The girls 

I live with three other Beagles. When I first moved to South Anchorage there was Jade, who is also known as Bitchy Beagle, and that's not just by me, either. But I get along with her cuz I just tease her and get in her face. She hates that, and I love to do it and then just grin at her. Jade is called lots of things by our parents, Jader, Jader Gator, Gator Bait, Jadey Babe. She chooses to not answer to any of them. Well, actually, none of us answer to any names. We are Beagles, and very independent, so we need to keep up that appearance that we don't answer to anyone.

Anyway, Jade is the oldest now at 9, has back problems and just recently had an episode. She plays too hard, she's fat, and then she likes to roll over like a Ninja or something and come up on her feet. She's quite acrobatic that way and she'll face us all down, run and when we try to make a wall she just runs through us, runs full speed into the next room and back, rolls over, lands on her feet and just looks at us, ready to start again. It's fun, but I think she's hurt herself for the last time.

Jade.  She's actually thinner now because she's been on the green bean diet.

Papa is not letting us play hard now. Of course, sometimes I hurt my leg, too, and then I'm crippled up for a few days. He doesn't like it when that happens so he tries to stop us. Jade is papa's girl, and she doesn't share him with the rest of us too much. We sneak into his lap when she's sleeping in one of the Beagle beds around the house because she is getting hard of hearing, unless there's food being unwrapped or the refrigerator is being opened. She's such a typical Beagle in that way. Even hard of hearing Beagles have that knack of using selective hearing!

Jade had her teeth cleaned and was doing quite well after except mom fed her too much food. Lucky dog, that Jade. But she couldn't get it digested and ended up in the emergency room, where they made her vomit it up. Then she vomitted so hard she put her back out again and had to go back on meds. She was at emergency twice before they finally got her back on track. She's tough, that girl.

Daisy Mae was the young one at the time and is now 7. She's a real primadona (yeah maybe I don't spell so well), and mom's little princess. Sometimes she's just a pain in the butt. Mom think's Daisy does no wrong, but the tales I could tell you? And I will, you can count on that. Secretly? She sometimes pees in mom's bed and blames everyone else. I hope she doesn't read this. Who cares? She can't read and is just a pretty face, at least in her mind and mom's.

Daisy Mae. She doesn't like her photo being taken so she's got the old sad sack look.  Daisy has actually got the look perfected and uses it all the time.  She's a real princess in her mind.

Anyhow, Daisy is tall and slender, although she's heading to plump as most of our breed does as we age. But she's always been skinny and when mom first got her as a pup you'd have thought she'd come from a concentration camp because she was so thin you could count her ribs and she never did gain any weight, not for years. She's got a long, elegant neck and so she really does think she's a princess. And mom tells her that, too, and she kisses her on the tummy. Yuk. Mom doesn't think the rest of us hear it cuz she gets right into Daisy's ear. She forgets that we have great hearing, so I hear it when she says, “Daisy, you're momma's little Beagle angel and momma loves you best.” That hurts me, but I know she doesn't really mean that. She just says it because Daisy is really sensitive and gets her feelings hurt easily. Mom loves all of us.

The third girl that lived with us when I came here was Mickey. Mickey had really pretty ears, but she was always so sad. She had been abandoned by her family who also had kids. They just left her with someone and said “sell her.” Luckily for her, mom came along and got her. Now that's a funny story.

Mickey, beautiful ears and beautiful but sad eyes.

Mom had come to the Valley to look at me but my then-family never called her back. She saw another ad in the newspaper and thought it was me, so she called. Turns out it was a girl-dog, Mickey. Mom told the lady she wasn't coming to the Valley right away but would call when she did. She thought the phone number was a Valley number. The lady said she lived in Mountain View, which is part of Anchorage, so mom said she'd be right there So she ran out of work to go see her.and decided to bring Mickey home. Then a day later mom got the call on me, so she took me, too. That put us at a four-Beagle family, plus Maggie-terrier who was staying at the house because her parents were snowbirds and Biker Bill and mom let her live at their house during the winter. So, that made five, and quite a houseful.

Maggie Terrier

When Biker Bill would call home he'd ask how the kids were. The kids are us. Mom would say “they're all just fine.” After quite a long time, he finally caught on. Just before he came home, he asked, and she responded again with, “they're all just fine.” There was this very long pause. Then he asked, “By all, you mean Jade, Daisy and Maggie, right?” There was a “yes,” and another very long pause. Then, “and the other two Beagles.” More pauses. “There are four Beagles and a terrier?” “Yep.” He wasn't happy and threatened to not come home. But he did.

This is our papa, Biker Bill.  He likes his Detroit Redwings and watches hockey all the time.

But the reason mom had four of us was for a couple of reasons. Her boss at the time when she was working said there was a Beagle loose in the parking lot. She went out and caught him and then brought him home. She figured out from his responses that his name was Snoopy and she thought he was a really nice dog. But his owner claimed him and mom decided it would be fun to have three Beagles, or a herd as she liked to say. So when she went looking and found me, she accidentally got Mickey and took her, and then couldn't turn me away when they offered me to her. Thank you, Guardian Beagle. And voila! There was a herd of four. But it is fun to watch us when we run, or howl, or just act silly. But when papa came home, he wasn't real happy about it. He likes us, but mostly tolerates us, except for his little girl, Jade, who claimed papa as hers and who he really loves. But now and then I crawl up into his lap although I'm the biggest and he acts like he really likes me, too.

Anyway, Mickey was never happy like the rest of us. I really think she had a broken heart from being separated from her family in such a cruel way. In January 2010 mom wanted pictures of all of us because Jade was not doing real well and she was concerned that Jade might go to Beagle heaven. She had professional photos taken by David Jensen Pet-o-graphy and then two weeks later Mickey was gone. Mom said she wasn't quite herself one morning, then papa called her and it seemed Mickey had something called a stroke. She got rushed to the emergency room and there was just nothing they could do. In fact, the vet, Dr. Kunce of Dimond Animal Clinic, said mom could have a money tree in the back yard and it wouldn't have made a difference. Mom's friend Rebecca was with her because papa just couldn't be there. And then Mickey was gone.

Originally when Daisy came to the house there was Eric the Red, a red-colored Golden Retriever. When he had to go over the Rainbow Bridge, Daisy didn't know cuz she was still really young and she had a hard time getting over it and didn't understand why he didn't come home. She howled and howled and mom was so sad.

Daisy loved Eric the Red.

This time mom told Dr. Kunce what had happened and she told her to bring the rest of us over to see that Mickey had gone over the bridge. She did, and when we saw Mickey was gone, we were all okay and looked for food. There are always treats at the vet clinics, so we just sniffed around til we got some. Food fixes everything for us. Well, except for Jade who got sick from overeating. We'd all overeat if we were allowed to. Food rocks for Beagles.

So that brings us back to saying we're a four-Beagle house. Mickey was gone so that left us with only three of us. Maggie-terrier had also passed and wasn't staying with us anymore either. Then one day in the newspaper mom saw a Beagle that Friends of Pets was trying to place. She didn't say anything and papa, even though he didn't want any more dogs, asked her if she wanted to check on the dog and if he was available, get him for her birthday. Well, of course, mom would never say no to a Beagle, so she called. Turns out the dog is Oliver, or as papa calls him, Colonel Oliver North. They went to see him and then brought him home.

Colonel Oliver North.  He looks like he has this little mustache above his upper lip.

Oliver is not really a Beagle. He looks a lot like, acts somewhat like and has some nasty habits like a Beagle, but he's not one. He's a mix and they told mom they thought he had some Jack Russel Terrier in him. Mom thinks he has some Fox Terrier like Maggie who stayed with us because he acts a lot like Maggie. He eats papa's underwear, he runs away if he gets a chance because he's an idiot, and he's got this high squeaky voice that would peel paint off a wall. And he barks at everything, including his own shadow, and mine too. Idiot dog! But mom likes him even though he bit her once and scratched her when she tried to catch him when he ran away, and so she kept him. Of course, he's not the only one who bit mom. Bitchy Beagle did it once too, but she didn't really mean to. She meant to bite me, but mom's leg got in the way and she got her instead. Mom got this really big black and blue mark on her leg with little tooth marks, but it didn't break the skin. Mom even took a picture of it to show papa. It was pretty funny cuz Jade got in trouble.

Mom's really had problems with Oliver, though. She said he's the worst one to come through the house. He's peed, pooped, and eaten things. But mom knows her precious princess, Daisy, chews things too. But she always forgives her.

So now you know who we all are.