Shelby's Life and Whatnot

What's Better than One Beagle?

TWO BEAGLES!

Please welcome our new Beagle baby, Digory Atticus (Digory is on the right)!

We adopted Digory today from Beagles and Buddies, a beagle rescue/shelter in El Monte. He is large, 15" high and weighs 33 pounds (that's 13 pounds more than Scout!). He's not fat, he's just the size of a typical beagle. Now I understand why we get so many comments about Scout's small stature--he seems huge next to her.

And speaking of Scout, I know your first question is "How is Scout handling this?" How's this for an answer?

She seems to be doing very well. She went with us to the shelter and was a bit overwhelmed by the dogs there (nearly all of them beagles--so cute!). One dog in particular, Rufus, insisted on humping Scout--how embarrassing! We then took Digory out for a walk and some alone time with Scout and they completely ignored each other. Since that's pretty much Scout's reaction to most dogs the first time she meets them, so we took that as a good sign.

Digory was very good in the car. He wanted to stick his head out of the window and whined a little as we pulled away from the shelter, but quickly settled down (which is more than we can say for Scout, who hates the car). Once we got home I realized that I left my keys at the shelter, so I went back to get them while Kevin took over the socialization.

Apparently Scout ignored him at first, then hid under the bed and was lured out by a treat. They took a couple of walks around the neighborhood where there was much sniffing, then went to the backyard and started chasing each other and playing. They definitely hit it off. We're being careful to give Scout lots of attention so she doesn't get jealous, and she doesn't seem bothered by Digory's presence. We'll see what happens tonight when she realizes that he's not going home.

Digory is celebrating his 1st birthday on February 4th. He's basically full-grown, but still very playful, as he has a lot of his puppy energy left. He's got some separation anxiety issues. He doesn't like to be where he can't see one of us, and whenever someone goes outside he whines and gets upset. We're going to have to work on that one. For now, it's pretty cute that we have a little shadow wherever we go.

He's already made himself at home. Scout let him know that it's okay to get up on the couch and bed, so he hops right up now. I was taking a nap while Kevin mowed the lawn and both dogs slept on the bed with me. Right now Digory is sleeping on the bed in my office, where he can see me.

So why "Digory"? His original name was "Chesty" which we didn't like at all. Digory is the name of the main character in The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis, a book in The Chronicles of Narnia series. His middle name, Atticus, is of course from To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) which is where I got the name Scout. He's very smart and has already learned his new name.

He had one owner before he was surrendered to Beagles and Buddies. Apparently the family was not prepared for a beagle, and moved to a condo with no yard. They say that he is housetrained--we're keeping the patio door open just in case until we figure out exactly how housetrained he is.

This is the "Big News" I alluded to in a previous entry. What do you think?

Be sure to visit Digory's First Day page.