Lola is an interesting little beagle. She will be two in October and has been with me for over a year.
She has everything I want in a Beagle, physically. A small 15″ who fills all the inches she has. Temperment wise, she lacks confidence. I am hoping agility will help with that.
She showed very well for me at Dallas but her tail is loose and relaxed at Longview and at conformation class.
Summer is in heat and wasn't much into it, but I did get some courses our of her.
Obi was great! First time on a different set of weaves, took a few times but I got him to weave. Best though — we ran some nice courses together — and by run, I ran a few steps! Nice progress. Especially for the first class of the year.
If you look at the AKC standard, beagles are described as either 13" and under or not exceeding 15".
I have had 13" beagles from both hunting stock and from conformation stock. Missy and Patty were both from hunting stock. Dulce and Macy were from conformation — specifically from Mildred Austin's breeding.
I have always been fascinated by the thought of pocket beagles. According to beagle lore, they were 8" beagles. I read about them the first time when I first got into beagles, and every knowledgable source agrees that they did exist and that their bloodlines are extend. There were three registered kennels and they were all wiped out by a communicable disease, I believe distemper.
Here's what I have found on the internet:
http://www.beaglepro.com/pocket-beagles – who compare well bred 13" / 15" with advertised pocket beagles.
https://www.foxfirebeagles.com/pocketbeagles – has much of the same content as the above source.
https://www.barkleyandpaws.com/dogs/breeds/do-not-buy-pocket-beagles Explains why you should not buy one.
From the Beagle Club of Western Canada: https://beagleclubofwesterncanada.weebly.com/pocket-beagles.html
If you do further research, many "breeders" are calling the 13" beagles, pocket beagles for marketing purposes. However, a 13" beagle is not as small as the original Pocket Beagle kennel dogs.
Many years ago, I was doing the "right thing" and getting a dog from rescue. A south Texas rescue had a litter of puppies from a shelter, did I want one. I drove down to South Texas and got the ugliest beagle puppy I had ever seen. Within 12 hours it had diarrhea. Rushed to my vet, spend the weekend trying to keep it alive and ended up giving it back to rescue as I wasn't going through the pain of watching it die. It died. My vet and all the other experts told me not to bring another puppy into the house for a year.
It took me over 10 years to bring another puppy in the house, and that puppy had lived in a place that had dealt with parvo a year earlier. Every other dog I've gotten since then has been at least 6 months old.
To this day, I am very hesitant to even visit puppies.
Imagine when I found out local beagle breeders who do everything right have lost two five-month-old puppies to parvo. When they announced the second, my seven-month-old beagle boy went straight to the vet for a booster. Of course, this is the lady who got a measles shot when the local airport announced that they had a case of measles. Since he is entered in a dog show this month, I am not taking chances or waiting for a titer.
I've been frustrated because I'm still limited in what I can do.
Before I fell, I could get my dogs to the show ring, show my dogs and get them back to the car myself. I didn't need a mobility aid.
Physical therapy has been kicking my butt, and on physical therapy days, I've haven't been able to do much.
Today was a PT. I took it easy in the afternoon, and ordered pizza for dinner. I usually try to cook. I got my husband to put the puppy in the truck for me, and we made it to dog class. I was able to lift him, stack him and stand long enough for the exam. I moved him, but not fast enough for him to look good. I also took a lot of short cuts in moving him, so I didn't have to go as far.
I also got a load of laundry in the washer and from the washer to the dryer. Something I was having to do one process at time.
The pain is definitely muscle pain. I have a knot of muscles above the knee that hurt tonight. The pain moves from their to my hip muscles to the muscles below my knee.
I also got another dog to the vet, but she and the vet staff did all the lifting. She happily hops into the truck unlike the puppy who has to be pushed and dragged.
Today was the end of 6 weeks of PT, and they are asking for 4 more weeks.
It's been just over 2 weeks since I fell.
Yesterday was a good day until PT. It kicked my butt.
I was able to walk into Fry's, Chili's and Starbucks. I didn't get to shop at Fry's because they don't have an electric wheelchair shopping cart and I sure thought I saw one.
I keep hoping I'll wake up and be able to put full weight on my leg, but my knee alternates from not hurting, to itching, aching.
I did more yesterday in physical therapy than I had before but had muscle spasms when they iced me, and was down for the count for the rest of the day. The pain is just wearing me out.
The good news is that the statin muscle pain I was having before the fall is gone.
For those of you who think breeders are the problem with dogs, you are so wrong. They are doing the best they can to keep their breeds improving. They are thrilled when puppies get great homes, even the ones that aren’t showing.
Beagles are generally easy keepers. It doesn’t take much food to keep them alive and healthy, doesn’t take much owner interaction.
I once read a statistic that only 3 out of 5 puppies born make it to adulthood. Some days that number seems high.
This is one of them.
A reputable breeder just lost the two puppies her female was carrying. They had the best of medical care, the breeder stayed with the litter the entire time and they just died. They were feeding, mom was taking care of them. Textbook perfect. C-section so yes, they had good care from moment one.
Recently another friend had a litter where 2 of the three puppies died. They were being cared for by the breeder and a certified vet tech. They died during birth.
Yes, there are successful births puppies are doing well, and out of the blue, they get parvo. Thousands of dollars later, one dies, one is unaffected and three make it. None of the adults dogs were exposed or affected, no one knows where it came from. Litters before and after don’t get it.
Another older pup gets killed by an adult dog within days of being placed in its home.
An adult dog gets loose after being attacked at a training facility and gets hit by a car.
Females die giving birth, after birth, you name, just like humans do.
I have tears and sympathy for all affected. Its hard. I am not sure I want to go there and I know my husband doesn’t He gets very attached.
People were surprised he was bigger.
He is teething so didn't like having to show his bite. However, he is still infinitely better than Summer was on the table. He stands still and lets me fool with him. Same with the judge. Also likes loving on the judge.
He is really great on the leash, which surprises me as we have only had a few leash outings. First confirmation class, Nordstrom's visit, and the vet.
He really seems to enjoy the attention.
And he learned! He learned that you don't play with chihuahua's but that pugs are fun.
I hope to have movies and pictures next time. This week was crowded because of the Glen Rose shows. We won't have class again until next Tuesday, after the Glen Rose shows, and I would feel better about cameras at that class.
I was thinking about taking him to the fun match but he won't be 4 months old until 2/7
I just cancelled my Nationwide Policies.
When Marcie had a pancreatitis attack that cost a $1000 a day, I got pet insurance. I have kept it for 10 years, but cancelled all my policies this week.
My original plan, was to breed a litter of beagles, and include the pet insurance with the purchase of the puppies. That meant no preexisting conditions exclusions.
However, I called and asked about coverage for breeding costs, and they told me after this year, they weren't covering any breeding costs. I didn't explore that further, but let it rumble around in my brain. Then I got an EOB from Dulce's policy where she hadn't met the deductible this year and her year starts in May.
So instead of buying a policy for Obi, I opened a savings account and put the policy amount in that account. Then I canceled the other policies and that money is also going into that account. I already have set aside about $2500 for vet bills and plan to continue to add to it.
There are a couple of reasons to take a pup to the vet the first week you get them.
In Texas, the microchip is important if there is every a loose dog and ownership issue. In fact, our city has been paying for resident's dogs.
In males, if you want to show, they need both testicles. Obi has both of them. My conformation instructor thought so, I thought so, but its best to get it from the vet.
Free heart worm preventive.
So we have his records set up at the vet's office, he's chipped and has been declared healthy.
It took a while. The staff all had to play with him and socialization is part of the point.