Pickle, my three-year-old nephew, doesn’t know how to write yet, which I find odd, because I wrote my first post back in April 2015 (It’s All Good . . . Mostly), when I wasn’t even eight months old.  But there’s big news around his house, and I know he wants to share it with you.  So I’m gonna set…

Beagle Man, in a post a few months back (“A Nova Scotia What???”), wrote that we — he and I, that is — have done our part in the growing popularity of the Duck Toller breed, at least here in Westport.  And I’m thinking: Hmm . . . B-Man tends to exaggerate from time to time.  Maybe there’s a little…

Appreciating Ricky the Beagle on what would be his 22nd birthday   Nose to the ground, sending a prayer: Maybe — just maybe — some food will appear! I used to be sorry you missed so much fun, Didn’t have many interests, only that one. Fetching? Not really.  Hiking? Hell, no! But counter-surfi…

My recent post — A Nova Scotia What?? — focused on the increasing popularity of the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, my dear Kemba’s tribe.  This heretofore little-known breed, according to the American Kennel Club, ranked in the top three in popularity gains over the past decade. Reading up on…

When our beloved Ricky the Beagle passed away in 2014, we were all devastated.  At the same time, one thing became instantly clear: I couldn’t live without a dog for long.  It wasn’t too many weeks before I began casting about for my next breed.  (Let me make it clear that loving a Beagle does not…

Not having been in the military, my knowledge of “KP Duty” (kitchen patrol) comes from cartoons and sitcoms, where KP duty is always the punishment for bad behavior. For me, KP Duty means something else.  As all dog owners know, when you mention your dog’s name, even if you’re not addressing him…

Yup, that’s a cone all right that you see Kemba wearing.  “Cone of shame,” as some people call it.  All of us have had to be subjected to this torture at one time or another.  Like if you’ve bloodied your paw on a razor-sharp rock, for instance, as I did that time at Gale Meadows Pond in Vermont, t…

Kemba’s a handsome dog.  And it’s not just me saying this.  He gets compliments on his looks from strangers all the time — often several times in one day. There’s one circumstance, however, that’s make him look a little less dapper.  And that’s when he drools. Fortunately, Kemba doesn’t drool all…

You may be wondering why, in a post about me and my new pal Ralphie, the featured photo shows Ralphie with Pickle, my nephew.  I’ll get into that in just a little bit.  But first, I want to say that even though Ralphie and I just met, it feels like we’ve known each other forever.  First of all, ou…

Throughout the 21 years I’ve owned a dog (Ricky the Beagle, 2003-2014; Kemba the Duck Toller 2014-present), I’ve been repeatedly amused by, and thoroughly skeptical of, the explanations of certain odd dog behaviors by the so-called “experts.”  For instance: Dog owners wonder why their pooch walks…