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My Breed Made Me Do It

Beagle Man couldn’t believe his eyes and ears:  He’d found a dog more hyperactive than Kemba!  This happened on a visit he and the Missus made to their friend Susan in Cali last month, at her Emmett the Bearded Collie aggressively herds horses . . . ranch in Santa Ynez.  (I’ve been to California three times, though, never to Susan and Rick’s Buckeye Ranch.  Kemba, of course, has already been there.)  And there was the B-Man saying, over and over, Ohmygod,...

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25th Smartest? Please!

I heard Luz telling Mom the other day she’d read that Duck Tollers are the 25th smartest dog breed.  I actually think that’s a low-ball number.  The rankings were put together by this researcher named Stanley Coren (photo, below), And how do we know this dude’s all that bright? and they’re in his book, The Intelligence of Dogs.  He surveyed, like, 200 dog-obedience judges for his rankings, but right off the bat I can see he screwed up.  He has the Poodle way...

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Dark Shadow and the Red Streak

The Dark Shadow You’ve met Jake before:  First, as one of Ricky the Beagle’s “Best Friends” (back in 2011), and more recently, as the killer of already-dead bunnies (“Rabbit Stew?“).  Jake, along with Nancy and Steve, came to stay with us last week.  He got three days worth of intense, one-on-one time with Kemba.  And if Jake could talk, he would undoubtedly tell you that was three days too many. Jake is a gorgeous, sweet-natured Flat-Coated...

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It’s Good To Be King

Mount Rushmore took a big hit last Monday. Serious shoes to fill Tom Petty’s passing left a gaping hole in the Beagle Man’s personal musical stratosphere.  TP’s nine-and-a-half songs in My Favorite 300 Songs Ever rank second — behind only The Boss, and ahead of the Rolling Stones!  (The “half” represents “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” Petty’s 1981 duet with Stevie Nicks, which comes in at #20.) But it’s not just about...

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Rabbit Stew?

Eleven-thirty, Friday night, September 8.  I’d already opted for an E.T.B. (that’s sleepaway camp terminology for early- Don’t let Jake’s “Who, me?” expression fool you. You’re looking at a cold-blooded killer of (already dead) bunnies to-bed) — when I heard screams and commotion coming from the first floor.  I wasn’t inclined to go back down and investigate, because a.) this was Carol’s annual husband-and-wife Book Club Weekend...

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My Scariest Half Hour Ever*

Yesterday’s excitement started shortly after Kemba’s daily first-thing-in-the-morning beach session (pee/poop/fetch-sticks-in-ocean).  The sky was already beginning to look ominous, and a thunderstorm was in the forecast — but I had planned to go for a run, and you all know how much I love changing my plans.  My one concession to the impending weather was that I decided to run loops around the perimeter of the neighborhood, rather than out and back on Napeague Meadow...

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MY PALS: Rosie

I’m not gonna lie:  We didn’t hit it off right away, Rosie and me.  It felt kind of like one of those arranged marriages you hear about.  Just because Tana and Beagle Man want to hang out on the bench in front of Jack’s Coffee with their breakfast sandwiches and Love at first sight? Not! their cold brews, doesn’t mean me and Rosie have to like each other.  The first bunch of times, we’d have at least one scuffle.  She’d growl, I’d snarl,...

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Birthday Boy

Please note the Canadian flag Party favors “Hey, could you bring down some rope from the house so we can cordon off our section of the beach to stop the crowds from pouring in?”  I said this to Robby’s friend Gabe.  It was my attempt to make fun of myself before my sons and their buddies could start doing it for me.  We were “Where’s mine?” (Monty) an hour-and-a-half into the Sunday, 2 o’clock birthday party, and after all my e-mails,...

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Who’s Cutest?

I pulled up to the fence outside Jack’s Coffee in Amagansett on my bike.  Greg and Kelly were Kemba? already there, sitting on one of the benches.  Greg had just finished his workout across the street at Barry’s Bootcamp.  Kelly had driven over from Montauk, where she’d done a SoulCycle session.  Baby Ryan was right alongside them in his car seat thingie.  The new parents had every reason to feel good about themselves. Surrounding them was the usual Jack’s...

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MY PALS: Maxie

Hey, it’s me.  Kemba.  Again.  Yup, that’s three posts in a row from me:  A MY PALS (Ruckus); a Duck Dog Speaks (Salty Dog), and now another MY PALS.  Anyone get the feeling that Beagle Man isn’t doing The odd couple: me and Maxie a whole lot of blogging while we’re out here at the beach?  He keeps saying that he’s working on his “book.”  Hey, I’m good with that.  I’ve been begging for by-lines on this blog forever, and now...

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