simon sez ...

I was a BROOD rescue dog, too. Now, I know what you're thinking -- he doesn't look like a Basset at all. Ok, so I'm a mixed breed. I always hear my mom tell people, "He's part Basset. I just don't know which part."

I am one amazingly lucky dog. My original mom and dad adopted me in West Virginia when I was just a little puppy and they called me "Max." See my puppy picture -- wasn't I just the cutest thing! They adopted my sister Daisy, too, and we all lived happily ever after for about 4 years. Then my human mother had a baby, and for some reason, I did not like that baby AT ALL. I would growl and bark and act really mean. My mom and dad were afraid to have me near the baby. Then Mom was going to have another baby, they decided they couldn't keep me any longer. 

They loved me very much, so they tried to find another home for me. But I wanted to stay right where I was, so I did my best to keep new people from liking me. Finally, one very sad day my dad took me to the animal shelter, hoping someone would adopt me from there. I remember Dad was crying, and Mom was so upset. I found out later that the whole time I was at the shelter Mom and Dad couldn’t sleep, and they kept calling the shelter to ask if anyone had taken me. Day after day passed, but still no one wanted to adopt me. Then my last day at the shelter came. It was almost my very last day ever! But the people at the shelter knew I was a good boy, and they wanted to save me. A nice lady from BROOD was visiting that day, and she agreed to take me to BROOD, even though I wasn't much of a Basset. 

When I got to my foster home, I was very scared. I didn't know who these other dogs were, so I figured I'd better act tough and fight with all of them. Even though I was on my worst behavior, my foster mom saw that I was just frightened and "under-socialized," whatever that means. She thought probably no one would want me because I didn't even look like a Basset, and with all that fighting I certainly didn't ACT like a Basset. But she said she liked me anyway, and told me not to worry. She said if BROOD couldn't find another home for me, I could stay there forever.

Then a few weeks later, a lady came to visit with her dog, Theo. Now, Theo is the jealous type, and he hates every dog that pays attention to HIS mom. But I was shy around the woman, and for some reason Theo liked that, so he started playing with me. The lady was amazed. She had never seen him make friends with another dog before. I heard my foster mom warn the woman that I had some behavior problems, but the woman said she could tell that I was a good boy in my heart, and that she wanted to adopt me. So I went home with them. 

By now, I was pretty used to pushing dogs around, so I tried bullying Theo, too. But it turned out Theo was just as much a bully as I was, and he pushed right back! We fought all the time for a few weeks, and I know Theo wanted me to go away. But my new mom told us she loved me and she loved Theo, and neither of us was going anywhere, so we were just going to have to learn to live together. Eventually, we got used to each other. Sometimes we even act like friends when we think Mom’s not looking. 

A few months went by, and I got to be more and more fond of my new mom. She let me know exactly what the rules of the house were, and I discovered I could follow every one of them, except the no-chewing-carpet rule. She renamed me “Simon,” and she was always petting me and hugging me and telling me I was wonderful. Of course, it was a lot easier to be wonderful in my new home, because there were no cats or little children, and Mom said she could live with chewed rug. My new mom and my foster mom got to be good friends, and we visit my foster home so often it has become like my second home. I love going there. I stopped fighting with her dogs a long time ago, and now we just run and play all the time. 

Humans are very sentimental, and for some reason my new mom thought my former mom and dad might be worried about me. She found some of my old vet records in the papers from the shelter, and one day she called my former mom, who was so happy to hear that I was alive and well. She told how hard it was to give me up, and how they called the shelter every day, and how on that last day they thought maybe I had actually gotten put down, instead of being adopted. My two moms exchanged pictures of me, and emails, and then one day we went back to my old home to visit. That was over a year ago, and since then, I've seen my old family and my sister Daisy a few times. They even joined BROOD and came to the picnic last month! 

I just celebrated my second "gotcha day." My new mom says that even though I still have some "issues," she just can't help loving me. She is so sure that I’m sweet and sensitive and adorable that she even convinced me!

Now I'm just a dog, so I don't understand when humans talk about fate. But I do know that things could have turned out very badly for me if all those people hadn't believed in me the way they did. Instead, I have my old family, and my new mom, and my foster family, too, and my life is filled with people who love me. I think I am the luckiest dog in BROOD!