Meet the New Beagle Pup

On Wednesday of last week, I told you a new foster pup was coming my way.  At the time I said I would foster it, I had no information except that it was 10-12 weeks old and some kind of beagle mix.  They had included this picture…

Since I’ve been fostering, I have… learned to just say yes and find out the details later.  I have trouble saying no to any pup and this one was no exception.  Really for me to foster it really doesn’t matter if it’s a male or female…or the circumstances of how it came to foster care because regardless of all of that, the pup needs a temporary home and there is time to learn all of the other details.

It doesn’t mean I’m not curious though.  Slowly some information started coming in.  The pup is a male.  He is technically a stray meaning he was found and then turned into the rescue.  He actually was turned in to the neighboring rescue but they are busy and asked if our rescue could help.  We sure can!!  The neighboring rescue has been so good with helping us when we need help so YES!  We will help in return.

Gannon, my grandson, was at my house so he helped me get the fence put up in preparation for the pup to come.

I haven’t said a lot about the pup because he was a stray.  It’s a policy with the rescue to only post one picture of strays.  That way if a person comes to claim the dog, they have to be able to tell some information like if it had a collar, what color the collar was, the coloring of the dog, etc.  If we provide too many pictures, anyone could claim the dog and identify it by the pictures…so, we do want to help people find their dogs…we just want the right person to find their dog.  I hope that makes sense.

Well, yesterday was the last day of the puppy’s hold so I can tell you all about him.  On the day I was supposed to pick him up, I didn’t have a vehicle.  Kalissa said I could use hers.  Originally we thought the pick-up time might be 3:00 pm.  So we made tentative plans for that.  Then I was notified that pick up would be at 2:30 pm.  I was to meet someone about 20 minutes to the east of me.  With no vehicle and Kalissa’s kids napping, I walked over to Kalissa’s house so I could get her vehicle.  It was cold but luckily she only lives about six blocks from my house.

I drove her vehicle to my house and then put the kennel in the front seat beside me.  Off I went.  About two miles out of town there was a cow in the middle of the road.  I pulled into the house near where the cow was and knocked on their door to let them know there was a cow out.  I feel bad I didn’t stay and help them put it back in but I had to meet the people to get the pup.

I was about to turn on the “short cut” when my phone let me know I had a message.  I pulled over and it was the people who I was getting the pup from.  They were already at the meeting spot, about 15 minutes early.  So they offered to drive to the next town closer.  That worked perfectly.  Here is the new little guy…

He is really chill.  He’s what we’re calling a beagle mix.  A guess was given that he is 10-12 weeks old.  I’m leaning more toward 12 but who knows- it really doesn’t make a difference.

If you aren’t a beagle lover you might not know that pups are born more black.  As they age they lose the black hair on their ears and their ears become more copper colored.  You can see the copper color starting to peek through.

He didn’t fuss at all in the car.  That was a relief as sometimes pups cry a lot.

When I got to my house I carried the kennel into the house, left him there, drove the car back to Kalissa’s house, and walked back home.  When I came in, this is what I saw.  Susie was being the welcoming committee.

I have quite an array of beagles here.  Susie is 15…Ruby is 3 and the new pup.  Poor Izzy my AussieDoodle is outnumbered by the beagles.

So far, everything has gone great with the new puppy as far as his personality goes.  He’s chill.  He’s doing well on housetraining.  He does cry a bit at bedtime but that’s getting a lot better.  He is the best snuggler.  Of all the dogs I’ve fostered, by far he is the best snuggler.

Health-wise, we are working through a few things.  On Friday when my son Buck came home I showed him the pup and he said what’s this lump on his neck.  I hadn’t noticed anything.  All day I had been running around the house getting food ready for the weekend and doing some tidying.  I felt his neck.  There was a lump.  Hmm.

The next morning we got up and it was worse.  It was like one of those neck pillows that people use.  I ended up calling for an appointment with the vet.  Buck watched part of the kids and I took the rest with me.

They put him on an antibiotic.  They are wondering if there was a puncture wound that was infected from playing with his littermates.  He’s been on med since Saturday but there is still a lump there.  He already had an appointment for Wednesday to be neutered.  They told me to keep that appointment and depending on how he’s doing, he might or might not get neutered.

He’s in REALLY good spirits though.  Here is my granddaughter Lucy holding him.

He snuggled into the doll bed.

He is really a wonderful pup with a great personality.

We have no idea why he was lost and free on his own.  I have a feeling he was dumped and not “lost”.  He has quite a few small healing wounds on him.  We think they are likely from wrestling in the litter as many are around the neck and that’s typical with puppies.

We’ve not come up with a name for him as he really wasn’t the animal rescues dog to name yet.  We’ve been trying to figure out a good name for him.  Kalissa thought of Jet.  I didn’t like that.  He’s not speedy and not black.  I thought we should name him Harry Potter as he has a little lightning strick on his forehead but then we didn’t like Harry…and didn’t like Potter as names.  I said Biscuit and Kalissa said no.  I said Jeter and Kalissa said no.  (I don’t why she gets so much veto power!! (HA).

He’s a very snuggly dog.  One of the childcare kids said to call him Snuggler.  I didn’t hate that.  Then I picked him up and saw his belly and said, “Freckles”.

When I took him to the vet they asked for a name so they could enter him into the computer and have a record.  I said he really didn’t have a name yet.  I asked them if they had suggestions.  They didn’t.  I showed them his belly and said I thought about naming him Freckles.  They put the name Freckles into the computer.  So, he’s become Freckles.

His favorite spot is hanging out under the desk when I write blog posts.  He does it so much that I’m going to put a small dog bed for him under there.

He’s getting his neuter, shots, and general check-up…but first we have to have a firm handle on whatever was happening with his neck.  Then he will be listed on the HEART Animal Rescue Facebook Page.  If we don’t find a home there, then after a week or so, we list our dogs with Petfinder.  You can apply to adopt him HERE.

All I know is that it’s a good thing I adopted Izzy or I would have likely adopted him.  He’s the cutest.  Being I’ve had him a little longer because of his stray status and because he’s a snuggly beagle, I wouldn’t have been able to say no to him…and no.  I’m not adopting him.