I considered calling this post “Stupid Human Tricks.”  Greg’s friend Maggie brought this very strange T-shirt to the Howlin’ Wolf Vermont house — with a wolf wearing Bose headphones and a nose ring.  Leave it to Beagle Man to put it on over his hoodie and declare it his new grilling outfit.  I kid you not:  There he was, out on the deck, with the flaming grill balanced on two feet of snow, swatting icicles off the eaves, and howling at the moon.  Don’t...

Only dogs in the ring, no trainers.  That way we won’t have to see any more of those sensible shoes and 1950s dresses No beauticians. You don’t see me doing this to Ricky before we go out in the morning     Let’s save the ribbons for dogs that look like dogs         With better security we can eliminate snowballs posing as pups For a greener Westminster, let’s mop up beer spills with Komondors instead of paper napkins  ...

Ella surveys her troops . . . Ricky the Beagle, Connecticut’s only dog to have completed three transcontinental road trips (I can’t swear to this, but I’m gonna go with it until someone proves me wrong), is about to embark on another excellent adventure: cross-country skiing! Yesterday, Joe & Pam and Tom & Marcie, all from WePo, joined the Beagle Man for some x-c in Vermont.  Tom and Marcie brought along Ella, their 11-year-old Labradoodle.  This was...

As you all know, I love Vermont.  Playing in all that fresh snow.  (And eating it.)  Smelling lots and lots of other S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G on my special throne animals — ones they don’t have around here.  Snuggling all cozy by the fire while Beagle Man and the Mrs. read, or watch football or hoops.  But I don’t always get to go along.  They usually have some excuse ready.  “Too many guests . . . lots of food . . . he’ll be a pain in the neck.”  “The...

Last week Ricky and I were at the vet yet again, having his bloodwork done yet again, as we tinkered with his meds yet again, in an effort to lengthen the YOU tell ME who’s normal here intervals between his epileptic seizures yet again.  A woman listening in on my conversation with Dr. B said to me, “Wow!  They really know your dog pretty well here.”  You think so?  Just for fun I’ve been saving my receipts from all his vet visits and his specialist visits...

Lucy in the worldwide YouTube hit that everyone’s talking about . . . . . . and me in the sequel Yes, yes, of course you’ve already seen this video, which has become a huge, worldwide YouTube hit and is being shown everywhere.  The clip has been forwarded to Beagle Man personally by Pam G. and Carol F. and Matt H. and Katie M. and Jeff K. and Eric W. and I’m sure a slew of other people I’ve missed.  Robby has even posted it on his Facebook page, for crying...

The right spot (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) I’ve told my friend Jeff  time and again to stop sending me his cute little “thought-you-might-like-this” internet items.  I tell him I never, ever read them.  But he keeps sending them.  And, damn it, I keep reading them. A few days into this new year, Jeff forwarded to me an NPR item by Mark Memmot:  “Everyone Poops, But Dogs Do It With Magnetism” — along with accompanying photo (right).  The piece talks...

Luz got me a new squeaky toy for Christmas.  It’s hard to explain, but there’s just something about them . . . I absolutely love squeaky toys.  Maybe because playing with them makes me feel like a puppy again?  Good ol’ Luz!  Beagle Man gave me a stocking, full to the velvet cuff, with . . . all my pill bottles.  This was his idea of a joke.  Way to go, B-Man.  That’s the Christmas spirit.  What’s got me really puzzled, though, is what I got from the...

Where’s Ricky? Day before Christmas.  Everyone in my house is running around tying up loose ends.  I guess I’ll do the same, since it appears nobody’s going to pay any attention to me.  I probably won’t even get fed.  Okay, first thing — the answer to Beagle Man’s cutesy little “Where’s Ricky?” puzzle from last Friday:  I was down by the rocks, near the small tree.  (I had ideas about going down to the stream for a nice drink of cold...

See if you can find a handsome little beagle in this picture . . . Come on.  It’s Friday  night of the weekend before Christmas.  You really think I’m gonna write something?  And Piece of cake do I really think anyone’s gonna want to read something?  Nah.  And nah.  It’s game time!  But I’m warning you:  This one makes “Where’s Waldo” look like child’s play.  If you can spot the elusive Ricky the Beagle in this photo — it was...