My Little Lady

I've been feeling bad that I haven't posted any pictures of our new baby. She's been with us just over 2 months, but we've been really bad about taking pictures, so I haven't done her Dogster page like I did for the others.

But she's just such a sweet little beagle, and she's already such a part of the family, she deserves some spotlight time. We were definitely not planning on getting another dog so soon after losing Max. We knew it wouldn't be smart to try to "replace" him, and we wanted the others to all find their new dynamic without him. But then Katrina happened, and we found ourselves wanting to do something to help all the pets who were displaced by the hurricane. So the wife started checking out pet rescue sites, looking for a way for us to foster or adopt someone. And oddly, in perusing a local shelter site, she saw a notice for this poor little beagle, 13 years old, whose people were getting divorced and had decided neither of them alone could keep her (after 9 years!). She had about a week before they would have to turn her over to the shelter.

We couldn't believe someone could give up their dog like that. And we talked about it for a couple days, but we quickly realized that we saw that site for a reason--Lady was meant to cross our path. We learned from our experience with Lucy that when they're meant to find you, they just do. So we called and arranged a visit, and this beautiful little beagle with a limp came bounding in our door and ran laps around our house, with Lucy and Trixie sniffing after her. We weren't sure how she felt about us, but we fell in love right away. More importantly, she seemed just fine with the other two dogs, and the cats seemed to care less, so everyone looked compatible. A couple days later, she came to stay for good.

She's a special little beagle. Her limp is from a weakened left front leg, and she's got a big lump on her shoulder, plus a bunch of other little lumps all over her chest and belly. Our vet says they seem to be just benign fatty tumors, so hopefully they won't turn into anything. Poor Max had them too, but we don't know if that's what eventually got him. Other than that, she seems to be real healthy. She gets that reverse sneeze thing a few times a day, but she seems to know how to take care of herself.

Lady's a great addition to the family. She gets along great with Lucy and Trixie, and barely seems to notice the cats. She hasn't yet started playing with toys, but there's some playfulness in her, so we're hoping she'll grab one of the plushies someday and start gnawing on it. She's really good at telling us when she has to go outside, and she always reminds us to give her a cookie when she comes back in. She definitely has a beagle bark, and sometimes drives us nuts with her yapping in the evening before we come up to bed.

The most charming thing is how we can see her becoming more and more comfortable with us. She was always friendly, but over the past month, she's really been seeking us for attention and cuddling. She loves hopping up on the bed with us (I don't think she was allowed to before), and she knows how to turn on the cute to make sure she gets a lot of kisses. She's started running after me and doing the head butt thing when she wants some hugging. Tonight we got her all riled up and she was nipping at Lucy, wanting to do some tussling. And she's got the best tail wag, big and wide and happy-looking.

Oh, and the most interesting thing is that she reminds us of Max in so many ways. He was a Kerry Beagle, not strictly a beagle, but same family. And we had no expectations that she would fill any role he left behind, but we definitely felt an affinity for beagles because of him. But we've quickly found her to be very "beagly" the way he was--always looking for food, letting little silent farts pop out. But what's weirder and sweeter are the less obvious things she does that remind us of Max--laying in the same spot in the yard, acting like she doesn't want to be hugged yet chasing after us for it when we stop, pretending like she doesn't hear us talking to her, and eating from the litter box. Maybe it's projecting our own thoughts onto her, but I honestly believe that our Max is visiting us through Lady from time to time.

It's just so satisfying to see another little fur person become part of our family.