Bessie

B’s adoption My husband Francois and I moved to Monterey about 8 months ago after a year or so of moving around, during which Francois finished his PhD, we got married, and finally he got a postdoc position at Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove. Our most recent semi-permanent address was in Townsville, Australia, where we were both PhD students for the last 4-6 years. In Australia, we had a rescue dog named Swampy. He is an Australian Kelpie-Labrador Retriever Mix who Francois found one day as a puppy in the swamp of course, while fishing with friends. Since neither of us are Australian or intended to stay there, it was certainly an unexpected adoption. But, when there is love at first sight sometimes you just have to fight reason with heart. Well, the time came when our adventure in Oz was drawing to a close. We were unsure where the next year would take us, or when we might be settled again. And so, we decided that the best option for Swampy was to go to France and live with Francois’ mother on her B&B farm in Provence. It was a traumatic parting for all of us, and at the time we doubted whether we had made the right decision. Moreover, Australia has somewhat stricter regulations for exporting animals, and suffice it to say that it cost more than twice as much for Swampy to get to France as two roundtrip people tickets from Oz to Europe. But, Swampy has now been living in France for more than a year and he and Francois’ mother couldn’t be happier. We actually got to visit him in September and it really is the best possible place for him. He’s settled and he’ll stay there: we decided one transcontinental/ oceanic trip was enough for his lifetime. So, that left us settled and dog-less in California. We had been casually checking the rescue pages since last summer, but always with the understanding that it wasn’t quite the right time for us to adopt again. I had a basset hound before and adored him: Jackson, a beautiful little tricolor from Mississippi who loved everyone and believed that everyone loved him too. My family also had a wonderful bloodhound and my sister has another basset, so I knew I wanted a hound. You either love them for their hound-ness or can’t stand them for it, and I have been smitten since the beginning. Well, Francois was working late one evening and I spontaneously decided to take a peek at the GGBR page to check the available dogs…and there was Betsy (or Bessie as she was known on the website)! I took one look at her photo, read her description and I knew she was meant for us. I didn’t even wait to show Francois or discuss it with him at all; I just applied at that very moment to adopt her. After a relatively quick and pleasant application and interview process through the GGBR organization, we were approved to adopt Betsy. We couldn’t even wait a week for the GGBR network to move her down from Reno: the day after we got back from Thanksgiving holidays I drove up to Sacramento to pick her up from her foster mom, Ellen. And, then the real adventure began… It’s been two months since Betsy joined our family in Monterey. The weekend after we picked her up she was introduced to the beach (for the first time I believe) in Carmel. Two weeks after she arrived we all drove the 3000 miles home to my parent’s house in Florida (and back again) for the holidays and introduced B to her extended family, including fellow basset Cousin Mia. We had already planned to go to Florida for Christmas, and we didn’t want to leave her for two weeks right after adopting her. So, we decided to make the long drive together. She was amazingly calm for whole ride, and arrived in the warm southern weather to be adored by all she met. We didn’t tell the family about her, so her appearance was a complete surprise (and delight)! Since then our lives have been full of doggy playdates, beach runs and forest hikes. We have all enjoyed the increased time spent outdoors in this beautiful place, and we could not be happier with B. She is the perfect little basset, and of course I am not biased at all! She was a bit shy at first with other dogs, but never with people. She immediately bonded to us and loves to cuddle more than anything else. She is extremely active and athletic when outdoors, but loves to sleep (especially in the sunshine) when at home. When people meet her, wherever we are, they are always amazed by her activity and delighted by her adorable appearance. Inevitably, the will exclaim: “I’ve never seen a basset move like that” or “She’s the fittest basset I’ve ever seen”! My husband and I are both so happy to have found Betsy and adopt her. We truly believe she was meant for us and cannot imagine our life without her. Thank you to the GGBR organization for taking good care of her while she was waiting for us, and choosing us to be her parents! Francois and Patricia