Beagle Hound: Courtesy Wikipedia
We have been hounded with media coverage about both the Presidential primaries, and the 132nd annual Westminster Dog Show, presently underway in Madison Square Garden.
For the first time since 1939, a Beagle took the top honor in the Hound group after defeating 25 other dogs. Almost three years old, a little pooch named Uno is making history and is on his way to hopefully win the coveted Best In Show award.
According to an interesting article at Dogtime.com, the top contenders for the highest office in the Country, have at least one dog. Presently, Mr. Barack Obama is the exception, but dog lovers who may be supporting his platform have no cause for concern. One of his campaign promises, if elected is to get a dog for his daughters.
Hillary Clinton shares her home with Seamus, a Labrador Retriever, while John McCain is owned by two pooches, a Springer Spaniel named Sam and a mixed breed, Coco.
If there are "no coincidences" as many people believe, I am wondering if Uno's historic win is a metaphor for the need for change in our country. Since Uno represents "the dog for the people", perhaps his victory over the "fancier" breeds is an omen of positive things to come.
Uno may be onto something prophetically. Since the Beagle Hound is "the people's dog",
4 comments:
Haha finally a "real" dog wins Westminster! We had a beagle once - they are the cutest dogs ever but housebraking one is a major undertaking- lol That's why I think most people have had only one beagle
This little fellow certainly earned the title. Most of the time this breed gets so overlooked at these big shows. It was very nice to see him win the title.
I have always wondered why this breed was over looked at the shows. He is a beautiful dog,but his win will mean that the breed is now in the spot light. Many people will get this breed without checking what the traits of this breed. Beagles follow their nose which is what they are bred for, but they tend to wander if the owner is not knowledgeable. Lets pray prospective owners do alot of research before getting one of these great dogs.
Anonymous:) Excellent comment. You are so right that folks who are considering this breed do a lot of research.
Not only do they follow their noses and wander, their baying sounds can be really difficult to live with.
I have a friend who is a veterinarian. She had an elder Beagle years ago, who as he aged became much more vocal. She actually "debarked" him, which left him able to make sounds, but not to the extent that was causing major problems in her household.
The dog lived another 5 years of great quality life, but most importantly with the baying stopped, the household was once again restored to sanity with her other pets, and kids.
In the research I have been doing about the breed, I learned that many of these dogs are either returned to their breeders, or worse yet, given to shelters due to this one particular trait that is so difficult. I would hate to see an increase in Beagles in shelters awaiting re-homing or worse yet, euthanasia.
Kneadstoknow
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