At the time of writing this (February 2010), it is just passed the first anniversary of losing our beloved, Lil.

Even thinking of her now brings a lump to my throat.

Unfortunately, as we all know, this comes as part of the territory of being a dog lover.

However, the dog I want to write about the first Basset we owned, named Luci (shown above)

She is, so far, the only hound owned from a pup.

From the start, she had problems with her ears. One of the vets we saw recommended an operation, to which we agreed. But now looking back, we shouldn’t have gone ahead with this.

Apart from this, she was a great dog with a wonderful temperament.

However, when she was six I noticed a lump on her shoulder and took her straight to the vet. They kept her in for x-rays and when we went to collect her we were given the devastating news that the lump was cancerous. Not only that, but that there were further growths all over her body and she only had a few months to live.

We took her home to give her all the TLC we could. However, she rapidly deteriorated, and after only a few weeks became desperately ill. She was in so much pain she couldn’t lie down. By now, it was obvious that it would be cruel to let her continue like this and we took the heartbreaking decision to have her put to sleep.

After ’phoning the vet, we waited for our daughters to return from school, as they wanted to be with her. Once home, they got into the car, sitting on the rear seats. I picked up Luci and laid her across their laps.

She could hardly move, as we set off. But just as we pulled into the vet’s car park, Luci sat up. She looked at all of us in turn, as if to make sure we were all there, then she lay back down and died.

It was as if she was saying, ‘You’re not getting me in there again. I’ll do this my way’.

We carried her into the vet’s, who only confirmed what we already knew. We said our ‘goodbye’ to her and arranged her cremation.

I often think of her and it only makes me more convinced that dogs have senses that we mere humans will never be able to understand.

(Ed. Many thanks to both Brian and Geoff for sharing these loving memories of their dearly missed hounds.

Many of us will understand what they have been through and share their grief. Losing our hounds never gets easier. Please sent LOWDOWN tributes to your own late hounds - with photos, if possible)