Ain't Nothing but a Hound Dog...

I never grew up with a dog, so I don't consider myself a dog person, but I knew that having a pet could be an important learning experience for kids;  so when a middle-aged beagle needed to be adopted at school, I encouraged my husband to consider adding her to our family.

Living with a beagle, whose bad habits were pretty definitely formed, has been interesting.  She's a hound, so her nose is her reason for being.  Taking a walk with Canela means weaving from one side of the sidewalk to the other while she sniffs down the animals who have previously walked, hopped, or crittered by. If I'm not paying attention, my arm will be jerked out of its socket when she abruptly stops to bury her nose in the grass.  And bury it she does.  When she is on to a scent her head bobs up and down, and when she finds it, down to the dirt and roots it goes and she snurfles around until....I'm not sure what happens, but she's finished and we move on. If I want to move on first, I have to use my teacher voice and be quite stern with her.  

In the morning when I let her out for her constitutional she stands at the top of the steps, sniffs and surveys her kingdom, and then she proceeds to explore every inch. I'm thinking she's tracking any changes.  She nose knocks at the back door when she's ready to come in - and her breakfast is usually ready.  Then her inner puppy escapes and she scrambles for the bowl, nails skittering and slipping on the floor, thrilled to have her kibble and peanut butter treat.

Because beagles are so driven by their nose, a friend once said to me: "They aren't people dogs first..." and he was somewhat regretful that we had ended up with Canela.  He's right - she's hard to train and the instinct to bark and escape to follow her nose are primary in her walnut size brain.  I'll tell you another time about how many times we have recovered her from the neighborhood!  But, on a lovely afternoon such as this, as I sit by the pond slicing, she lays down beside me, as if acknowledging our bond.  These little gestures come more and more, and confirm for me that she understands she's an important member of our pack.