I thought I would share something about my baby. While in Argentina, I missed my puppy dog so very much, so I decided it was about time I dedicate a blog to her.
In November of 2007, we were forced to make the very difficult decision of putting down our dear friend, Pongo. Pongo had been part of our family for thirteen years but had lost the use of his hind legs and was no longer able to hold up his own weight. He was a rather large Dalmatian and was clearly beginning to suffer. It was a very tough time for the whole family. There were tears through laughter and tears through silence, but I knew deep down inside that I could not live in our house without a dog.
My husband and I began to review different breeds of dogs to make sure we made the best decision for our lifestyle. I needed the companionship and he wanted to make sure our new dog would be compatible with our boat. We were beginning to spend more and more of each summer out on our boat, so the breed we chose had to be well-suited for that. On Thanksgiving morning we watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and the dog show that followed. We had been leaning towards a schipperke dog and were excited to see one in a class of small dogs. As we watched the competition, my husband said, “That dog doesn’t have a tail! I can’t have a dog without a tail!” I assured him that if he didn’t want a tail-less dog that we didn’t have to get one. The schipperke after all was his idea because he had heard they were good water dogs.
Fortunately for us there was an adorable beagle in that class, a dog with a tail! “What do you think about a beagle?” he asked me as we continued to watch the show. A beagle sounded just fine to me. I just wanted a dog, a buddy, someone to spend time with when my husband was at work. During the commercial breaks we talked more and more about the possibilities of a beagle. He seemed to really like the idea. We agreed, however, to wait until Christmas when we both would be home for about ten days straight. It would be much easier then to bring a new puppy into the house.
That Sunday as I was reading the morning paper, I happened to notice in the Want Ads a small ad for beagle puppies. I told my husband about it. The breeder was right in Frederick County. “I thought we were going to wait until Christmas,” he said. Not wanting to get into a “discussion,” I clipped out the ad and slipped it in my wallet. My husband left the next day on a three day trip to Europe. Almost immediately, I retrieved the ad from my purse and called. I made an appointment to just look at the puppies the following day.
Well, you know you can’t just look at puppies. When I got there the woman’s son and daughter went to get the puppies from the pen. The next thing I knew this beautiful little pup with the floppiest ears I had ever seen was running towards me. That was it. I pulled out my checkbook and asked how much! Our boat’s name is La Belle Vie, which essentially means “the good life” in English. I decided her name would be Belle. And we were off. I was taking my baby Belle home with me.
It only remotely dawned on me that I had promised to wait until Christmas and it wasn’t even yet December first. I checked in with my daughter on the phone who was in New York awaiting a flight to Amsterdam. “She’s gorgeous!” I gushed! “What did Dad say?” my dear daughter asked. He was due home that night and had mentioned to her that I had better not have bought a “damned dog.”
When he walked in the door that night, that “damned dog” wiggled right up to him and curled herself around his feet. She knew precisely that she needed to win this one over. And win him over she did. My dog is now his dog. The two of them are inseparable.
Our children might be out of the house, but we are not without a little one. Our baby girl, who has been deemed the favorite by the other two, keeps us busy and lights up our days.
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