The Dog

Artwork by Awesome Thirdlander

When I was a kid, we had a dog by the name of Henry.  Henry was a mutt, but mostly beagle.  Henry was lovable, but he was a bit of a pain in the neck.  He ran away constantly, chased cars down our street, and occasionally wandered through my school looking for me.  Sr. Electa, our principal, used to talk to me frequently about how I needed to figure out how to keep Henry at home. Of course I had other siblings who attended Our Lady of the Holy Rosary School, but I was kind of the go to gal for odious chores involving responsibility.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there.  The point is this.

All these years, I've had esteem issues about having a poorly trained dog with a devil may care attitude. I now realize that no one was really to blame for Henry's issues. He was just a friendly dog cursed with the legacy of a rascally breed.  The NYT has an article just today by a woman who wrote an entire book about problems with beagles.  The author, Emily Yoffe, is concerned because a beagle just won the Westminster Dog Show, so she fears every citizen of this great land may head out this spring to get a beagle.  I want you to know that I share this writer's concerns.  Do not get a beagle.  Beagles are cute dogs, but they have been known to wreck lives.