Five days after returning from my Halifax pick-the-puppy tour, I got this comment on my blog from Meg, a close friend of Carol’s since high school: Hank: I’m on a ferry from PEI to Nova Scotia and talking to a couple with a toller……

Marcia says Kemba’s “irresistable.”  Lang calls him “beyond cute,” and Anne-Lynn writes, “What a sweetie!  I want a hug.”  According to Bill, he’s a “stud muffin,” whatever the heck that is.  Polly writes:  “If I didn’t know he was real, I’d say this was a stuffed dog, the kind you win at a carniva…

About six weeks ago, after a painstaking breed search that was well-chronicled (maybe a little too well-chronicled?) in this blog, I finally determined that Future Dog was going to be a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Next?  The hunt for the right breeder. I looked into one kennel in New Jers…

 Everyone, meet KEMBA!!! Kemba, meet everyone!!! LOOK FOR A NEW BEAGLE MAN POST EVERY THURSDAY.  OR PRETTY CLOSE TO THURSDAY.  COULD BE WEDNESDAY.  OR FRIDAY.  LET’S NOT GET TOO OBSESSIVE HERE . . .  OH, AND BTW, YOU CAN ALSO FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER

I’d by lying if I said I wasn’t ridiculously excited about going up to Nova Scotia this weekend. Matt and I are flying into Halifax Friday night.  Saturday morning we’ll do a little get-acquainted-with-the-city tour, then grab some lunch.  And then . . . The Main Event:  We’ll take a 45-minute dri…

I don’t know quite what to make of this dog, Jeep.  He belongs to Kelly’s cousin Tommy, and he came to visit Beagle Man and the missus out at Montauk last week.  Quite honestly, he wasn’t exactly what I’d call handsome — at least not like yours truly.  But I’ll tell you this:  He was a huge hit, b…

My mom’s name was Stella.  She died in 1996, and I still miss her a lot.  I’ve always loved the name Stella, and have hinted to all my sons that it would be nice if they named a girl after my mom — but based on the family track record, I’m not counting on too many daughters.  So I decided I’d name…

There’s an awful lot of commotion down in the Beagle Man’s house these days about bringing home this Toller.  E-mails back and forth to the breeder.  Plans for a trip to Nova Scotia.  The B-Man reading a book about “the power of positive training.”  Lining up a dog trainer.  Registration for obedi…

So yes, as you’ve been hearing, it’s looking pretty solid that Future Dog is going to be a Toller.  And yes, arrangements are starting to be made for its arrival — knock wood.  The thing is, I’m pretty superstitious, and I don’t want to jinx anything by revealing too many details.  As my son Matt…

Yup, those rumors you’ve been hearing are true.  The very deliberate —sometimes agonizingly deliberate — Beagle Man is in line for a Toller.  A what?  A Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.  I know, a mouthful, right?  Some say he chose it specifically because I was such a “handful,” and he was loo…