Life with a Puppy

I knew that raising puppies was hard and challenging before we adopted Freya our new beagle pup. Twenty one years ago, my family got our new puppy on the farm that I grew up on. Zeus, our Husky/German Shepherd/Doberman mix didn't disappoint. I fell in love with his cuddliness, floppy ears and his ability to sleep through anything, also our 10 year old pure bred German Shepherd was failing. Zeus was a farm dog, so he did frequent the house at least the inside. Zeus was a sweet dog and grew to be a great companion for almost 16 years. In his youth his form of destruction was refined wood. He didn't go for the random stick in the yard, no, he went for wheel barrow handles, shovel and pitch fork handles, the steps and benches of our deck, our wood siding. Stuff like that. Fortunately he grew out of all of that and later in life became a creature of comfort in the house.

So you see, I really did know what having a puppy was like. When Freya started eating the kid's toys, rolls of toilet paper, the baby gate that we used to keep her away from Amy the rabbit, I wasn't surprised. What did get me was having a dog who is constantly up on the table and the counters. One who gets on top of the washer and drier and other places that are "up". Now I have never had a beagle, but there seems to be no limit to her jumping abilities. Scott has had beagles before and he is even amazed at where she can get. The other day, she ate an entire lbs. of ground venison and then proceeded to throw it up on our bed in the middle of the night. What a lovely situation to wake up to. Yummy. Oh well, these are the life and times of raising a beagle pup. I am glad that her and Maya, our almost 13 year old Chesapeak, get a long pretty well. Last night Lizzy woke up crying from a bad dream and Freya went and snuggled with her for a while. She is a sweet soul even though she is still a bit crazy hyper. :)