Ellie aka "Smelly Belly"

My next fur kid I will introduce you to does not have a sob story like the previous baby. As a matter of fact she couldn't survive one day in the "wild". She is the only one I have had since she was a puppy and she is rotten to the core.

We got Ellie three days after Jason and I were married (07-19-2002). Two weeks before the big day we lost one of our other bassets, Sally Girl. She was only two years old. Needless to say Jason and I were devastated. I wanted to call off the wedding and not leave the house for a very long time. But my Dad intervened and talked a little sense into my head and we got married.

We were married in Gatlinburg, TN on a Friday, stayed for a couple of days in a log cabin in the mountains, and were home by Sunday night. During those two weeks after Sally died and before we got married I cried buckets of tears and moped around the house. I never thought I would get over her sudden death. She was a shy little thing and only loved her Daddy and I. She was never friends with a stranger, never mean, just very standoffish. When she died she was surrounded by strangers (she was at the vet) and I could hardly stand to think she was scared because Mommy and Daddy were no where to be found. It took a long time for me to get over that feeling of guilt.

That Monday I had had enough of that lump in my throat. I wanted a puppy to ease the pain. I didn't want to replace Sally, but what better cure for sadness than a stinky little puppy, right? So we drove over to Fayetteville and picked out the CUTEST red and white basset hound and named her Ellie. She was the sweetest, cutest, lovable thing I had ever seen UNTIL we got her home.

She did not stop screaming, I mean SCREAMING, for almost three weeks straight. If she was awake she was screaming. If she was eating, she was screaming with a mouth full of food. If she was pottying, she was screaming. No whining involved. She was actually screaming! It was terrible. It was annoying. It was the worse sound I ever heard. Most folks would have taken her straight back to where she came from but we persevered. After those three weeks of Hell, I guess she finally realized that we weren't so bad and finally shut her mouth.

Ellie rules the nest in our home. That includes us. She is gentle and has a huge personality. For a basset hound she is quite intelligent. She's no Einstein but she holds her own. She has given me 6 and a half years of loyalty and never judges a thing I do. Who could ask for a better friend?