Life off of the lead....

The beagle mom is writing the blog this week giving a female touch to Marshall happenings. We started off the week of July 20th, 2009 with a new dog mood....what we call "action pose". We are not sure what triggers this reaction but the photo shows Marshall on the floor on this side, but from above it looks like his is running in the grass. He thinks no one sees his moves....but his owners see all.










Saturday morning Jimmy and I were focused on finding a new sniff and walk trails for his exercise needs. Well, after what Marshall thought was 45 minutes and four trail head discoveries we went down to South Austin to park at the Green Belt off highway 360. Marshall found the trail to his liking...full of smell and animal "gifts". He convinced his people that he could handle walking off the lead. Since Jimmy runs the blog most of the time....Marshall demanded photos of him on the blog this week. Marshall did great and did not run off to find another adopted family. Please note his finesse off the lead with his Jimmy.










Early last week, Dr. W took another x-ray of Marshall's pelvis. The vet was concerned with the break in the ball and pin joint that is not fully healed and that arthritis might set in eventually. The attached x-ray shows that he is really healing well. We got the call on Wednesday night that the orthopedic surgeon said the left leg was doing well. We thought interested parties might want to see the plate in Marshall's leg...he is willing to sell it to the highest bidder.

Everyone knows that Austin is in a drought.....but it looks like Marshall has found a great patch of green grass. Since the grass only grows where the shade or water flows, Marshall has found the perfect safari grasslands to lay and play in. Again, he thinks that no one sees him....but who can miss that beagle head!! Marshall has no comment, but did tell his friends that he wishes the parental would stay out of his business. Let's see how the lawnmower treats his special spot. Till next week....Marshall send his licks and big paw scratches....

I'm not a Cow?

Marshall has had another busy weekend so we will just touch on a couple quick life lessons to summarize this week. He went to the vet for a follow-up x-ray today. The worst of his three pelvis fractures (the one that required a metal plate with four screws) is doing very well. Dr. W is pleased with his progress. A second break is also healing nicely. Its that pesky third break that she isn't quite sure of just yet. Just to be safe, she is going to ask a specialist to take a look this week. Think good thoughts.

Now, about those life lessions. #1 came early in the week when Marshall made his first attempt to bring a stick into the house through his dog door. Anyone want to guess at the problem in this picture?

Yep. Rectangular hole. Long(er) stick. Trouble. First we heard a bop, then another, then a pause, and finally a long scrape as it finally made it in on attempt #3. Sadly, Jimmy took it right back outside soon after, but the lesson was learned all the same.

Highlights from later in the week include an unfortunate foray into the guest bedroom and a little "redesign" of the comforter with the only tools at Marshall's disposal, his teeth. Now that we are feeling better about his recovery it seems like its time for obedience classes to start in earnest.

And finally, a lesson every dog must learn: I am not the biggest thing out there. For Marshall, that lesson came at Paca and Gama's land, and was delivered by the entire herd.
The key lesson for him to learn is a healthy respect for boundaries. A cute beagle lo0ks a lot like a wild coyote to these bovines and we don't want to start a rumble out there. Marshall was sufficiently impressed by their size that I don't think we are going to have any problems anytime soon. More on that this fall, when he makes his first visit to the land with Aunt Carolyn's pack. Safety in numbers.

And Marshall would like to give a quick two paws up shout out to his cousin Bethany, who helped him battle through the cow introduction, and made sure all of his needs were met this weekend. Bethany is a sweet girl, a refined dancer when appropriate, and as you can see by this picture, all country when it counts!

He came, he chewed, he did not regret

Marshall had a big week, and a really big weekend. First, Lori had her last week of summer school, which means no more Tuesdays and Thursdays stuck at home with just Jimmy to entertain him. Now he has both humans to play with.

Since he knows his foster mom Denise checks his blog every now and then, Marshall wanted to be sure she saw that he is still enjoying one of his oldest toys, blue bone.

So, about that wild week. At the end of the July 4th weekend, we set out for a walk around the neighborhood. It started with the same ritual as usual, Marshall grabs at his lead and tugs at it until you understand its time to go... now.

While we were out we saw two dogs that looked to have gotten lose (they had tags) but would not allow us to get close enough to check them. Jimmy went back to the house to alert the neighborhood Yahoo! newsgroup and Lori led Marshall around the corner so he would stop baying at the lost dogs, scaring them even more than they already were.

Yes, while Marshall is a rescue dog himself, he has a bit of training to go before he is ready to help other dogs. Case in point: what he recently did to Lori's Hound Rescue baseball cap. Ouch! And on that subject, have you ever heard of a dog that was so against rain gauges that he chewed right into the plastic?

After taking down two prized possessions you might think Marshall had some regrets? Yeah, right.

One of the ways the humans try to combat the chewing is with daily walks in the evening and weekend special trips. Marshall made his first trip to Town Lake and got to romp with the other dogs in the no leash area. Since its not a fenced dog park and he is still learning to return when called he had to stay on his lead but did very well socializing with the big dogs, small dogs, wet dogs, wild dogs, and even a few crazy dogs. He did not, however, take to the life-sized statute of Stevie Ray Vaughan. The only way the humans were able to get a photo of the two of them together was to snap this quick shot of the shadow, part of the statute.

After the successful Town Lake trip, Marshall got to pick out a new toy at Bark 'n Purr. Its a bit hard to tell from this action shot but he settled on Ted, a rope turtle that supported animal rescue efforts with his purchase. Five minutes later, Ted was on life support.




As of this writing, Ted is no longer with us. Perhaps Michael has made some room for him at the big Neverland Ranch in the sky.

Holiday = Visitors Galore

After last weekend's successfully social morning at the Hound Rescue Yard Sale, we decided to join the festivities at the North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Association's July 4th parade. You can't really tell, but that's us near the end of the pre-parade line up. Two police cars escorted the crowd around Pillow Elementary, and Marshall did very well will all his canine and ankle-biter neighbors.

As you can see, security is something Marshall takes very seriously. He is working on his skills and plans to join the neighborhood watch program as soon as DPS processes his background check. Why does that take so long, Lori?



Marshall also did his part later in the day by helping host Gypsy, one of Lori and Jimmy's 4th of July BBQ guests. Here's a nice shot of Gypsy doing her famous "splat" impression, and a decent shot of the two of them playing "that stick belongs to me" while the humans ate burgers and hot dogs. Gypsy loves to be chased, and Marshall was eager to do his part, running faster than anyone thought possible on his recovering hind leg, and letting out blood-curdling beagle bays that meant fun was had by all.

Later it was time for a nap.

With Lori's feet at one end of the couch and a nice pillow to hide behind at the other end it was tough for Marshall to commit to just one position.

And now for the grand finale of the day, Aunts Carolyn and Lee Ann stopped in after the night's fireworks to meet their new Nephew. Marshall showed them just what he has done to the intelligence toy that got him. Don't let the innocent look fool you, those poor squirrels will never be the same.