Wow, what a difference a few months makes! At the end of last year, I wasn’t too happy. My hunter lost me, but I found a buddy to hang around with. But, even with my buddy, we couldn’t find enough to eat. And besides that, it was getting cold!! Then, just when the Thanksgiving trash was gone, my buddy and I got taken to this place with lots of other dogs. I think I heard someone call it a shelter. I thought it was a strange place, but at least it was warm, and we had lots of food. The people there started calling me Jeff, and they called my buddy Mutt – then they’d start laughing. Not sure what was up with that, but they sure seemed to enjoy it. Then one day, somebody came and took Mutt away, and I was there all by myself. Christmas was sure lonely without Mutt. But I wasn’t lonely for long. At the start of the New Year, a nice lady came and took me to a house with 11 other beagles – yep, 11! It was just like being at home again. I was only there 4 days when some people came by. They were visiting some of the other beagles, but they looked like nice people, so I decided to check them out. The big guy sat down on the sofa, and I thought “here’s my chance!” I jumped onto his lap and went to sleep. After all, only a really mean person would push a sleeping beagle boy off of his lap! Unfortunately, one of the other beagles wasn’t as nice, and he kept trying to steal my lap. But I’m a stubborn beagle – I wouldn’t budge. The guy started petting me, and he was pretty good at it. And the woman that was with him thought I was a handsome boy, and really loved my crooked tail. So, next thing I knew, I was going home with them! Since I had refused to acknowledge the name Jeff (after all, who ever heard of a beagle named Jeff?), they kindly renamed me Tucker. Isn’t that a great name?

Anyway, I got a great surprise when we got home. I had sisters! They are older than me, but a lot of fun. One is a beagle, and I’m not too sure what the other one is. I think I heard Mom and Dad say that she’s a Chihuahua mix – but I kinda think she looks like an overstuffed sausage. Mary Margaret, my beagle sister, is 11 and loves to hunt with me in the yard. My other sister, Brandy, loves to chase me around the house. And, when she gets tired of chasing me, we wrestle together all over the floor. I thought that she wouldn’t want to play with me, because she is already 10, and a lot smaller than me, but I was wrong! And guess what? She can howl! Not as good as me, but she really tries. Personally, I don’t think she knows that she’s not a beagle.

Well, after I’d been home for about a month, my Mom and Dad decided that I might be lonely for a younger dog, so we took a car ride back to the nice lady’s house. Would you believe that she still had 12 beagles?? While we were there, my buddy Donder came over and played. He’s really cool. He’s a little older than me, and a little bigger, and he can jump like a kangaroo! I hope I can do that someday. It took all of my beagle persuasion skills, but I finally convinced Mom and Dad to bring Donder home with us. He didn’t like his name either – he thought it sounded like one of Santa’s reindeer. So we convinced Mom and Dad to name him Riley. I think that’s a lot better than Donder, don’t you? Now we are one big, happy beagle family. I still wrestle with Brandy, but Riley and I like to play tug-of-war, especially with Mom’s shoe. And Mary Margaret is the BEST cuddler – except for Dad. Riley is pretty funny – he thinks Mom is just a big beagle. He loves share her pillow, and once she’s asleep, he gives her a surprise ear bath. Dad thinks it is really funny, but I don’t think Mom agrees. She keeps mumbling about wet tongues and wet ears and beagles who won’t sleep in their own beds. Like any of us do! Isn’t that why king-sized beds were created? Riley and I have decided to keep these people forever. I think 2004 is the start of a terrific life for us!

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