Beagles in the Blood

I am kind of known as that crazy beagle woman. Whenever someone sees a story about a beagle, they send it to me. And that damn email about the fawn who came in through the doggie door? And the owner came home to find their beagle sitting next to the deer on the blue couch? I get that email once a month at least. Everyone says the same thing 'this made me think of you'. Ah well, at least people are thinking of me!

I am the proud momma to 2 beagles. Cobalt, the male, joined our house first. I was a retail manager, it was Christmas-time, and on my lunch break one day I did not resist the urge to go into a pet store. Now before you start lecturing me about buying at a pet store, we happened to get very lucky with both of our dogs. However, I know this is not the best way to get a dog, and the next time we have agreed that we will rescue a beagle. But I went into the store, and they had a Blue Beagle. I had never seen a blue beagle. He is kind of this taupe/gray. His ears were bigger than his head. They put us in a play area together, and this little puppy grabbed the hem of my skirt in his teeth and tugged on it. Apparently my heart was connected to that skirt! The puppy came home with us that night, and was named Cobalt.

We quickly learned Cobalt got lonely, and we both had to work. So we went back, hoping maybe to get a litter mate, but what we came home with was a small female, who was mostly black and brown. She looked like a rottweiler puppy. She certainly was a fierce dog. But she grew on us, this sweet little thing we could hold in one hand. So she became Onyx, although she prefers to answer to Princess.

There is a reason I like beagles. My aunt Arlene, my mother's sister, had a beagle when I was a child. Aunt Arlene's beagle was named Rusty. My mom bought Rusty for Aunt Arlene about a month before Mom & Dad's wedding. Dad's best friend raised beagles at the time. Rusty was the runt of the litter. Here is a picture of Aunt Arlene the night she got Rusty. Most people look at the picture and see me. I look at the picture of the dog and see Onyx.

Rusty was a very spoiled and very loved beagle. He did not remain small for long. There are many pictures of me as a toddler, with Rusty by my side. He was an odd beagle. He made friends with bunny rabbits. He would curl up under a tree in Grandma & Grandpa's yard in Florida, and the bunnies would curl up with him. He also liked McDonalds. If you left him at home, you had better come back with a McDonalds' hamburger, or he would not let you in the house. There were a few times we would forget the hamburger, and have to turn around and go back for it. Rusty shaped my lifelong love of beagles.

When my Grandma passed away in October, 2008; my aunt cleaned out the house. She sent all pictures, and some documents, to me. I had boxes to go through. I still haven't gotten through all of them. I have a general idea of what is in the rubbermaid tote, but I haven't gone over every piece thoroughly. As I was looking through an old album, full mostly of people I didn't know, a picture fell out of the album into my lap. It was an old picture, and was a woman, holding two beagles in her arms. Behind her on a wall are several rabbit skins, which I think explains why the beagles look so happy.

I called my mom to find out who had beagles. She didn't really know off hand, but when she came to visit a month later, as soon as she looked at the photo she said 'oh, that's Aunt Zoe'. My great-great aunt Zoe, or Izoa- which was her given name. She was Grandpa Wager's aunt; the sister of his father. As mom looked at the photo she remembered that Aunt Zoe had raised beagles at one point.

I recently put this photo as my profile picture on facebook. Several people have asked 'is that your Grandma?' and they get a kick out of the story. My hope is to recreate the picture (minus the dead rabbits) at some point for our annual Christmas card. Because it's obvious, being a Beagle Mommy is in my blood.