I have had the pleasure of having dogs in my life for as far back as I can remember. My taste has always been toward what I call mush-faced pups, Boxer, Boston Terriers, and Pekingese. And I would have a lot more, if we had a lots of property for them to run and play, but to date my limit is three at a time. And before Daisy, the limit was two.

One day, my husband and I were visiting our son, and he had a beautiful Beagle, that his boss had given him. They had given her away because she scratched on the oak door to go outside. Well, the good news there is his loss turned out to be our gain, because she did not get along with my sons Jack Russell. So, he gave her to us.

Initially my husband was not thrilled with a third dog, but he agreed we would see how it went with our Boston terrier, Butch and Chloe, our Choxer.

She was and is beautiful. She is mostly medium brown, with beautiful brown eyes, eyelashes to die for, a long brown nose (compared to the dogs that I am accustomed to) with white around the edges dotted with light brown freckles. And on her back she has a black saddle, and white socks on her feet and the very tip of her tail, that is always straight up. And when she grows up, I am sure that she wants to be a clown.

The first few days she was very standoffish. She would stay off to herself in one of the other rooms in the house. She acted like she just wanted to be alone.

Butch and Chloe, our other furry kids, welcomed her and within days, she was one of the gang. But she still remained distant in every other way.

She had lived with the other family her whole life, two years, she was with our son for three days, and then he gave her to us. She had to wonder what was next. I was already in love with her, so what I needed to do now, was to show her, we love her and she is NOW family and we take that seriously.

My husband would not take no for an answer to joining in the family. And I truly believe the first time he rolled her over on her back and scratched her soft, furry pink belly she felt love she had not known before. He would rub her belly and peak her belly fur with his fingers, as if to brush it. She totally surrendered.

From that moment on she has become the family clown. She is quite the trickster as well. If one of the other dogs is laying where she wants to be, she would go to the back door and bark, as if there was someone or something outside. Then when the others furry kids ran to the door, she would go get in their place, her place now!

She also has no problem playing alone. She will get a bone, throw it up in the air, run across the room, go across the room to chase it down and start it all over again.

She has found few foods that she does not want to eat. She has to date refused watermelon, lettuce and peanuts, (unless of course, they are in the form of peanut butter.)

She is a bit on the chunky side for a Beagle, but we are taking walks at the park daily and working on our weight together. Unfortunately we do not always do so in a positive way.

She also likes to talk to us. If we are late feeding her, or if she thinks we are going somewhere and she is not going to get to go, she becomes rather mouthy. Personally, I love it, she has that Beagle bay. She is a hoot. And if we bay back at her, it only encourages her, of which I am almost always guilty.

Burying bones in our guests luggage is one of her ways of welcoming company, my Mother got all the way back to Oklahoma before she found that she had been presented with a half chewed rawhide bone with beefy chewy insides. Luckily she saw it as a gift.

A few months ago, we noticed that she had a lump on her chin; a biopsy would reveal it was cancer. Surgery was an option and we did not have to even consider, that is our Daisy and she is FAMILY!

Just like others hurdles in her past, she came through with flying colors, we were told she would take a while to heal and then she should be okay. Someone forgot to tell her she was recovering; she came home and came flying out of the car.

The next day she was outside, at the back door, where there is a wooden platform, where she was playing a game of cat and mouse with a frog, peaking its head through the knothole.

The price of the surgery was a small price to pay for the full time service of a clown and one of the sweetest little furry kids anyone could ever have. And in return she can scratch on our door anytime she wants to go out….furry kids, thank God for them.

Author: Brenda Baldwin
Country: United States
Age: 54
True story: Yes
Rating: 9 paws up
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