The Lead Dog

Butch, the Beagle is the Lead Dog around our house. The date of his birth was September 20, 2000.

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Our grandchildren gave him to us for Christmas that year just as he turned 3 months old.

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A Beagle is the last breed of dogs that aging grandparents should have. They are hard-headed, strong-willed, energetic dogs. They are difficult for amateurs to train and that's how he became The Lead Dog around our house.

Instead of us training him, he trained us !

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The old adage of 'when the children leave home and you're lonely, get a dog' could be true in some cases. We weren't exactly lonely but we got one anyway. And, really and truly, Butch has become our pride and joy. We've had to stay young and be on our toes to keep up with him. If he ever got outside the backyard fence, you could see that little hound dog running like the wind, with his ears flapping, his tail on point, and his nose to the ground. The hunting instinct would take over immediately. Thank goodness that hasn't happened often!

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A couple of weeks ago we had a bad storm in the late afternoon. We were going from door to door, window to window, seeing what we could see when suddenly I noticed that Butch had lost the use of his right back leg. He could hardly get around. It frightened me so bad that I encouraged H to drive him to a vet in Abilene, 75 miles. It appeared that he had had a stroke.

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We got him all loaded up in the pick-up and while I was waiting for H, Butch started playing around and attempting to crawl around and over the seat...completely normal. We put his leash on him and started walking him around and he seemed like the normal little Butch that we've always known. So we forgot about taking him in to the vet.

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For two or three days, he seemed pretty o.k. and then, gradually we began to see a change in him. His tail stopped wagging, dropping in down between his legs. It became harder and harder for him to walk. He stopped jumping up into his favorite sleeping chair. The only thing that didn't change about him was his appetite. He still wanted to eat.

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The afternoon that I noticed him out in the backyard, trying to poop and losing his balance, was just the last straw. The next morning H drove him to Abilene to the Ridgemont Animal Clinic.

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During the 4 day stay there, after x-rays and blood tests, it was determined that Butch has arthritis. If he does alright on the medication that was prescribed for him, he will be taking it the rest of his life, with annual blood tests, to make sure the medication isn't affecting other organs of his body.

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He is still the 'apple of our eye', our pride and joy....just not the energetic, get into everything, dog we've always had.

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When all is said and done, Butch is still the Lead Dog around our house!