Bashful Boy is a very special 4-year-old Beagle who I adopted at our local animal shelter on January 7, 2004. There were so many people who wanted to adopt Bashful Boy that the shelter held an auction for him. I had experience with eBay so after the auction bids had reached $200 and were still dragging on with only $10 bid increments, I hollered $400 to everyone else's amazement. Bashful was mine.
He had to be neutered before I could bring him home. He was still groggy when I picked him up from the animal hospital after his surgery. By the time we reached home, however, Bashful was happy to explore the backyard of his new home for any new scents he might pick up. He spent quite a bit of time roaming around the yard before he decided to come into the house and explore what new scents he might discover here. Each room of the house was new territory that Bashful Boy carefully examined. He finally settled in the living room where I quickly showed him how to use the doggy door. Bashful is a smart boy and learned his lesson very quickly.
We have now shared our lives for a little more than 3 years. He is a very playful dog and loves to go for walks, rides in the car, and play tug-of-war games with me. He will bring me one of his many stuffed animals and hold on to one end of the animal as hard as he can with his teeth while I sincerely try to pry the stuffed animal away from him with my hands. He also likes to play games with his kibble and doggy treats. He will throw them up in the air and see where they land. He will hide his doggy treats -- he especially loves Ritz crackers which I put in little sandwich bags for him -- for fear that I might find them and eat them before he has a chance to. He watches me as he carefully moves from one room of the house to the next deciding where would be the best place to hide those Ritz crackers from me. When we go to bed at night, he will jump in the bed with his little bag of crackers and eat them as a nighttime snack. He stretches out his body as he snacks on his crackers and knows full well that he is the master of this house.
Bashful is spoiled -- spoiled with love. His favorite food is chicken and I will often go to the store just to make sure we have cooked chicken on hand. A local market here sells the most delicious 2-pound roasted chickens for $4.98 and I buy 2-3 of them a week. Bashful fights me whenever I have to give him any sort of pill -- like Benadryl -- so I hide the pill in the chicken and can usually get him to swallow the pill without any problem that way. But if he senses the pill or finds it, watch out. He will spit the pill out and carefully inspect every other piece of chicken to make sure that I have not tried that trick on him again.
Bashful Boy, being a beagle, constantly has his nose to the ground. He goes crazy when he comes across a Bumble Bee or any other insect and will spend hours in the yard barking at those moving objects. He has tormented many bumble bees and they, in turn, have stung him. Benadryl is great for treating those stings -- and most other insect bites -- so I always keep it on hand. Bashful Boy's proudest moment was when he found a baby bird -- still alive -- in the yard and brought it inside the house to give to me as a gift. He did not like it when I picked up the baby bird, cleaned it off, and placed it back outside so its mamma could find it again.
I work out of my house so I have the luxury of structuring my life around my Bashful Boy. He hates the sound of garbage trucks on garbage pick-up day and stays right by my side until the trucks are gone. He loves the soothing brush that I used to brush his hair. He does not like water except to drink it. We have a pool in our yard and Bashful goes to the other end of the yard if he thinks I might try to coax him into the water. In the summertime when the temps get to 100 or more, he loves to lick the bowls of ice that I have frozen for him to drink from. I am in trouble if I forget to put bowls of water in the freezer for him during our hot spells.
There is so much more to say about this boy of mine but you get the idea. I love him to pieces and am so blessed to have him in my life.
(Thanks to Sally for sharing about her "baby boy.")
He had to be neutered before I could bring him home. He was still groggy when I picked him up from the animal hospital after his surgery. By the time we reached home, however, Bashful was happy to explore the backyard of his new home for any new scents he might pick up. He spent quite a bit of time roaming around the yard before he decided to come into the house and explore what new scents he might discover here. Each room of the house was new territory that Bashful Boy carefully examined. He finally settled in the living room where I quickly showed him how to use the doggy door. Bashful is a smart boy and learned his lesson very quickly.
We have now shared our lives for a little more than 3 years. He is a very playful dog and loves to go for walks, rides in the car, and play tug-of-war games with me. He will bring me one of his many stuffed animals and hold on to one end of the animal as hard as he can with his teeth while I sincerely try to pry the stuffed animal away from him with my hands. He also likes to play games with his kibble and doggy treats. He will throw them up in the air and see where they land. He will hide his doggy treats -- he especially loves Ritz crackers which I put in little sandwich bags for him -- for fear that I might find them and eat them before he has a chance to. He watches me as he carefully moves from one room of the house to the next deciding where would be the best place to hide those Ritz crackers from me. When we go to bed at night, he will jump in the bed with his little bag of crackers and eat them as a nighttime snack. He stretches out his body as he snacks on his crackers and knows full well that he is the master of this house.
Bashful is spoiled -- spoiled with love. His favorite food is chicken and I will often go to the store just to make sure we have cooked chicken on hand. A local market here sells the most delicious 2-pound roasted chickens for $4.98 and I buy 2-3 of them a week. Bashful fights me whenever I have to give him any sort of pill -- like Benadryl -- so I hide the pill in the chicken and can usually get him to swallow the pill without any problem that way. But if he senses the pill or finds it, watch out. He will spit the pill out and carefully inspect every other piece of chicken to make sure that I have not tried that trick on him again.
Bashful Boy, being a beagle, constantly has his nose to the ground. He goes crazy when he comes across a Bumble Bee or any other insect and will spend hours in the yard barking at those moving objects. He has tormented many bumble bees and they, in turn, have stung him. Benadryl is great for treating those stings -- and most other insect bites -- so I always keep it on hand. Bashful Boy's proudest moment was when he found a baby bird -- still alive -- in the yard and brought it inside the house to give to me as a gift. He did not like it when I picked up the baby bird, cleaned it off, and placed it back outside so its mamma could find it again.
I work out of my house so I have the luxury of structuring my life around my Bashful Boy. He hates the sound of garbage trucks on garbage pick-up day and stays right by my side until the trucks are gone. He loves the soothing brush that I used to brush his hair. He does not like water except to drink it. We have a pool in our yard and Bashful goes to the other end of the yard if he thinks I might try to coax him into the water. In the summertime when the temps get to 100 or more, he loves to lick the bowls of ice that I have frozen for him to drink from. I am in trouble if I forget to put bowls of water in the freezer for him during our hot spells.
There is so much more to say about this boy of mine but you get the idea. I love him to pieces and am so blessed to have him in my life.
(Thanks to Sally for sharing about her "baby boy.")
Pet Emergency Pocket Guide
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