Oh.
My.
God.
There is nothing more perfect in the world than a bouncy flouncy pouncy bubbly little baby Beagle puppy named Maggie. Yes, Maggie. This girl is a Maggie, she was a Maggie right from the minute she was handed to me at 10:15 on Saturday morning. Once liberated from the kennel full of rambunctious brother Beagles, she showered me with gratitude. She looked right up at me and licked my nose, my cheeks, my lips, my ears, my eyelids… oh boy, is she a kisser. I lingered a bit outside her brothers’ kennel to allow her to say goodbye, but it was more like, “nanny nanny boo boo, I’m going fir-irst!” leaving the boys whimpering with jealousy. Another family was there to pick up their pup whom they named “Homey.” Once they retrieved their pup, all six of us–Andrew, our breeder, the other puppy picker-uppers and me–went inside to sign papers and whatnot and I sat on the floor, and my pup came running right up to me to lick my face again, despite all the chaos. That was the first time I called her by name. “Hello my Maggie!” just came out without thinking about it. And so she is Maggie.
We took her home in our SUV. Andrew drove while I sat in the back seat with my girl, her crate and her toys. She whimpered a bit in my arms at first, as each new sound was oh so frightening. Soon enough she saw the crate on the seat beside us and started towards it. I opened the door, she went inside, snuggled up with her new toys and fell asleep.
Homecoming was probably scarier for me than it was for her, as we arrived I felt a sudden pang of “oh my gawd. I have a dawg. What do I do now?” I’ve read books and websites and collected advice from a dozen people, but the slight panic was still there. Maggie’s experience could be described more accurately as Beagle Sensory Overload. Her nose never stops investigating, her mouth makes contact with everything in her line of sight. Her line of site, by the way, is very low to the ground, and she has found all kinds of things that in our pitiful “puppy proofing” sessions we failed to eliminate. Dust bunnies. Crumbs. Dirt. Corn silk. Maple tree seeds. Feathers. Soot. Her seek and find skills have given me a whole new awareness of my poor my housecleaning skills.
Right now it is time for lunch and time to go home to my baby and Andrew. He’s got the day off today, I stay home tomorrow. But CEO has made sure that I have plenty of work to take home and do in between “Chop chop!” (time to pee!) and “Maggie, come–good girl!” (which she’s learned already, let me tell ya, my dawg is Gifted. Do they have obedience classes for Gifted Dawgs?). So I must leave it at that for today, get pictures developed and downloaded tomorrow, and return with more details when Maggie is asleep.
Oh, did I mention that she has completely taken to her crate already too, and she is paper trained (well, to a point)! Genius, I tell you! I guess this is what they mean by “Champion Bloodlines.” I hope I can keep up.
