The Life of Mabry, Part I

Don't feel bad for this dog. The day in 2003 that I picked him up, out of the back of an early 1980s pick-up truck, he hit the doggy jackpot. You see he was the only puppy not being held so me, being the responsible 20 year old that I was, thought it was only right that I hold him... 3 minutes later I told the nice farmer that I would take him (I'm really not sure if the guy was a farmer but it makes the story nicer since we were at a Walmart) and off we were... yes it only took me 3 minutes to make a decision that would change my life, and pocket book, significantly in the years to come (some of you may see that as a weakness but trust me it is my greatest strength). For those of you out there saying, "Something is terribly wrong with the proportion of body to leg height on that animal" stop judging my animal- he is loving and kind and everything a girl could hope for in a mutt... Mabry is a Lab Bassethound Mix (a Bassador if you will) and he got his height from his Dad- the Basset. This could be the best accidentally bred dog of all time. He is incredibly good looking (i may be a little biased) and tempered like a lab but has the energy of a Basset (read: incredibly lazy and sleeps all the time) When we are out with Mabry we always get stopped and asked the same two questions: "Is that a European bread?" "Is your dog a puppy?" When we explain he is a Basset mixed we always get a puzzled look like "how the heck did the manage that?!" I'm not really sure myself.

Mabry has been treated like a king, now I am not saying that was the right way to raise a dog, but none the less he has never had a tough day in his life...except yesterday when I thought it would be fun to try to get a picture of him covered in Christmas lights. To say he was not amused would be an understatement. Like any good owner, I only humiliated him until I took 130 pictures to try to get a good one. Note to self: Photographing a lazy dog is not easy. They don't like to stand for long. All-in-all Mabry was a good sport. I told him 100,000 times that he was the best looking dog on the planet...shocking that didn't help his spirits!