Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen

The first time you meet a Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen, you'll try to say the name, fail spectacularly, and immediately fall in love anyway. That's the PBGV experience in a nutshell — nothing about this dog is simple, everything about this dog is wonderful. They look like someone assembled a dog from spare parts: the shaggy eyebrows of a philosophy professor, the beard of a sea captain, the stumpy legs of a much smaller dog attached to the body of a much bigger one, and ears so long they practically sweep the floor. The whole package comes wrapped in a wiry, tousled coat that says 'I woke up like this, and I'm not sorry.' But that charmingly disheveled exterior houses one of the most relentlessly happy, stubbornly enthusiastic, and hilariously determined dogs on the planet. PBGVs were bred to hunt rabbits through the thorny underbrush of France's Vendée region, and they bring that same tenacious, nose-to-the-ground, nothing-will-stop-me energy to everything — including your flower beds, your garbage can, and the interesting smell three blocks away that they absolutely must investigate right now. They don't walk. They quest. Every outing is an expedition, every bush hides a mystery, and every squirrel is the most important squirrel that has ever existed. They'll bay at it with a voice that seems impossibly huge for their size, tail going like a windshield wiper in a hurricane, and you'll stand there holding the leash thinking 'This ridiculous, magnificent creature chose me.' And somehow, that's enough.