I have been following your site for a couple of months now. My husband and I were looking for a puppy for my grandmother, who had to put her dog to sleep in mid August. This made me realize that it might be time for us to invest in a puppy of our own. We already have an 11 year old beagle that has been with me since he was 4 weeks old. He has always been around other dogs. We also had a black lab that we had to put to sleep in January at 14 years old. So, my beagle had been an only dog for a while. I decided to look for a puppy to adopt from a shelter for her, instead of getting one from a breeder. I wanted to do the noble thing and try to rescue a dog that might otherwise not have a chance for a good life. In my search, I found a puppy for her and an older dog (about 5 years old) that captured our hearts. On August 17^th we set off to pick both dogs up.

 My grandmother is very active for her age, so we were sure she could handle a new dog. We turned out to be incorrect and the dog was jumping out of her fence and she was not able to continue to chase it around the neighborhood. So, unfortunately she had to return the dog we adopted on her behalf. Since we had paid the adoption fee and to have him tested at the vet, he already had all medicine he needed paid for and they were able to offer him at a much reduced price. He was adopted shortly after the return, so all worked out well in the end for him.

About our dogs

SARGE

The 5 year old neutered male beagle (Sergeant or “Sarge” as we call him) that we adopted is still with us. After adopting him, we took him to the vet and found he had heartworms. This was only after a negative test and us not believing that everything was okay with him. We took him to the emergency clinic for a second opinion, where he tested positive for heartworms. I took him back to our vet the next week and they confirmed the positive test. The next week we began treatment. He got his last two shots at the beginning of October and goes back tomorrow for them to listen to his heart and make sure he can be released for exercise, since they have to rest for the entire time they are undergoing the heartworm treatment to prevent any further harm. This is only one the problems we are facing with him.

"WINSTON

My 11 year old neutered male beagle (Winston) was purchased at pet store when he was just 4 weeks old. I was younger then and did not know of the problems associated with buying from pet stores. He is like my child. He has slept in the bed with me and now us for his entire life. The trainer says he is very well balanced. He had a senior work up back in March and had some abnormally high blood test results for liver and kidney values. I took him to Memphis to see the specialists and he is now on blood pressure medicine. He kidney values have come down to normal and we are monitoring the liver values. He was very overweight back when he was 5 and tore ligaments in both his knees. We took him to Memphis then to have the surgery and he has been as good as new since. He gets walked about 2 miles every day. When it too hot or cold, I have taught him to walk on the treadmill with no leash. He would like to be able to play with another dog some, but Sarge doesn’t understand how to play with other dogs yet.

Since Winston is such a good dog, and so well trained (the trainer was surprised when she kept him for two days on her 13 acre property and could walk him off leash) I would like for him to be able to pass some of his good behavior on to a puppy. I don’t want something to happen to Winston before he can pass some of wisdom on to another dog. Although, Sarge is taking some cues from Winston. A few times that Winston has seen something in the backyard and gone out the dog door to howl about it, Sarge has followed and howled with him. I also feel that maybe if Sarge saw how Winston interacted with another dog, he would learn more quickly what he is supposed to do. I feel like it is not fair to Winston, having been around other dogs his entire life, not to have another stable dog that he can be friends with. For all these reasons and that I think it is the right time in our life, I believe one of your puppies would be a great addition to our household.

About us

My name is Ashley. My husband is David (Dave). He is 35 years old and I will be 31 years old in one month. We currently live in Muscle Shoals, AL. Until about a month ago, he was the president of a large glass company in Memphis, TN. He is now working on starting a business with his best friend, while doing some consulting work. He is very much a business minded guy. I was laid off a couple of years ago. I am currently going back to school for electrical engineering. Who knows, I might get my masters and teach college for the excellent hours and flexibility they have. I am currently only taking 2 classes because of all the time needed to try and rehabilitate our recently adopted dog. My schedule is currently adaptable to the needs of our animals. We have been married for 6 years and together for 8 years. We have no plans to have children. Our beagles are our children. We like the freedom of being able to travel and do things just the two of us.

Taking care of the new puppy

YARD

We have a fenced in back with a dog door leading to a covered patio in the fence. We will probably initially try the bathtub thing you suggest with the bed at one end and newspaper at the other. If we ever moved, a fence and dog door would be a requirement before the dogs and I would join Dave at a new house. I can’t believe we ever lived without the dog door, now that we have one."

"HOUSE

We have dog steps leading to both couches in the living room, the bed in our room, and the ottoman upstairs in front of the window, where Winston often goes to look out and make sure nothing funny is going on the neighborhood. We have a dog bed for each dog in the living room.

HEALTHCARE

We take Winston to an internal medicine specialist at Memphis Veterinary Specialists. We will take Sarge to the dentist there, as they can do root canals and crowns and lots more than a regular vet can do. If the puppy ever needed special medical care, we already have a relationship established with several specialists at this great facility.

OUTSIDE INFLUENCES

As mentioned earlier, my schedule is flexible for the dog’s needs. Right now I am only gone for about 4 hours 2 days a week. My husband is also home a lot now, since he is working on starting a business and not having to travel back and forth to Memphis every week. When we do go on vacation, we board the dogs with our trainer, Jane. Winston has never boarded at the vet, unless he was there for a medical procedure. Jane is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA). She has traveled all over the world rehabilitating different kinds of animals. We are very fortunate to have someone like her in our area. She doesn’t use kennels. She keeps the dogs in her house and takes them on two walks around her 13 acre property a day. After the first of the year, we will probably be taking the dogs out to her property at least once a month to help Sarge get more socialized and hopefully over his fear of everything."

" If the perfect puppy came along, the earliest we can take one is January. If you had a puppy come along that captured our hearts or one that you knew would match my preferences, we would definitely not want to pass him up as long as it is January before he needed to come home. We will be going on a cruise the last week in November. Next, we go to Jamaica every year for 10 days in December. We get back the day before Christmas Eve. Have all the family stuff for two days, and then we go stay with my mom until after the 1^st of the year. She has dogs and we can bring ours, but I feel we need more time before taking a puppy with us to someone else’s house.

Color, Gender, and Marking preferences

COLOR and GENDER

We would like Khaki male. I am just partial to the guys, I guess.

MARKINGS and NOSE COLOR

I would like for him to have a blaze, as both of my current beagles do. I don’t want open markings. I would really love it if his nose would stay more to the pink side. Both the beagles I have now have the pinkish or liver (whatever they call it) colored noses. I am including pictures of them so you can see a little about our house, us, and our dogs. I am not sure if most khaki color beagles have this kind of nose or not. In some of the pictures on your site, the older khaki beagles look to have darker noses. This could just be a result of the lighting. I am not sure that you can predict the coloring of the nose overtime. I thought that maybe since you had been doing this for so long, you would know what traits in the parents would lend themselves to the puppy having this characteristic.

" thanks so much for taking the time to read my “book” that I have sent you. I wanted to be sure to include all the information you were looking to find out. I apologize if it has taken up your entire morning or afternoon to get through my email. Please let me know if you need any other info. If not, and you believe we would be a good match for one of your puppies, let me know how to proceed with the deposit.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Ashley "