Notes From Families ~

We are always happy to hear from our new families, and enjoy getting updates. Here are just a few ~

First, I must say how much I appreciate all of the kind words provided below. They reassure me to continue doing what I love to do - raising Special Bassets for Special People ! My sincere thanks to everyone. ~ Julie, WKB

Hi Julie!
I'm glad you emailed, I was just thinking a couple of days ago that I hadn't updated on Fizban in a while. Fizban is officially Francis' Lil Fizban, CGC, ITA as he has passed his Canine Good Citizen Test and is an Intermountain Therapy Dog. I still want to train and show him in tracking but just haven't had the time, yet. We also still volunteer with the local basset hound rescue. Fizban is pictured in two books, "You Had Me at Ahroo" which is compiled by Susan Randolph and "Unleashed" by Lisa Wogan. He has also been in the Salt Lake Tribune and The Deseret News, people at work tell my I need to get the boys an agent!

Fizban is a great "ambassetdor" for the breed. Just this Saturday ITA was doing a fundraiser at Barnes and Nobles bookstore and Fizban and I volunteered for a couple of hours. Everybody just loves Fiz and he most certainly loves being loved. He really reaches out to people and does his best to make sure no one walks past him w/o at least stopping and giving him a pet. In fact, I have to be careful when there are other ITA teams with us because Fizban really steals the show. It is amazing to watch him with children. I also take him with me when I do home visits for the basset rescue (UFBH). He does such a wonderful job going into a strange home and winning people over, they just fall in love with him. We actually have to be careful that people realize that Fizban is very well bred and that I have put a lot of time into him as well. Otherwise they think that any basset they adopt will just automatically be like him from day one.......

I really appreciate the work you put into him, especially when we go on our therapy visits. Of course I had to put time in with him on the obedience part of the training but you bred that gentle loving disposition into your lines. If that hadn't of been there in, conjunction with the loving start you gave him as a puppy, no amount of training I did would have mattered. You can't train a dog to have a great personality, they have to be born with it, however you can ruin that personality if they aren't raised right from day one. Fizban was born with a great personality and you nurtured it right from the beginning, I just continued what you started.

We go for a walk everyday and now that the weather is nice people stop us all the time and ask about the boys. They always comment on how gorgeous he is. Sometimes people think he is fat, which he isn't, but people see so few well bred bassets that they mistake that big deep chest and heavy bone structure for being overweight. People who know the breed always comment on what a looker he is. I absolutely agree. I feel so blessed to have him, he is everything a basset should be.

LOL, I better stop there, I could just go on and on. Needless to say I adore Fizban. I would be happy to talk to any potential buyers you have about bassets in general and yours in particular.
Mary, Fizban and Tasselhoff

UPDATE - youtube vids OFFERED BY MARY and POSTED SEPT. 2008  (you may need to copy/paste the link to your browser)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y87TRw_glGI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Mbo3BeHPs

I saw that I could leave a review on puppyfind.com but it only lets me use 1000 characters, which is no where near enough.  Anyway here is my review: First off I would like to thank Julie for all the help she was with purchasing my very first pup, let alone basset hound. I have always wanted one for the longest time, and he's finally here. Julie (the owner) pretty much has basset breeding down to perfection. I mean look at the pictures, all of her pups are superior quality. I was in the same boat as most people, nervous, and didn't have a clue about breeders, or buying a puppy online, nothing pretty much. I did alot of research and came up with the opinion that you have to watch out for alot of "Bad Breeders, Puppy mills, Brokers, and Backyard breeders." After reading alot of horror stories I had TONS of questions, but no one really to go to. I found alot of local breeders around here, but they all just seemed like they were out to make a buck, and didn't really care about perfecting the breed, confirmation, health, and good genes in bassets. I stumbled across a puppy named "Turner" at the time who was only about 7 weeks old. From the moment I saw him, I said WOW now that's a GOOD looking basset! But then I saw the price, WOW that's expensive. So I decided to contact Julie, who was more than welcome to answer any and all of my questions, at one point I think we had an hour long conversation just about basset hounds, and I hadn't even mentioned I wanted to buy a puppy yet. Just by that conversation I knew that I was in a good place with Windy Knoll. Julie honestly is about the breed not making money, if anything she barley breaks even if not loses money on the time and care she puts into her basset pups. All and all it was a scary process but Turner (who is now WRIGLEY) made it home here in Sunny Southern California, perfect without a hitch, in great health and ready to be my companion for life. I owe it all to Julie, she made the process alot less stressful and is a huge bucket of knowledge. So please do your self a favor and don't buy from puppy stores, or puppy mills, spend some time and do some research, and its worth EVERY penny I have spent. Julie I thank you again, and will ALWAYS recommend you for anyone looking for bassets from now on.

Ryan Puls and Wrigley

new youtube vid of Wrigley added 4.18.09  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph9K5GVJQaM&feature=channel_page

Hello: Thought I would update you on Babe. She is such a nice dog. She fits in so well with our family. She is so gentle and so family oriented. It is just awesome. She loves people and is friendly to everyone who comes to visit. She isn't hyper and she likes to play but then crashes for an hour or two.
We finally mastered the housetraining and she has the run of the house with the other two dogs. She likes to harass the cat and does so regularly. She and Buddy "fight" in the hallway and you'd think they were having an all-out brawl....but it is all in fun and really entertaining to listen too.
She wasn't too sure about the snow at first but now every time she comes in she has a pile on her nose. She and Buddy play king/queen of the playset. She climbs the rock climb and stands on the platform just daring Buddy to come up. He does of course and then they "brawl" up there. They spend alot of their time on that platform and sometimes the way down is down the kid's slide on the other side.
She is a true companion and I could only hope that I could raise dogs as nice as she has become for us. You are to be praised for the quality of animals you have brought into the field.
Deb, Gary, Cody, Ginger, Buddy, Babe and Bear (the cat)

We just bought a puppy (Waldo) from Julie and couldn't be happier! Everything from the first email to his arrival on the airplane was smooth and easy. Julie was so patient and answered all of our questions. She always got back to me right away when I called or emailed. I feel like she's gone above and beyond what we expected. She also came highly recommended by other great breeders. You can tell she loves her dogs and takes good care of them. Our little guy is so healthy and happy. I would recommend Windy Knoll Bassets (and will) to anyone looking for high quality beautiful basset hounds! There's no one better!

Shala and Waldo

Atticus is doing just great. I weighed him the other day, and he's up to 30 pounds! He's a wonderful guy. He's sweet, and very playful. Because he's getting so heavy, he's like a big sumo wrestler playing with the other two dogs that were similar to his size when he first got here.
Julie, he's the most beautiful puppy, and I'm afraid he's a little spoiled. Right now he's sleeping curled up on the couch. He plays all day with the Frenchie, and the Shih Tzu, and he has such a mellow and laid back personality compared to them.

Karen and Atticus

We here at T.R.STONE house have had bassets now for 20 yrs and lost our old pup do to age and cancer. We were like ducks out of water until Tom found Windyknoll on the web and talked with Julie. It was all over then; she helped us make up our getting over our lost, but our Sammy will never be forgotten and the "new owners" of our house (Hannah and Sophie) just took over ! Windyknoll did all and more than she said, and our pups are real nice - they run this place and all due to good breeding and solid bloodlines. They are just so sweet and Tom and my step son, Alex just love them too. (I think more than I do). They take [the Girls] all over. I've never seen Tom (my better half) get so hooked on two pups as he has with the girls ! He makes time for them even with things going wrong and that is hard. Well, Tom and I see a lot of pups out there, but be very careful; I would say Julie is the person to get your next Basset from. I will say by far she is the best.

Yours Truly, Beth Alex and Tom, Sophie and Hannah

Danny is doing GREAT!! He has lost weight already and is slowly losing the winter fur. He has adjusted very nicely and he and Hunter get along great! So far they play very well together and have not had any type of fights for alpha male. They both look out for each other and are bonding just like we had hoped. He is definitely a "momma's boy"! He follows me everywhere and has to know where I am and what I am doing. He will go outside to play with Hunter but comes in to check on me regularly. He is adjusting to living inside the house and has learned that belly rubs are awesome! We are trying to teach Danny that toys are for playing with, so far he just destroys them! He has eaten every one of Hunters balls, including his favorite one! That was hard for Hunter because he loves to play ball but I have found some toys he cannot chew up so they play with those. They have gotten in trouble together already, it seems that if Danny does something he shouldn't, Hunter has decided that it must be ok so he joins in! They have chewed a hole in our couch and they chewed holes in my daughters blow up pool, but I see that as our fault for leaving them in those situations to begin with. They know they did bad and they haven't done anything since. So, it is all good, we are all adjusting very well and we love having 2 dogs again! Amazingly, a lot of the things Danny does and the way he acts reminds us of our dog Tiffany, who we lost last December, it's weird. Anyway, I am attaching a picture I took of them yesterday, I can't believe I got them sitting still!! Have a good one!

Julia, Hunter and Danny

  Wow, he (Deuce) is perfect in every way. When he looks directly at me he looks so much like Chilly that it feels like my stomach is being squeezed. I've been making noises and whistling to get him to look at me. He is BEAUTIFUL! I think I've hugged and kissed him a hundred times since we've been home. The kids are all over him and he doesn't seem to mind. We got all his toys out and he likes his tug rope the best. The kids love it when he chews on their fingers. He's climbing all over them and licking their faces and they are overjoyed. At one point my husband said, "This seems too good to be true doesn't it?" I just sit and stare at him, he's amazing. He ate a warm dinner and went out and pee'd and pooped and my husband just took him out and he pee'd again. I have a huge water bowl in the kitchen and he's been thirsty so I'll take him out again around 11. I haven't been able to get him to bark yet, maybe tomorrow. I'm dying to hear what it sounds like. Needless to say we are all head over heels in love with him and he seems to be enjoying it, he's not overwhelmed at all.

The flight must not have bothered him because when they brought him in I never heard a whimper or whine, I couldn't believe it. He seemed a little cold but was fine once in the van. I hope his sister's flight was ok too.

You're probably tired of hearing it but thank you again. This is one of the best and most special nights we'll ever have as a family.

From the very first email, your responses were immediate and you were always willing to answer any questions we had. You were meticulous with the details and it was obvious from the start that you are the best at what you do. We were extremely nervous about the flight but your constant updates with flight/weather info took care of that. Your concerns with the shipping made it very clear to us that you care deeply for each and every one of the puppies that you place. You are an angel and we are forever grateful. We could never thank you enough.

Rebecca McFarlin and Family and Deuce