Sam *hates* the neighbor's cat

No matter how dumb Sam wants us to think he is, every so often, he slips up and reveals that he really *does* understand what we're saying. (It turns out he's just CHOOSING to ignore us most of the time).

We have a neighbor who has a darling cat that knows just how to get under Sam's skin. "Tom" (yes, I know, how original...) sits outside of Sam's dog run area j-u-s-t out of reach. Sam will bark and run around, working himself into a frenzy. But no matter how ferocious and menacing Sam tries to be, that cat will continue to sit there quietly, squinting evilly at the poor, helpless dog.


This has been going on for years. "Cat tortures dog by sitting nearby". What I didn't realize until recently though is that Sam actually knows this cat by name! Once again, he surprises us with how much he understands. Watch my amusing video that shows how much Sam hates Tom the cat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcq4i5c4Pjg

My dog does laps in our living room… Is that normal?

It’s true. Sam uses our living room/ dining room as his own personal Nascar track. He’ll get excited about something (the possibility of a walk, the fact that it’s morning, or perhaps simply the pure joy of feeling important papers flap around in his mouth as he’s hitting the straightaway…) and he’ll take off running. He usually goes clockwise, incidentally, but occasionally he’ll throw in a figure eight, or he’ll take a tight, unexpected turn through the dining room chairs. But, in general, his lap starts around the coffee table in the living room, through the living room to the dining room, around the dining table and back to the living room. When he’s really excited, he might do 20 laps in a row (which usually sends him panting and coughing over to his water dish for refreshment).

For some reason, when we were researching the characteristics of the dog breeds we were considering, the beagle’s energy level did not raise a red flag… I guess the translation for “full of energy, a lively, active dog” is “CLEAR ALL BREAKABLES! WILL DO LAPS IN YOUR LIVING ROOM!”
I guess I was thinking more along the lines of “will really enjoy a brisk walk or perhaps the occasional jog.”

Now that we have a beagle, of course, we keep running into old friends and neighbors who say, “Oh your dog is so cute! WE USED TO HAVE A BEAGLE.” Used to have???!! I guess once is enough, no one would voluntarily go through the experience AGAIN! That would have been nice to know.

So, I guess the moral of the story is that if you are looking to get a dog, DO the RESEARCH. And not only that, but BELIEVE the RESEARCH. Pay attention to the warnings—they are not kidding.
But, after all that, if you choose to ignore the warnings and decide against all common sense to get a beagle, make sure your living room has at least a 10 foot clear path with optional figure 8 track.

Why can't we have a GOOD dog?

I went for a walk today during my lunch break, and out of nowhere a big alaskan malamute-type dog comes barrelling out of the shrubbery towards me. I'm alone, and based on my experience with Sam, I've come to fear the (un)reliability of dog behavior. But it turns out this dog (her name, as it turned out, was Sasha) was a very nice, friendly dog!

Sasha followed me to the end of my walk, and back to my workplace. The birds were chirping, she was off sniffing one way, then would look back to make sure I was still there, then go off sniffing the other way-- always keeping me in her sights. We ran into a few other dogs along the way. Sasha was very friendly (what a concept-- Sam can't stand other dogs). For a good half hour, I was the (imaginary) proud owner of a beautiful, obedient dog named Sasha.

Well, in the end, I called her owner (whose number was on Sasha's collar), and she came to retrieve her dog. Sigh. It was nice while it lasted