There isn’t a dog that will look at you (or your food) more lovingly than a beagle. It’s those big eyes, even bigger ears, and a personality that says, “I love you, now get me a treat!” Way back 12 years ago in Nashville, Tennessee I said “I do” to adopting a cute little beagle I saw pictured in a wicker basket with her siblings. If the agency taking care of her at the time would’ve asked her if she would take me as her best friend, if she’d be loyal, she probably answers by saying, “YOU tell ME.” Yep, as cute as she was (and is) on the outside, on the inside she’s the sassiest of firecrackers.
On top of that, there isn’t a bone in her body that lacks confidence, that’s for sure!
Much like many beagles, Piper’s kryptonite is food or anything that might be close to being food. When we’re out on walks she sniffs everything (she’s a hound after all!) but she likes to take it a step further. Why sniff if it if you’re not going to eat it?
I ask, “Piper, are you really gonna eat that crumpled up piece of paper that blew out of someone’s trashcan?”
She replies, “YOU tell ME.”
In other words, yes. Yes, she’s really going to eat that crumpled up piece of paper that blew out of someone’s trashcan.
But gosh darn it if she isn’t the cutest beagle out there.Sometimes I get mad at her but it doesn’t last long. Kind of like her remorse for whatever she just did that I spanked her for. You know that cliche when parents spank they’re children, “It’s going to hurt me more than it hurts you.” That’s not true, but with Piper, it actually IS true. I swat her on the rear-end and she goes along as if [insert phrase that means “nothing happened, nothing at all”]. Then there I am wondering where I failed as a dog dad and if she’ll still let me be her owner servant anymore because I’m so inferior.
I’d ask her but I know what the answer would be.
YOU tell ME.
Then she shakes her ears, sticks her nose to the ground, and trots away, expecting dinner promptly at 4pm.
-Out of the Wilderness
Out of the Wilderness 