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Sunday, July 20, 2008

About That Beagle


Her name is Rosie, short for Roosevelt. She is still here, and likely to remain, unless she gets into the chickens. She's still too curious about them for my liking, but is learning to obey when we scold her. She is my girl, I have to admit, with a sweet nature and willingness to please that speaks well for her future (if she can curb her taste for chicken).



Rosie stops to smell the roses..or where the roses should be.


We also now have a black lab puppy named Otis. He got his name as a spinoff of Oafus because of the way he falls down and up the porch steps.


Otis surveys his new home.


How did we end up with two new dogs? Well....


We stopped at the animal shelter a couple weeks ago to find out their hours and the procedure for dropping off an animal (Rosie, that would be). While we were there we asked about black labs--did they have any? They did. The first one they showed us was huge and scary. I like labs but this was more dog than I wanted.


Then I spied another, small black dog. I looked closer. Was he a lab? Yes, he was, a puppy about 3 months old. He seemed scared and lost amidst the Huskies, coonhounds, and mutts in the pen with him. We took him out and after a few minutes decided this was the dog for us. We arranged to drop off the beagle in a few days. The lab would be neutered and ready for pick-up in a week.

Meantime, we tried to find the beagle's owner. We called everyone we thought might have lost a dog, and called the local radio call-in show. No dice. A neighbor offered to take her and see if she'd make a hunting dog. A friend wanted her but worried about the busy road in front of his house. Rosie continued to work her way into everyone's heart.

Finally I called the shelter.

"We're keeping the beagle so we won't be picking up the lab."

"Oh no!" the lady said. "He's already been neutered and he's ready to go."

I offered to pay for the neutering in the hopes that someone would adopt him since the cost would be much lower.


Later that day I stopped in to pay for the neutering.

The lady said, "But why don't you want him? He's such a sweet dog."

"I don't want to deal with two puppies," I explained. She understood.

"But," she said, "just to be sure why don't you look at him again?"

I did--and there he stood, scared in the pen with all those big dogs, looking at me.

I took him home.

He is the ruler of all that he sees...


except for Rosie,

...who sits on him when he gets to be too much,


and leaves him chastened and knowing who the boss really is!


He's hilarious. He's 100% puppy, falling over things, barking at himself in mirrors, chewing on anything he can find (where did he get that deer jaw, complete with teeth?), and pestering the beagle to her wits' end. He is all puppy, and all Otis.

So here I am, with two puppies and one old cocker spaniel who seems to think she's a cat and has little to do with the new dogs.


Boy and dog, completely worn out. Can you see the dog, trying to blend into the floor and pretend he's not in the house, where he isn't supposed to be?


And that's the story of Rosie and Otis.

8 comments:

  1. Love the story!
    And I love Rosie and Otis. You have so much love in your heart that you needed them both and they both needed you!
    I al looking forward to future posts on "The adventures of Rosie and Otis"
    Tracey

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  2. oops, I am looking forward not al.

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  3. What a great story. It's one of those that truly makes me remember that when kind hearts are involved, things always work out the way their are supposed to, without fail. Hope it wall works out nicely, I know that's a whole lot of dog to be dealing with. Again, I loved this story!

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  4. Dang. That made me want to go visit the shelter. I've always wanted to have a dog like Papa Joe's Tasha Tripod who traveled (travels? haven't heard anything from PJ in a long time) with him to storytelling gigs. It's not going to happen, at least not while I have a geezer cat.
    By reading about these pups on your blog, I can vicariously live the life of a dog owner. Thanks!

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  5. There you go, bragging about having 2 dogs when I have none. I wonder if I just picked one up and brought it home if my husband would divorce me? I'd love to find a basset hound, or a wiemeraner...I know, opposites. But I like them both. Blessings, marlene

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  6. The sad, dark side to this story is one I have not talked about on the blog because it was too painful--the two dogs I had until March and loved enormously. They decided to turn pig killer and killed one of our baby pigs and were attacking the other when we got there. It was horrible.

    Since we live in a place where many people have livestock, we couldn't keep the dogs in good conscience--how could I trust them when we went to work? what would I have done with my turkeys, pigs and baby chickens? (We tried tying them before with very bad results, and I just don't want to own a dog I have to keep on a chain).

    It was a nightmare I would not want to live through again, which is why I was so hesitant to take in Rosie with her interest in my henhouse. Of course, losing our dogs meant we were vulnerable to deer, and to the dog attack that took most of my hand-raised hens. It's been a tough time, and hard decisions had to be made. Our two beloved dogs went to the shelter--both were adopted, I hear, by different families so I hope and pray all is well with them. I never, ever want to go through something like that again. Pets become family members, and my heart broke when we had to give those two dogs up.

    But we're starting fresh and hopeful with these two puppies. Why my other two turned killer I'll never fully understand, but we have had many dogs over the years, and those two were the first to do this, so I am optimistic that it will not happen again.

    At least we haven't had any more deer in the gardens.

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  7. Your beagle is adorable!! I also have a beagle, Molly is 8 yrs old and my other dog Lucy is a 10 yr old Aussie Kelpie.

    Your yard is so nice....is it fenced Beagles tend to get on a scent and run away is not fenced in.

    Please join our beagle list, it's called Happy Tails. We have members from all over the world, here's a link.

    http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/happytails/

    Hope to see ya there!

    Raven, Lucy & Molly
    WI. USA

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  8. I'm so sorry for the trouble you with your previous two dogs. I know it must have been absolutely terrible. Good for you for trusting you feelings and moving forward, especially with these to adorable pups.

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