Tale of two beagle Puppies Oscar and Fred!

Last May, my husband decided to put our Doberman (Adolph) up for adoption. He's so big over 100 lbs considering that he's just an eight month old puppy at that time. And for someone as small as me feeding him or opening or locking him up on his pen is a major task. Boy he's a sleek and beautiful dog and you cannot discount his loyalty especially to my husband.

But our main reason why we have to let him go is because Adolph has become so destructive. He tore up to pieces anything that will get on his way. He tore up to pieces our water hose and the neighbors too. He shredded Kelly's bedsheets that he's suppose to bring to the laundry and mind you it's an expensive one. He sunk his teeth on Kelly's drop cord that we ended up replacing it and his waterhose too. We often get a call from Kelly telling his daddy that Adolph destroyed this and that. I think the last straw was when Adolph killed Kelly's kitten. Tabitha told me that she's never seen Kelly so distraught and broken hearted in her life until that incident.

JP my husband's liuetenant at work has took Adolph in. We're happy that he's with a good family that spoils him and care for him. We have since gotten two beagle puppies Fred and Dallas.

Time flies so fast. I remember when we first got Fred and Dallas then, they were just a teeny weeny six weeks old beagle puppies. They're so cute. My husband's officer gave them to us when their dog gave birth to 12 puppies.

They almost didn't make it one time last June when they got sick. Fred was so weak and suffered diarrhea. Although Dallas wasn't as bad as Fred you could tell that he too is ill. I got so worried that they'll not make it through another day. Lynn's in a meeting that day and when he got home around 1:00pm I told him about Fred's condition. He called the Vet but the doctor wasn't in the office yet. Lynn told the Vet Assistant that he suspected it was "parvo" and she informed him that there's nothing that they could do and bringing them to the Vet's office would only be an exercise in futility much so, it will cost us alot of money. She said we could try buying a milk replacer with colostrum.

We immediately drove to Asheboro and bought that milk replacer. When we got home we tried feeding them through syringe and I painstakingly took charge in waking up in the middle of the night and forced them especially Fred to swallow the milk replacer. For two days it was a routine. The third day was a breeze. My puppies has improved alot . They're both back to their old selves running around and finally eating their dog food.

After a week of my puppies bout with that God knows what kind of desease (to this day we don't know if it was parvo or just a case of weaning them too early from their mama). One Wednesday morning around 10:00 am my husband was washing his truck on the other end of the building when I decided to drive our car and washed it too. I saw Fred on the porch sleeping. I didn't know where Dallas was. After washing the car I parked the car and my husband and I went inside the house for lunch.

As we were having lunch Caleb (our 16 yr old grandson) knocked and asked us what happened to Dallas. We said he's sleeping outside. Caleb said I don't think so, go outside and check. My husband went outside and there was Dallas dead on the driveway. It was my fault. I didn't check him when I drove the car to the building to wash it. I ran over him. It stopped my world for a minute. My husband took his lifeless body to the back yard with the boys(Colby,Colton,Caleb) in tow to bury him. Our day was ruined, we didn't finish our lunch and I ran to the bathroom locked myself in and cried. It was a tragedy and to this day I still feel guilty about that accident. I stop dwelling about it because I know it happened for a reason and accident do happen even to the most careful person. The important thing is I learned a lesson in a painful way. I will always have Dallas fondest memories.

The next day Lynn and I got a new beagle to replace Dallas. I named him Oscar. He looks exactly like Fred totally different from lemon and white color that Dallas got. Now that Fred's grown to about Oscar's size I have a hard time distinguishing one from the other. The first thing that I have to look to differentiate them from each other is their tail. Fred's tail sticks up all the time and Oscar is always pointing downward.

I can say they're smart especially Oscar. He's such a sweetheart eventhough Fred's the cutest between the two of them. It's Oscar who's the leader of the two. Oscar's faster and Fred's the usual follower. Oscar hates taking a bath. Everytime I put them in the tub to shower he barks and whines continuously while Fred chills out. They're adorable. We bought them a bed and it's getting smaller for the two of them. They have toys to play with. It's funny how they get to play with their teddy bear in yard. Sometimes I'l find the bear under the car, beside the tree or else it will be sitting in the porch. I love it when they get to play with real people's toys. I enjoy watching them.

I let them ride with me in the car to get our mail. It's our routine and they love it. I feed them scrap food. My husband said it will ruined their palate and would stop eating dog food. Well I do it behind his back and they like it, it made them fat especially Fred. His big belly is starting to swell. I actually give them table food as reward tho' we buy them beef sticks dog treats. My husband said I spoiled them so much. I think, I do. They make my day. They follow me everywhere I go or aggravate me no end. They're my walking buddies well Oscar is, Fred is too slow to walk with me. I usually leashed them but now everytime I do my afternoon walk I just let them follow me.

Oscar is a sweet dog and he's such a giving and protective big brother to Fred. I remember one time when I couldn't find them and I would call out loud thier names Oscar would emerge from the woods in a spin while it takes Fred forever to get out of the woods. It's funny because they're totally opposite. Fred is very laidback or plain lazy (sleeps alot) while Oscar is always on the move. I think it's Fred's short legs or I think I just "babyed " him to much since I really got him when he's too young while we got Oscar when he's 2.5 mos old and has a mind of his own. I also think I have over protected Fred. If he gets out of my sight I hollered out for his name and he comes to me. He wasn't able to explore his world on his own until we got Oscar.

Now they have a life of their own. They go down to Kelly's up to mama's and Tabitha's. It doesn't worry me much anymore because I know they will always head back home. And home is where they will always be cared for, feed and protected. Oscar and Fred are my two beagle puppies and their Dada and I love them so much.