As Daisy approaches her first Christmas, I’ve been thinking about how much she’s developed. She’s no longer that timid little thing who used to get so overwhelmed by groups of kids or other dogs that she would squat for appeasement pees; now she’s right in there loving the attention. Her confidence when meeting others has filtered through to Monkey, who had become downright fearful during that brief period of being a solo dog.
During her first month with us it was often a struggle to get her to eat her meals, so much so that we designated a room as her private “sensory deprivation restaurant” – a place where there’d be nothing to distract her from her food. Any time we let her have a novel new treat we had to set aside plenty of time to let her play with it first; it took her about 20 minutes to get round to eating her first chicken foot. All that has changed; she has a fully developed Beagle appetite and can dispatch any food item faster than Monkey, even though he has larger and more powerful chewing gear.
She’s our cuddliest Beagle by far; if she’s going to have a nap, she’ll find a humie lap or snoozing Monkster to curl up on, and often prefers to snuggle when she gets a chew toy she really likes.
She is however thoroughly spoiled. Spoiled by us of course, but also spoiled by Monkey. I can tell from her interactions with other dogs that her puppy license is starting to expire, but the Monkster remains very protective and indulgent of her. If she wants a toy he’s got, it won’t be long before he lets her have it. A couple of days ago they both snook into a fenced (supposedly Beagle-free) part of the garden; I announced a biccie scramble to recall them and while Monkey was by my side in a flash, Daisy couldn’t find her way out and began to panic. Biccies were on the ground right under his nose, but Monkey left them untouched to help me rescue Daisy. I hope Daisy realises how lucky she is to have such a gentle and caring big brother.
One thing she certainly doesn’t realise, or at least has no desire to respect, is the need to keep her nose out of our food when we’re having a sofa snack. Rules, boundaries and limitations? Not for Daisy if you don’t mind, and if you do mind, well they’re still not for Daisy. She’s more of a food pest than Beanie ever was, despite us never once giving her food scraps from our plates. We are slowly winning this war, but it is a struggle, and it’s not helped by the fact that she’s so cute.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Christmas, but I am looking forward to it this year with our newly restored team of two Beaglets.
