LLEWIS

Llewis is our funny dog. He is silly. He has all these little quirks that the others do not, not even Nigel his littermate brother.

Llewis talks. And once he starts he won't shut up. Walk into a room where he is and you just left and there is a frenzied storm of greeting, always at the top of his lungs, along with rushing to you and nudging you towards the kitchen treat box.

He likes to walk with you, with his head between your legs, which of course makes walking with Llewis a bit tricky.

Physically, he is the smallest and lightest of the dogs but that's good, because of his bum leg and hip we don't want him to weigh much. He works twice as hard to do half as much but never complains and never ---ok, almost never--- loses his cool. But he can. He an Nigel have had some scraps but generally he is the most peace-ful of the four. He doesn't seem to have any hidden agendas and is happy just to be here and get some attention.

It's easy to identify him in the Basset scrum in the backyard: he is always the one with his nose in the air, ahrooing.
He plays very hard, very rough and tumble. This is probably not a good thing but nobody has ever told him he is crippled. As a puppy we took him to a very fine re-hab facility and did all kinds of stuff-- chiropractic, acupuncture--we had a very expensive and high-tech brace made for his back leg, hoping to mold it into the correct position. He took all of this in good spirits and was always glad to see everyone even if they were sticking needles in him. Then the orthopedic surgeon who was also involved said "Take that brace off--the muscles he needs will atrophy. Take him home and let him be a puppy!" and it was the best advice we could have gotten. Now you can barely tell he has a rogue leg unless you are watching carefully.

Here he is with Nigel on the far side, running. You can clearly see the back leg on Llewis is not bent the way it should be, but it doesn't slow him down much.

He has developed some annoying habits over the years. One is not coming in with the other dogs, but waiting until you close the door and then wanting in. He will simply stand there, staring morosely at you as you hold the door and say "Llewis come on. Llewis come on, get a treat. Want a treat? Come in the house." and he doesn't. The second the door is closing, he wants in. Drives me crazy in the winter. I can't really get mad at him. He doesn't bark to come in but simply stands at the door until someone remembers he is out and lets him in. I am ashamed to admit he has spent some long moments outside because of that.

Llewis likes to "help" Cooper eat his treats. Cooper is kind of prissy sometimes. He chews his treats. Consequently, the others, who inhale theirs, are finished while Cooper still has large chunks on the floor. Llewis always makes a beeline for this and for some reason, Cooper never even growls, altho he would take the face off any of the other dogs.

Llewis is not crated at night. In the first place, he cannot stand up to counter cruise or grab things off the table. In the second place, we think his leg begins to hurt when he is stuck in a crate for too long.
Now, when I tell the dogs to get in their crates (for eating, for example) Llewis stands and stares vacantly at me until I finally yell IN YOUR CRATE!!

Oh, is THAT what you wanted? Well, you only told me four times. Besides, you have my dish in your hand: what if I go in my crate and you don't give it to me? Hunh? What about that? (I have never, ever done that.)

                       Llewis getting acquainted with Puppy Conley.