Tuesday, August 04, 2009


Allright, another hot summer day. Actually we havnt had two many of them this year. I've been working on organizing my garage but it's been an uphill battle. The only good thing about it is it's neat to be working in the garage and hear a rabbit race going on.

Sunday evening we were having dinner and my wife and I were sitting on opposite ends of the dinning room table. There's a window in the center of the room (on the front wall that is.) As I was eating the site of a running rabbit caught me eye. It was running straight away from the angle I could see but I couldn't see the way it had come from. I told Amy, "that rabbit was running like something was after it."

"There is," she replied and pointed in the direction I couldn't see from my chair. I stood up and walked over to the window to see two young females coming out of the garden and crossing the driveway with that rabbit track. Apparently they had been on garden patrol and found that waskily wabbit up to no good.

Beagle people are kinda like a huge company. Everyone knows everyone or at least knows of them. The people who enjoy the sport come from all walks of life. I was on the phone with a friend of mine today discussing just that subject. How a person gets started in beagles, really, how should they go about working into a position to be respected by their new peers. It's a bit tricky.

This is one area where having money doesn't seem to help those who posses it. In fact people who have earned lots of money are normally used to running things their way, and doing things the way they wont too. They tend to want to throw a few dollars at the sport, maybe buy a real good dog or two and expect others to give them the respect the man that developed that dog actually has. Very seldom does it work this way. I can think of several wealthy men who have come into the sport over the last 20 years who have been little more than dinner passes for the true beaglers in our sport. In fact, they are often at the sharp point of many jest concerning their involvement in the sport. Don't get me wrong here, we need new money in the sport to insure breeders and trainers have the resources to continually improve the hounds.

I think the guy who gets started with little money and a white fever pitch burning desire to run dogs will (assuming he has the eye for dogs) quickly become recognized by his peers as a dog man. This is something the wealthy man who simply buys extra field champions can never have. The one thing he desires most, respect.

Today's picture is one of my two little girls modeling cowboy hats. The two year old think all the beagles are hers. No that she has discovered puppies, I've caught her slipping down to the kennel getting them out.

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