Piper loved being in the woods. She’d go to the nearest forest anytime the opportunity presented itself, which was more than I liked, that’s for sure. Not because I wanted her to be unhappy, it’s just that I worried for her. Her nose got her into some pretty delicate situations. Maybe she was chasing a rabbit. Or I had looked the other way for a few seconds too long. Then boom, she was off and running!
Here I go again on my own… traveling down the only road I’ve ever known…
It’s a blessing and a curse having a beagle. On the one hand, I love that Piper was very good at hunting without a single session of training. But on the other hand, like I said, it made me nervous because she wasn’t really afraid of anything. In Tennessee that’s mostly OK where wildlife is concerned. But once we moved to Florida, all I could imagine was Piper having a run-in with a gator or a snake and how I’d manage explaining to authorities that Piper dominated them both.
OK, I’m just being silly. Piper never had an encounter with an alligator or snake (that I’m aware of) but the most scared I ever felt was a day she was gone for 4 hours on the coast of Florida where there are gators, snakes, and bears. I searched, my whole family searched (we were in the middle of a beach family reunion), but we all came up empty. It wasn’t until later that day we got a call from a nearby vet’s office that someone had picked up a beagle trotting along the only paved road in the area. She had travelled miles and someone miraculously found her and took care of her for one night. I picked her up the next day. To this day, she never told me what she did or where she went, I guess that’s a secret I’ll never know!
I miss my wandering beagle. Even when she played Houdini, she always somehow made it back home. I loved being with her and I don’t think there will ever be another one for me like Piper.
-Out of the Wilderness
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Out of the Wilderness 