The life of a hound

Mike Sciacca

A section of Huntington Beach Central Park went to the dogs on

Saturday.

Well, to one breed, in particular.

As barks of pleasure rumbled low to the ground, a gathering of

about 60 basset hounds converged at the park for a monthly “Breakfast

with Bassets” meeting at the Park Bench Cafe.

Breakfast with Bassets has been holding meetings for eight years,

but what was special about the February gathering was that the cable

TV station Animal Planet came to the park to film the basset hounds

and their owners for an upcoming segment of its “Extreme” series.

“This is always a fun morning, but today, it’s special,” said Beth

Hamilton of Westminster.

Hamilton, a volunteer coordinator for the event, owns several

dogs, including Droopy, a basset hound that she adopted in November.

Hamilton also is the stepdaughter of Stan Fry, who runs the

website for Basset Hound Rescue of Southern California, who

coordinated Saturday’s filming segment with Animal Planet.

“Most of the bassets you see here today are either adopted or

rescued,” Hamilton said. “We have a lot of dogs from the Basset Hound

Club of Southern California and the Basset Rescue Connection in

Action, where there’s a big ranch full of basset hounds.

“Mainly, these breakfasts, held on the first Saturday of each

month, are held to bring together these dogs and their owners. You

really don’t see a lot of basset hounds on a daily basis, and these

breakfasts allow owners and dogs to socialize.”

Saturday’s party included a raffle drawing. Proceeds from the

raffle benefited the Basset Hound Rescue of Southern California.

“We had a lot of fun with this today,” Stan Fry said. “Some of

these basset hounds are going to be TV stars.” Most of the basset

hounds attending Saturday’s party were dressed in costume.

Molly and Ralphie, owned by Fry, were among the elaborately

dressed.

Molly looked like a princess, complete with tiara and pink feather

boa. She was dressed that way for good reason, as she was celebrating

her sixth birthday.

Ralphie, meanwhile, was dressed in pirate’s attire.

The two canines shared a blanket near the blanket occupied by

Droopy, owned by Hamilton and dressed to resemble, his owner said, a

“surfer dude,” and Casey, also owned by Fry, who was decked out as a

cowboy sheriff.

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171.