Dalton's Story

Several years ago when my husband and I moved to Salt Lake City we had 2 dogs; Juneau and Hamilton. Shortly after an exhausting move from Florida, Juneau climbed our fence and ran off. Despite an extensive and desperate search, we never found her, my husband was heartbroken and Hamilton was lonely for his friend.

So we decided to go to the Humane Society and see if any dogs caught our eye…well oddly enough none did.

We were about to leave when one of your volunteers mentioned she was fostering a Bassett hound. We were definitely interested and made an appointment (with Hamilton of course) to meet this little hound. Well it was love at first site, for my husband. I was much more apprehensive, I had heard hounds could be stubborn and difficult to train…in the end my husband won out… and Lucy Loo came home forever.

And boy was I wrong…she was a ray of sunshine and toe kisses (and she is very easy to train, and does whatever she wants) and soon I too was in love with her as well, and it was a good thing too because within a month of her coming home Hamilton was diagnosed with cancer.

She was wonderful support for me and Hamilton who was undergoing chemotherapy. She would go to vet with him and stay in the kennel before and after treatments. Everyone at the vet said she was a wonderful “Chemo Buddy” for Hamilton and lifted his spirits after the treatments. And after Hamilton lost the battle with cancer I hugged her and cried many times. Bassetts are wonderful for hugging, cause their little legs make you smile (they have cankles you know).

But the story is not over. Lucy Loo had been so in love with Hamilton that after he was gone she was lonely and walks in park were just not the same.

So again we began to think about another addition to the family. And it took us about a year, but then we found Dalton at the super adoption this last May. Once again, I was the voice of reason, I said he was too big and would be hard to handle. And luckily ,once again, my husband won and Dalton came home forever.

And he is big…very big. He was about 100lbs when we adopted him from you, and now he is tipping the scales at 140lbs. And he makes me laugh all the time (his nickname is Doofton). He snores at night and has a strange obsession with the “dot” (laser pointer). He keeps me company when my husband travels for work and now I just can’t imagine life without his antics. And walks in park are fabulous again.

So I just want to say that my entire family is composed of Humane Society rescues and I couldn’t be happier. Lucy Loo and Dalton are my 4-legged kids, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Holly Berry (my fat ferret who also came from the Humane Society).

Thanks for all you do – you have certainly changed my life for the better.

-Hurst Family