lol Splat. Ellie has added a lot of 'life' to your house, hasn't she? Copper (my sons basset) had to put up with a rotten puppy, too.
We had two bassets. Copper and Dilly (she was mine). Dilly got lymphoma and died.
Copper got so depressed... couldn't sleep, wouldn't eat, etc. I was so worried we were going to lose him, too, so I decided to get him a puppy, hoping that would distract him from his grief. A rambunctious, slightly insane cocker spaniel. He put up with so much from her! He'd finally get tired of it and grab her with his paws and shove her down with his snout and pin her to the floor. He'd look up at me with those basset eyes and let out a big sigh. Made me laugh. He got pretty good at holding her captive.