Until about a year ago my wife and I actively volunteered for a local dog rescue. My health and her job forced us to scale back considerably on our volunteer efforts, but not until we wound up with Emma.

Emma is an old Basset Hound found wondering the streets of our town with a much younger Daschund as a companion. No one stepped up to claim poor Emma, and her smaller companion was adopted out fairly quickly, but no one seems to have a heart for a 12 to 13 year old Basset, that is except my wife, the consumate Basset lover.

We made an arrangement with the rescue to simply take Emma home and let her live out her days in peace with our family, which includes three other dogs. We brought her home, and she fit in immediately with our other Basset, Beagle/Basset mix and Sheltie. They have all become great pals.

Emma and Tank, the other Basset, serenade us every morning with a beautiful song. She lets us know when things are good and not so good. At times we see her in the backyard playing with the others and would never guess she’s as old as she is.

Bottom line, we love all of our dogs, but Emma has become one of the most special. As my wife says, “Emma doesn’t cause any trouble.” No, she doesn’t, but she sure does bring a lot of smiles to our faces.

— Jason from Jonesboro, TX