Posts by Hank

Kemba and Ruckus spent the long Memorial Day weekend together at the beach in Montauk.  The Tuesday after, our daughter-in-law Kelly told us, Ruckus refused to go to Biscuits & Bath, the doggy daycare center which was, heretofore, his favorite place on the planet.  For the rest of the week, Gr…

Last Sunday morning, 8AM, Robby stumbled into our bedroom.  “Here’s Kemba,” he announced, then quickly ducked back into his own room before I could react.  It would have been nice if he’d let Kemba out to pee and given him his breakfast, instead of waking me, but that, I know he thinks, is above h…

Happy Birthday to the sweet boy who put the beagle in Beagle Man! We miss you, Ricky.

I spent last weekend with two pretty athletic dogs. You’ve heard me bragging about Kemba (named, of course, for UConn/Charlotte Hornets hoops star Kemba Walker) ad nauseum since he was just a tiny furball, so enough about him.  Except to say that yesterday at the dog park I flung a tennis ball may…

A shit-eating grin spread across Greg’s face, he looked over conspiratorially in my direction, and, in that instant, I knew — knew! — I was about to hear another story about Ruckus.  One in which Ruckus would be the hero.  Like most parents, I have special bonds with all my sons, but in a six-mont…

Kemba and his cousin Bruce, by consensus, get along as well as any two dogs can.  Or, to be more specific, as well as a mellow, sweet, food-loving six-year-old black Lab and a hyper-energetic, exercise-freak, doesn’t-know-when-to-quit, one-and-a-half-year-old Duck Toller can.  They’ve spent weeken…

We’ve seen a bunch of firsts for my Duck Dog this past week:  1. his first, legit, off-leash, multi-mile run with me (Eureka!);  2. his first successful, full-extension, airborne Frisbee snag (see video), and 3. his first writing class audited! That’s right — I took Kemba to Trinity with me Wednes…

I think I’ve died and gone to heaven. For 38 years, running has been my primary sport.  For 13 years, dogs — first Ricky the Beagle, now Kemba the Duck Toller — have been my passion.  From the git-go, my goal was to combine the two: to go running with my dog. By now, you’ve all heard the story of…

It happened the first time maybe a year ago, on our second visit to Lake Mohegan.  I’d parked in the lot near the Cascades.  My game plan was to walk around the lake to the main beach/recreation area, then continue the loop back to my car.  Kemba and I had taken this route the only other time we’d…

Let’s just get one thing out of the way right off the bat:  Does this (photo below) look like just some T-shirt?  Yeah, that’s right, I’m talking about Kemba’s wiseguy remark in his post just before I left for Austria (One Tough Week Ahead) — that Beagle Man “better bring me  back something pret-t…