Obedience may not be the strongest characteristic of a basset hound but I still kid myself that as the pack leader in our household that I hold sway over my bassets hounds. Those moments of authority and control seem only to occur when I have food on my plate or a free hand offering the possibility of a vigorous neck rub.
The swing of the fridge door opening can wake a basset hound from a seemingly deep sleep when a series of calls finely tuned at puppy training school that get louder and closer to them doesn’t do the trick. Their low centre of gravity gives a basset the ability to hold their ground and give you the full experience of what behaving doggedly really means.
I’ve noticed over the five years of living with bassets that they develop new and ever more infuriating strategies for getting their own way. Whether it’s insisting on walking a particular path which takes twice as long or adopting the flat basset pose making it as hard as possible to put on a collar and lead. Mason is a past master at dreaming up new schemes and Fortnum is the adoring pupil who watches and learns from his brother making them a tight-knit team against the humans in the house.
Slowly but surely they are showing their true colours when it comes to being photographed. I’ve noticed of late that Fortnum, who has traditionally been my show-off basset, has like his brother started to avoid the camera. None of this stops me though although I have rather more photographs in 2012 taken with the spying eye of my Iphone than my DSLR camera as each of them perfect their looks away from the camera or disrupt a photo shoot.
I’m determined to match the hounds at their game in 2013 so it will be another battle of wills to add to the list we already share. But for now, I’ve uploaded the final photographs featured in the 2012 Basset Calendar. Creating the 2013 is going to be quite a challenge as there are not just fewer photographs taken this year but rare look me in the eye moments to pick from. I can see how much I have my work cut out in the coming year.
Fortnum hiding in the grass having caught sight of the camera
Fortnum still refusing to look me in the eye
Mason had more stamina for neck scratching that I had patience for waiting for him to stop and pose
Oh dear, they really are giving you a hard time these days, but they’re both still handsome and thorough;y adorable!! It’s been a busy year for you guys, what with earthquakes, Holidays, illnesses……… I can certainly understand the lack of photographs to choose from 🙁 Don’t worry about me, I’ll survive without the lads for a year LOL, maybe
I hope that you all had a great Cristmas and have a grand New Year!! Give the lads a hug and neck scratch/belly rub from me!!