Shortly after our family lost our first Bassett Hound in early 2005, we began to look for another.  At that time we already had adopted a rescued Bassett/Beagle mix, Daffany.  After searching on the internet, we came across the Columbia Second Chance website, as they had shown that they had Bassett Hounds for adoption.  After a couple of phone calls, my wife and I took the trip from Dardenne Prairie, MO (St. Charles County) to see the pets.  We immediately fell in love with him, as we have a love for Bassett Hounds.  We then actually left with two of them, with the other going to parent's house.

Buddy, as we were told, came from a puppy mill, was rescued and had obviously been abused.  He was a very gentle dog, at about 1 year old at time of adoption in October of 2005.  He was a pure breed Bassett, tan and white.  When he came home, he was unsure of things at first, but did well with our other dog, our daughters, and guests.  He was a little uneasy with me, as we suspected that he was abused by a male that wore glasses, as I did at that time.  As years went on, he was a wonderful, loving pet and part of our family.

He gave us such joy, and was another example of why we adopt rescued pets, they are awesome pets to have.

In March of 2009, he had 2 days of vomiting, that went away.  In April, I had surgery to my eyes that left me without glasses.  Buddy immediately became more close and affectionate to me.  On May 11, he became ill again.  After daily vet visits and lots of money, we could not find out what was wrong with him.  That weekend, his condition worsened and became very short of breath.  On Monday May 18, went to vet with more x-rays and looked like he had collapsed lungs, sent to a specialist and found out that he had 2 large tumors in each lung, and cancer spots all over both lungs also.  Thus we had to make the painful decision to have him put too sleep.  Our family is saddened by the loss of Buddy. 

We wanted to share our special experience and story of adopting a wonderful pet from a wonderful facility, Columbia Second Chance.

We now are actively seeking another, or a couple, of young Bassett Hounds that need homes.

Dan & Lynn Vordtriede

Dardenne Prairie, MO