Sad News...

Canis Dolor Est! Canis Mortuus Est!

Got a bit of bad news from Rockhauler, up in the D/FW Metroplex.

Sweetpea the Beagle may have chased her last rabbit upon this mortal coil. She's over 12 years old, which is getting up there for a hound.

Rockhauler said that her doggie meds aren't keeping up with the rate of entropy, and poor Sweetpea is not going to be with him for much longer.

I remember the day Rockhauler brought her home to his apartment in Dallas, just a little bitty nubbin of a hound, no longer than your outstretched hand. I'd get daily calls on her progress in housetraining and growth rate from the proud papa.

They grow out of the puppy stage so quickly. I think Sweetpea surprised everyone by getting as large as she did. I expected her to be one of those hip-pocket beagles, based on her size as a puppy, but she got to be a fairly respectable length. Lord knows there was never a shortage of tasty tidbits slipped to her when Rockhauler wasn't looking...

Her favorite thing in the world, it seemed to me, was to follow a guest into the house, about 2 inches from your heel, then as soon as you had a seat on the couch, she'd swarm up in your lap and shove her head under the nearest hand and make sure you started dispensing your required amount of dog-petting. While this was going on, she'd be coating you with as much dog hair as she could manage. I think she felt that if you stood up and your trousers weren't beagle-colored, she'd failed in her shedding duty.

I don't know what I'm gonna do the next time I ring the doorbell at Rockhauler's place... For many years, I'd hear *dingdong*BAROOOOOOO!!!!! BAROOOOOOOO!!!!! until the door was opened!

Adios, perrita dulce! May you find an abundance of slow rabbits and wide laps on the other side!

UPDATE: This morning, Sweetpea dug a hole under the Fence Of Mortality, and escaped into the Great Beyond.