Thank You from Tumbles and the May Family!

October 20, 2004

Dear Basset Hound Rescue of Ontario Supporters:

There is no way to show our gratitude to you and somehow thank you seems so inadequate when we are so touched by your compassion and support for our beautiful Tumbles.

We adopted Tumbles shortly after we lost our dog of 13 ½ years, Sebastian. Our fear was that all of the love that we had had for Sebastian for so long would transfer to Olympia and we had been told how important it was for Olympia to bond only with our daughter Ashley so as to meet her needs and respond to her.

We had never had a basset hound but there was something about them that seemed to call to members of our family and so we decided to adopt a Basset Hound. Along came Tumbles and little did we know at that time that although we thought we were adopting her, in fact she adopted us. From the moment that she waddled into our front door, her beautiful golden eyes and long floppy ears walked right into our hearts. When she was put on a diet and exercise program to lose some weight, every member of our family was also put on that same program and we sweated off every pound with her. Tumbles quickly became the talk of the neighborhood as you would see us pleading with her to walk just 5 more minutes since we would typically only reach the end of our driveway before she would lay down and roll on her back for a tummy rub - but absolutely no more walking! I don't know how many dogs' exercise with a dog treat dangling in front of them to entice them to walk but she did.

When Olympia arrived in our home, the two of them quickly decided that Tumbles would rule the kitchen, Britt's bedroom and the front entrance and Tumbles did not care if Olympia had ownership of the rest of the house - just not the important rooms. She quickly figured out that Olympia was rewarded frequently as a service dog with little tasty treats and to our great surprise and much laughter, we found Tumbles would copy Olympia's moves - the family joke is that we have one service dog and one wannabe service dog "if you are treating, I am serving".

We tell you these things so that you know about the Tumbles that you are helping. She and her antics bring such laughter into our house and she is especially close to our 14-year-old daughter Britt. Where you find Britt, you are likely to find Tumbles in the near vicinity. When Tumbles became ill and then had her first surgery, it was Britt who was able to calm her with hours of hugs and petting and all the love that she has for her.

Our whole family sends its heartfelt thank you for all of your support and compassion. Although we hope to be able to save Tumbles sight in her remaining eye, we will continue to love her and care for her regardless of whether she has no sight in one eye or both. Thank you for helping to make it possible for us to provide such care for Tumbles at a time when we were so worried about her and unfortunately, the mounting vet bills.

With much gratitude,

Debbie, Chris, Ashley, Brittany, Tumbles, Olympia and Rosie May

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