making the basset a most efficient tracker, second only to the bloodhound in that pursuit. A low-slung chassis, no more than 15 inches at the shoulder, enables the basset to tunnel through bramble and brush like a four-legged rototiller. A singular and soulful voice, loud enough to raise the living, helps the basset to worry the most elusive game out of any cover. Grand, sweeping ears ladle a quarry's scent toward the basset's amply appointed nose. A white-tipped tail is a beacon in deep scrub, and a long, ponderous body dictates a slow, steady pace that thoughtfully accommodates the hunter who doesn't have time to waste keeping fit.
The People's Choice
Basset hounds were known in the United States since Revolutionary times. George Washington is reported to have owned bassets, a gift from his comrade in arms the Marquis de Lafayette. The American Kennel Club (AKC) began registering the breed in 1885, yet as of 1950, bassets ranked a low-profile 43rd out of 107 AKC breeds. There were 459 new bassets enrolled that year. Ten years later that number was 19 times greater (8,782), and the basset ranked 12th among 106 AKC breeds. Only Elvis soared up the charts faster during that decade. The basset peaked at number 10 on the AKC hit parade, a position it attained in 1964 and again in 1966. Last year its 15,726 new enrollments placed it 21st among 146 AKC breeds.
The fear of nuclear war inspired a brisk trade in bomb shelters during the 1950s, but the basset hound's popularity was not the result of an obsession with rabbit hunting as a means of surviving in a post-nuclear world. Two television programs and a shoe, actually, sent the basset over the top. The first program was "Lassie," which debuted in 1954. Its star, the wonder collie, had a basset hound friend named Pokey, who belonged to the hapless Timmy's hefty pal, Porky Brockway.
A greater impact on the applause meter was registered by Cleo, the basset who co-starred with Jackie Cooper in "The People's Choice," which ran from 1955 to 1958. Although Cleo didn't have a speaking part in the series, her thoughts, usually droll and acerbic, were audible to television viewers.
The third charm on the basset's collar was the Hush Puppy, a casual shoe introduced in 1958 and currently enjoying a vogue. Basset hounds have been used in Hush Puppy ads every step of that long, whimsical campaign.
They Love a Parade
Basset hounds are still used to hunt rabbit, but they are more visible in parades than in pursuit of Thumper. The Doo Dah parade in Ocean City, New Jersey, attracted 200 bassets in April. Last year more than 220 basset hounds from 11 states and Canada ascended on Dwight, Illinois, for The Illinois Waddle, an annual fund-raiser for Guardian Angel Basset Rescue, which places 10 to 15 bassets a month in new homes. The Great American Basset Waddle, held in Birmingham, Michigan, was profiled in Life magazine for May 1997. Six hundred bassets had attended the waddle the year before. The list of other cities that have basset parades is almost as long as the basset itself. A giant, flowery basset, representing Glendale, California, "marches" in the Tournament of Roses parade each year.
Anyone eavesdropping at a basset waddle is bound to hear quotes like the following: "They're the clowns of the dog world." They're speedbumps. They take up a lot of floor space." "If you have to be somewhere in a hurry, you shouldn't have a basset anyway."
Bassets are, in many regards, the ideal family dog - devoted in the extreme, affable to a fault, marvelous with children and other animals, and content with moderate exercise. For all their geniality, however, bassets are possessed of abundant will power. They generally respond to commands at the same speed with which they do everything else. Moreover they live to follow a trail. Once they pick up an interesting scent, they're inclined to stay the course, even to the point of winding up lost. Unless their own tracking skills are highly developed, basset people should always exercise their dogs on a lead.
Bassets' keenly developed sense of smellnotwithstanding, they are something of an Inspector Clouseau in the field. "Bassets will never out-chase a hare," said the master of one British basset pack. "It is fascinating to get up on a rise in the countryside and watch how well the hare escapes and how well the hounds stick to the scent. We just enjoy watching the chase because the fun would be over if the pack actually caught anything."
Give Us This Day Our Daily Fred
Basset hounds will follow a scent until its owner dies, showing up just in time for the viewing. This legendary stamina is reflected in the comic strip "Fred Basset." A perpetual pleaser, Fred has been "running" nonstop since he first appeared in London's Daily Mail on July 8, 1963, even though his creator, Glasgow native Alex Graham, has been dead now for almost eight years. Graham, who owned a basset hound named Freida, published 8,757 Freds before he died. In addition, he left behind an 18-month supply of his comic strip. When that expired, the Daily Mail and other newspapers around the world began rerunning the 9,000-plus Fred Bassets, which will last without interruption until 2023.
To be sure, some hare, after running through streams and foul-smelling fields to cover their trail, have been seen doubling back through the middle of the basset pack, whose members are too busy following the scent to notice.
They smell, they drool, they're stubborn as a mule. They're loving, low-slung and lumpy. They've got short, silly legs, long, laughable ears, bodies that go on 'til next week, and voices that come out of the ground. They're older than dirt, pretty as sin, tolerant as the day is long, and comfortable as an old shoe. They're woeful-looking hush puppies, distant kin to the bloodhound and to the immovable object and the irresistible force as well. They're to-own-one-is-to-love-one. They're basset hounds: the breed that invented casual.
People who know basset hounds only through television or advertising may think they were produced in Hollywood, but bassets are, in reality, finely crafted hunters from the land of the rising baguette. Indeed, there are few creations wherein form shadows function more doggedly than it does in the basset. Abbreviated legs discourage flights of fancy while compelling the basset to keep its nose to the groundstone, thus making the basset a most efficient tracker, second only to the bloodhound in that pursuit. A low-slung chassis, no more than 15 inches at the shoulder, enables the basset to tunnel through bramble and brush like a four-legged rototiller. A singular and soulful voice, loud enough to raise the living, helps the basset to worry the most elusive game out of any cover. Grand, sweeping ears ladle a quarry's scent toward the basset's amply appointed nose. A white-tipped tail is a beacon in deep scrub, and a long, ponderous body dictates a slow, steady pace that thoughtfully accommodates the hunter who doesn't have time to waste keeping fit.
The People's Choice
Basset hounds were known in the United States since Revolutionary times. George Washington is reported to have owned bassets, a gift from his comrade in arms the Marquis de Lafayette. The American Kennel Club (AKC) began registering the breed in 1885, yet as of 1950, bassets ranked a low-profile 43rd out of 107 AKC breeds. There were 459 new bassets enrolled that year. Ten years later that number was 19 times greater (8,782), and the basset ranked 12th among 106 AKC breeds. Only Elvis soared up the charts faster during that decade. The basset peaked at number 10 on the AKC hit parade, a position it attained in 1964 and again in 1966. Last year its 15,726 new enrollments placed it 21st among 146 AKC breeds.
The fear of nuclear war inspired a brisk trade in bomb shelters during the 1950s, but the basset hound's popularity was not the result of an obsession with rabbit hunting as a means of surviving in a post-nuclear world. Two television programs and a shoe, actually, sent the basset over the top. The first program was "Lassie," which debuted in 1954. Its star, the wonder collie, had a basset hound friend named Pokey, who belonged to the hapless Timmy's hefty pal, Porky Brockway.
A greater impact on the applause meter was registered by Cleo, the basset who co-starred with Jackie Cooper in "The People's Choice," which ran from 1955 to 1958. Although Cleo didn't have a speaking part in the series, her thoughts, usually droll and acerbic, were audible to television viewers.
The third charm on the basset's collar was the Hush Puppy, a casual shoe introduced in 1958 and currently enjoying a vogue. Basset hounds have been used in Hush Puppy ads every step of that long, whimsical campaign.
They Love a Parade
Basset hounds are still used to hunt rabbit, but they are more visible in parades than in pursuit of Thumper. The Doo Dah parade in Ocean City, New Jersey, attracted 200 bassets in April. Last year more than 220 basset hounds from 11 states and Canada ascended on Dwight, Illinois, for The Illinois Waddle, an annual fund-raiser for Guardian Angel Basset Rescue, which places 10 to 15 bassets a month in new homes. The Great American Basset Waddle, held in Birmingham, Michigan, was profiled in Life magazine for May 1997. Six hundred bassets had attended the waddle the year before. The list of other cities that have basset parades is almost as long as the basset itself. A giant, flowery basset, representing Glendale, California, "marches" in the Tournament of Roses parade each year.
Anyone eavesdropping at a basset waddle is bound to hear quotes like the following: "They're the clowns of the dog world." They're speedbumps. They take up a lot of floor space." "If you have to be somewhere in a hurry, you shouldn't have a basset anyway."
Bassets are, in many regards, the ideal family dog - devoted in the extreme, affable to a fault, marvelous with children and other animals, and content with moderate exercise. For all their geniality, however, bassets are possessed of abundant will power. They generally respond to commands at the same speed with which they do everything else. Moreover they live to follow a trail. Once they pick up an interesting scent, they're inclined to stay the course, even to the point of winding up lost. Unless their own tracking skills are highly developed, basset people should always exercise their dogs on a lead.
Bassets' keenly developed sense of smellnotwithstanding, they are something of an Inspector Clouseau in the field. "Bassets will never out-chase a hare," said the master of one British basset pack. "It is fascinating to get up on a rise in the countryside and watch how well the hare escapes and how well the hounds stick to the scent. We just enjoy watching the chase because the fun would be over if the pack actually caught anything."
Give Us This Day Our Daily Fred
Basset hounds will follow a scent until its owner dies, showing up just in time for the viewing. This legendary stamina is reflected in the comic strip "Fred Basset." A perpetual pleaser, Fred has been "running" nonstop since he first appeared in London's Daily Mail on July 8, 1963, even though his creator, Glasgow native Alex Graham, has been dead now for almost eight years. Graham, who owned a basset hound named Freida, published 8,757 Freds before he died. In addition, he left behind an 18-month supply of his comic strip. When that expired, the Daily Mail and other newspapers around the world began rerunning the 9,000-plus Fred Bassets, which will last without interruption until 2023.
To be sure, some hare, after running through streams and foul-smelling fields to cover their trail, have been seen doubling back through the middle of the basset pack, whose members are too busy following the scent to notice.
