Day Fourteen, Sunday

The alarm goes off, and I'm awake. Today is the day Dixie goes home. I decide that I'm going to leave Georgia home while I take Dixie to her new mom. I start by getting the resident four plus one out of the bedroom and down the hall to go outside. Dixie has managed to get on top of the crate and is about to get onto the counter when we come around the corner. Georgia is barking her encouragement. First, I let the resident four plus one outside, then I take down the top half of the barricade, and climb over to make coffee. The girls chew at my feet and grab at my pants. I can feel the tips of very sharp puppy teeth on my legs. I'm really awake now! When there are puppies in residence, coffee is optional. I look outside to see how the residents are doing. Hunter LOVES to be outside in the leaves. He and Buster patrol the fence line with military precision. Buddy and Potsy hand out on the futon, and Daisy sits in the sunshine. So, I put Dixie and Georgia outside and get ready for another run up Rout 95. I decide that I'm not taking the crate, so I make Dixie a bed on the car seat. I found an excellent use for the puppy pads I bought during the last Beagle Camp - they may not work well for housebreaking, but they work VERY well to protect upholstery from beagle barf. So I put pads across the seat, covered with a sheet, then a towel, and then several blankets that Dixie can smush around to her satisfaction. By the time I've got this set up and I'm back inside, the resident four plus one are impatient to be let back inside to eat, and so I go get them and feed them. Then it's time to go. One final check - I've got towels, sheets, plastic bag, puppy pads, toll money, and I start out. But I forgot one thing. I pull back into the driveway, and go get Dixie. It's probably a really good thing I don't have children. Now I'm really ready to go. Dixie settles down immediately, and snuggles into the blankets. I stop for coffee and gas, and she sleeps through the whole thing. The drive is uneventful - Dixie is very well behaved. We get to within 10 miles of our destination when Dixie barfs. So, it was DIXIE who barfed yesterday, too. I pull over, and wrap the entire mess up and put it in the plastic bag I brought along. I put fresh puppy pads down, a clean sheet, a couple clean towels, and a blanket which Dixie rearranges immediately. We get to the meeting spot in no time, and her new mom is already there and waiting with Shamrock. He gets out of the car to greet us, pulling Cindy along behind him. He sniffs Dixie, who turns around to lick his ears. He snarls, but playfully. I take their leashes and walk them over to the grass while Cindy puts puppy pads under the blanket in her back seat. Shamrock walks over to Cindy, and looks at her as if he's saying "tell me again why you're doing this, mom?" She laughs and pets him, and gets him back in the car. She then picks Dixie up. Dixie immediately gets "no bone-sy", and snuggles against Cindy and whuffles and sighs. She knows she's home. Cindy puts Dixie in the backseat with Shamrock, and he jumps to the front seat. She coaxes him back into the back seat. He reluctantly complies. She gets in the car, and she heads for home. And then, so do I.

Beagle Camp is down to one puppy, and one former foster. Georgia doesn't seem to miss her sisters that much. It's possibly because she has Hunter and Daisy to torment. I come home expecting to see a mess outside - instead, I see Georgia and Hunter curled up next to each other on the futon. Daisy is in her doghouse, having reclaimed it since Dixie has gone to her forever home. Buddy and Potsy look at me as if to say "Another one, GONE??" Buster is out running the fence line, fiercely protecting his yard from an attack by the neighbor's long haired miniature dachshund, who is also securely behind an escape proof fence.

And again we have a rather lazy afternoon. We watch football, we nap. We eat dinner. The rest of the night is pretty uneventful. Since Georgia is the last Belle at Beagle Camp, I take up the drop cloth and newspaper, and I have my kitchen back! Georgia gets to sleep in the crate in the bedroom. Georgia has graduated into the land of the "big dogs". I put the crate on a furniture dolly (Georgia has a mobile home!) so I can move it from room to room pretty easily. At bedtime, the resident four plus one go running down the hall, while I put Georgia in her crate and wheel her to the bedroom. She's tired and settles down quickly to sleep. I cover the crate with a sheet, and the boys sniff at it, then leave it alone. Daisy doesn't even try to go near it.