Posts by Hank

LA/XC-2.5

It’s fast becoming a ritual for my dog: Show up in a new city. See someone who’s been dying to meet you. Poop on their floor. Sunday, on our way home from Charlottesville, we decided to scrap our visit to Monticello in favor of dropping in on Robby’s friend Nick at Johns Hopkins. Ricky, in his…

Breed Pride Week

Bummer! Beagles dropped a notch from #3 to #4 in America’s most popular dog standings, according to rankings released by the AKC two weeks ago. (Not your fault, Ricky!) When I tweeted out that Ricky and his mates were holding down the #4 spot, my friend Langdon from Boston couldn’t help tweetin…

Friendliest Dog In the World?

I was just reading an article in my alma mater’s alumni magazine, The Pennsylvania Gazette, about the new Penn Vet Working Dog Center that’s now breeding and training the country’s top detection dogs. The cover line for the article is “Dogs at Work.” Well, I know a working dog, too: He’s curren…

Rating the “Destination Walks”

Last week I wrote about Winslow Park, and its place in the panoply of “destination walks” that Ricky and I take daily. Loyal followers know well by now that since Ricky is a “reluctant” walker on his home turf, I take him each day for a drive — his favorite activity in the entire world — to a dif…

Old Dog Learns New Trick

The old dog, in this case, would be me. For years, Winslow Park, aka the dog park, has been in our rotation of “destination” walks, but, to be perfectly honest, I’ve never looked forward to going there. Sure, all my dog-owner friends rave about it: Dogs everywhere! Great for socializing! Ja…

Anything for Animals

This morning I took Ricky to the vet to have a lump on his haunch looked at, to have a cyst removed, and for some routine bloodwork. Two hours — and $896.96 later (!!!), I picked him up, good as new. Ah,yes — just another day in the life of a high-maintenance beagle. (At least he got a spiffy n…

Ricky’s Coffee Break

The pattern was established back in the winter of 2003, Ricky’s first Christmas. Matt, then 22, and Robby, 10, were locked in one of their weird competitions: Whose gift would Ricky like better? Matt had stashed away three french fries from a recent visit to the Diner, which he covered with a p…

The Five Faces of Ricky

Those of you who keep up with Beagle Man might recall a recent comment from Sarah, a loyal follower: “Have you ever taken pictures of Ricky’s face,” she asked, “when he’s expressing different emotions — like happy, excited, hungry, frightened?” Unfortunately, I told her, a beagle’s expression a…

The Mysterious Shakety-Shake

All dogs do it. Ricky does it. But what I want to know is why does a dog shake his ears like that? Let’s be clear. When Ricky comes galloping at me from a distance, ears streaming behind him Dumbo-style — that’s not what I’m talking about. When he tries to “kill” one of his stuffed animals by l…

One Shining Moment

It’s time to announce the winner of the “Ricky’s Favorite Things” playoffs, and I have to admit, I’m feeling pret-ty guilty — for two reasons. One: Nepotism. Yes, the winner was Matt, my oldest son — with a perfect score of 30. I obviously should have realized that in a contest of this nature…