Beagles Are Not Pets

When I was a young fella - and by young I mean twelve - I wanted a beagle to go hunting rabbits with me.

My Momma, being from stout stock, told me that I could not have one because we lived in town - and beagles need to be in the country.

My Momma, being from stout stock, thought that living in town meant that we had a neighbor nearer than shouting distance. It did't seem like town to me.

I got over it.

When I got to be an older fella - and by older I mean fifty - my wife gave me a beagle for Christmas.

We still lived in town by Momma's definition - and I no longer hunted.

Anyways, she who was to be known as Emma showed up in my life about thirty eight years too late - but there she was.

Cute puppy.

Beagles are hounds and, if you've ever spent much time with hounds, you know that you ain't ever going to truly housebreak them.

The woman who bought Emma for me also acted as the person who sent her out of my immediate life - because Emma pooped on her good rugs - go figure.

I was raised to know and I have always said that life in general is divided into indoor dogs and outdoor dogs.

Hounds are outdoor dogs.

We sent Emma out to live with my Momma - who actually does live in the country. We heard tonight that Emma was killed on the road.

I hope that she was baying in full voice.

I loved her both pup and dog.

tom Regards,

Tom Watson

formatting link

Reply to
Tom Watson
Loading thread data ...

She will "always" have a place in your heart Tom, never fear that.

Reply to
Leon

I had a corgi that lived to 13 and was jealous of power tools and would make an effort to wedge himself between me and the tool of the moment. He died a natural death a couple of years ago and I still can't run a palm sander without thinking of him, they get under your skin.

I also raise Treeing Walkers and occasionally I have someone that wants one for a house pet. I've never told anyone no, but I do tell them if it doesn't work out I'll take the hound back and refund their money.

These dogs eat enormous quantities of food, crap piles that would make a T-rex proud, bark at 120db and cover vast distances in just a few bounds. They are not house dogs, they need acres of property to keep them in.

basilisk

Reply to
basilisk

I'm sorry to hear of Emma's demise. Hounds are great dogs and deserve our love.

My own hound story...

In 1954 when I was a freshman in college - fresh out of the USN - I lived the first semester in a fraternity house. One day one of the brothers brought home an elderly black & tan hound to be the chapter's mascot.

I don't know where he found the dog but he (dog, not brother) was very old and nearly blind from cataracts. He also had a few shotgun pellets in him so I always suspected that he had outlived his usefulness to his original owner so said owner had taken him out in the woods to dispatch him but bungled the job.

Well, after a couple of weeks the powers that be among the brothers decided that an old, nearly blind hound was too much trouble so they gave him to a commercial biological lab. No problem with the dog pooping/pissing inside, BTW.

Biological labs do terrible, awful things to animals...things I do not agree with so I reclaimed him and took him to my mother's home some 120 miles away. "Look, mom - I brought you a new dog!". She was not thrilled but, being a mother, let him stay.

He got along well with the little old lady terrier mom already had and the terrier was quite taken with him. He went totally blind in a year or so but had learned his way around before hand...he could find his way around the house and yard with zero problems. No pooping nor pissing problems either. He was a good dog; always friendly, loving and amiable. And smart. And enthusiastic - ask him if he wanted to go for a walk and he was READY!! Woofing and dancing...

I would see him whenever I came home at a holiday but that wasn't all that often and after graduating I moved far away and saw him not at all. The terrier - Trixie - had died while I was in college. He missed her but adapted. He died a couple of years after I graduated. I have no idea how old he actually was but he was ancient - my guess is 20+. His name was Sam. Wish I had been able to spend more time with him.

As I said, hounds are great dogs and deserve our love.

Reply to
dadiOH

Tom,

Sorry to hear about your loss. Thanks for sharing.

Here's my Beagle story:

My daughter was 7 or 8 when this happened. She was walking down the sidewalk to her friends house. It was a gorgeous spring day and we had the front door open. Seconds after she left the house I heard blood curdling screams from my daughter getting ever closer to the house. I ran to the door to see what her terror was. There was a cute beagle puppy at her heals! He just wanted to play. She was terrified! As I comforted her I was chuckling and the puppy was jumping up trying to get our attention. Kristen is 19 now and still not much of a dog person.

cm

I never own a dog that can shit bigger than I.

Reply to
cm

"Tom Watson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

with me. My father had brought him home as a present as I was starting to hunt rabbits and squirrels on my own. (We lived on the edge of town). They say you get one good dog in your life and he was definitely it. He never gave up on a rabbit until it went down a hole or I shot it. When it was time to go home, I would have to hide behind a tree and tackle him as he ran by because if he thought I was quitting he wouldn't come near me. At that time, you just didn't tie your dogs up...they were left out and came in when they were a mind to. We would hear him running rabbits and whatever other scent he came on, sometimes all night near the house. Twice, he was picked up by someone, probably while doing this and always just before rabbit season. We got him back both times as I suppose he wasn't ready to quit and the person who had taken him was and just left him in the field. Once, he was found some thirty miles away. 'course he might have run a deer that far but at that time there weren't any deer in Northern Illinois, that we knew of. My dad and I finally decided it was time to start tieing him up when he was out of the house as it was hunting season and there were more cars on the roads. My mother came home from work that day not knowing of our decision..felt sorry for him on the rope and let him loose to run. He didn't come home and we finally found him laying dead along a road about 4 miles from the house a few days later. It was the week before Christmas and I still remember crying for a week. My wife doesn't understand why to this day I still get sad at Christmas time. Prince was his name and he truly was one.

Tom G.

Reply to
Tom G

Could read the rest of this... got something stuck in my eye....

Reply to
Robatoy

Sorry for your loss, it's tought to loose a dog.

For a minute there I thought you were describing my dearly departed mother.

"Dogs belong outside, and in the country where they can run free, not be tied up in the city." was her credo.

None of my dogs never set foot inside the house.

There are dogs and then there are hounds.

Hounds want to earn their keep.

Dogs are content just being dogs.

I'm reminded of an old CW tune by Shep Woolly that starts out, "... just a boy and his dog Ole Shep was his name...........,"

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.