Red

We found her in November 2013 at a Beagle rescue farm in Lancaster. We went there looking for a puppy but middle-aged (Red) Sally was the one we took home. We dropped the Sally from her name on the drive home and from that day forward, she was just our Red.

Beggs — our first — was going to be our only Beagle, but we lasted just six months after Beggs passed away in the Spring of 2013. If you’ve ever had a Beagle, you’ll know they’re like potato chips. You can’t have just one.

A tail of two Beagles

Red and Beggs were both purebred Beagles, but they were very different dogs. Beggs was a tri-color girl; Red was a strawberry blonde lemon-drop.

Beggs hoarded all the toys; she was the leader of our pack of three dogs and two people. From the moment we brought her home, 12 weeks old and three and a half pounds soaking wet, Beggs ruled the house. She was a diva and a destroyer, ruining countless rugs, floors, and at least one chair, not to mention the next-door neighbor's lawn until we built a good-neighbor fence.

And we loved her.

Red was non-confrontational, a perpetual sweetie; she lived and let live. 8-pound Jessie, who once pounced on Red over a piece of food and bit clean through her ear as Red did nothing to retaliate, was our alpha during the Red years.

Beggs got grouchy as she got older and would get into scuffles with other dogs--not just ours but also friends' and neighbors' pups. In Beggs' waning years, we didn't want to leave smaller dogs alone with her as we weren't sure what state we'd find them when we got home.

Not Red. As her face got greyer and greyer, she only got sweeter.

Beggs hogged all the toys. Zena, who also adores her toys, learned that the only way she could ever play with a toy unchallenged was to wait until Beggs was hard asleep and snoring, then hide in a room on the opposite side of the house. It took her years to unlearn that behavior after Red, who wasn't a toy hound or toy hog, moved in. Today, nine years after Beggs left us, Zena still hides toys from time to time.

They did both love their chow. Beggs never missed a meal; Red would demand her breakfast, snack, and dinner with a full-throated hound bark-chortle.

Beggs and Red also both had the great Beagle bay. Red used hers to talk to other dogs she saw on walks or to join in the chorus when a siren passed. Beggs used her to scold us for leaving her. Every single time, whether it was 20 minutes or 12 hours.

Both Beggs and Red hooooowled when they were loooooooonely. Our neighbors were not amused.

Red through the years

Spoiler alert: you are going to see a lot of dog beds. Yes, we really did buy that many dog beds for Red. She was the ultimate dog bed connoisseur and consumer, and never saw a bed--whether tiny or huge--she didn't test.

2020

Red was about 13 in people years, we think. We’re not really sure. Her first vet record said she was born in about October 2008, but I think that was just a guess.

In early 2020, Red started looking very tired. She lost her appetite and rapidly lost weight, strength, and balance. She’d already been stone deaf for at least a year, and her vision and mental sharpness were also getting worse.

We knew she was approaching the end of a loving, rewarding, joyful life. I whispered in her ear, “It’s okay. You can go. You can rest. We’ll be okay.”

On Friday, March 13, 2020, she passed peacefully from this world. I had the privilege of being by her side when she crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

I miss her terribly, but it was her time.