OUR FIRST BEAGLE
Written by Janette Buckle

The day we got our little 8 week Beagle (Koda) was a very proud day. Mick, my now fiancee, warned me the breed is naughty but after a while they settle down as they get older. Being around dogs all my life I didn’t think much of it. I’ve had other breeds as puppies when growing up and didn’t think too much into the word “naughty”. Well, wasn’t I a fool!

I couldn’t believe how this beautiful, sincere looking puppy could be so mischievous. I kept thinking Mick had bought “the dog from hell”. Koda loves stealing underwear, socks, teatowels and if by chance the Chux dishcloth was left out within eye and smell distance, it was taken and shredded into the smallest strips in a matter of seconds. The months ahead for us consisted, and still do, of the words “No”, “leave it” and quite a lot of “not again?!”

He loves digging (anywhere!). He brings in his treasures that he’s dug up ie. rocks and shells and parade them in front of us while crunching them to a pulp with his teeth. Often he would bring in small tree branches that he had ripped from the bottoms of trees in the backyard and bring them through the doggy door (a fit all of it’s own) and continue to rip and shred it in front of us. Thanks to this, our trees in the backyard now look like topiary’s! He was just wanting us to play with him. I have never met a breed that wants so much attention. Just when you think you’re at your wits end, he stops suddenly and slumps on an armchair (of course it has to be the good chairs!) and goes to sleep. This is when forgiveness sets in and you wipe the daily slate clean. How can you stay angry at that long eared, cute faced little dog curled up in a ball sleeping soundly and looking like butter would melt in his mouth.

We have the house “Koda proof” and have to shut all doors behind us but it still doesn’t seem enough. We’ve gone through 3 television remote controls and the current ones have bite marks in them. He knows that touching the remote gets attention! Doors must be shut at all times and everything placed above hip level. We have a small inside gate that comes across and closes off the kitchen from the dining room and upstairs. Koda used to stay indoors in the kitchen and have access to outside while we were at work. That is, until one day we came home from work to find he had jumped the bench in the kitchen, scaled the servery window into the lounge room, torn some vertical blinds, made his way upstairs into the bedroom and ripped the new box of tissues to pieces. Upon coming downstairs, we found the fridge door open, food on the ground, a trail of food leading out to the backyard. When we got to the end of the trail there was Koda, tail wagging, looking up at us, finishing off the remains of strawberry yoghurt, oblivious to the turmoil he had created. Needless to say, we have since bought Koda a kennel and he stays outside now while we aren’t there. We have also purchased a lock for the fridge.

Koda is a very intelligent dog and sometimes we think he is half human. He is one of the family and is treated like one to the point that he actually sleeps ON the bed. How can we say no? All bad events aside, I would never give Koda up. He is like our little boy and gets very spoiled. Now when Mick mentions the word “naughty”, I ask him to SPECIFY the meaning before we do anything!

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