Home, home on the range!

I decided that it was time for Freckles (also now know as Freckie Macfee, the Freckinator and Frecks Magee) to go the the farm and meet some Non-Beagles. This was a rather interesting day. I tried to plan things out (although, in the end, one must recognize that things of this nature often become calamity even with the best of planning). I packed up the car with towels and put adjusted my Handy Dandy Doggie Hammock in the back seat. I brought extra water bottles and some training treats (Ha! Training! Yeah, right!!!). I also decided to bring Cooper with us because, in the worst of situations, Cooper is an unflappably good guy. Around our house, he is considered to be doggie valium. At the very least, he is a sort of Doggie Buddah.

I scooped up Frecks Magee (No snickering- it was almost St. Patricks day when we named her that!)and Coopee Buddah and piled them in the back of the car and off we went. One does not really understand the error in their planning until one is powering down the road in a manual transmission car with one little beagle whining and peeing all over the Handy Dandy Doggie Hammock and another, larger, less than zen like beagle trying to climb on your head to escape the peeing and whining...Anyway, things finally settled down and we made it to the barn. Throwing training treats over my shoulder as people do with the lucky pinch of salt turned out the be a very helpful maneuver.

We got out of the car and the dogs acted like they had arrived in Heaven. Although Cooper has been to the barn many times before, he is pretty easy to please and the smell of horse pooh put him is a very Zen frame of mind. We rounded the corner to find the resident pet goats. There are about 10 of them, varying in shape, color, size and degree of obesity/aging decrepitude. Frecks was amazed by these odd, waddling beasts. She didn't seem to know weather to make friends or run away, so she did a little of both. Oddly, when she met my horses, she went right up and kissed them on the nose- it was all very cute. Coopee Buddah was becoming one with the goat and horse pooh- so he really wasn't assisting Frecks much on her spiritual journey. I guess I could've left him at home!

At some point, my friend Laura's dog, Bravo came in (he apparently decided to cut his portion of the trail ride short and high-tailed it back to the barn!). Frecks and Coop were enthralled. Bravo is a very large (70 lbs?) English Fox Hound. He had the good sense to want to hang out with the fox hunters rather than chase down the foxes in the hunt field, so he was promptly retired and got to come live with Laura...Smart dog! If you didn't know, fox hounds basically look like giant beagles. This particular fox hound looks like a giant Cooper, a fact which did not appear to be lost on my two little hounds. They were like long lost buddies. I corralled the Three Amigos into a stall so that they would not frolic off together into Parts Unknown.

My friend Laura showed up and thanked me profusely for corralling her galloping galute. Everyone in the barn cooed over the three silly hounds playing in the fresh bedding. It was all quite cute.

The two beagles slept like logs the whole ride home.
Laboratory retiree checklist:
Car ride: check
strange dog: check
goats: check
horses: check

Way to go Freckles! She's getting more acclimated every day...now if only she would stop peeing on my Pergo!