By Roger Barbee

My wife Mary Ann and I drove to Raleigh on Sunday and picked up Nick at his foster home. Because our return ride was close to three hours long, Mary Ann sat with him in the back seat of our van. By the time we parked in our driveway, I knew that a bond had formed between my wife and Nick, the two-year-old beagle with a taste of dachshund, we think.

Much has happened in Nick’s life since October 09, 2021, when he was “seized as a stray” in Reidsville, NC. Taken to the local animal shelter, he was later rescued by Triangle Beagle Rescue. Under its care, he received his first medical evaluation and soon was administered the required medical procedures, such as the rabies shot, before being placed with Melanie and Art, his foster parents. Life began to look better for the eighteen-pound stray who had been seized.

In the two full days of sharing our home with Nick, we have re-discovered what life is like when lived with an energetic youngster. His black, brown, and white form is seldom still;  he is mostly obedient, but just a package of curiosity coupled with energy, like all young animals –even the human ones. He sees our four cats as novelties to be sniffed, but their view of him is as an intruder on their turf. We all work on that relationship. However, he has already proven to be a good guard dog and a foe of any squirrel that ventures into his yard. He has yet to figure out the flyers who visit the bird feeders, but his antics with them entertain us, and he enjoys a chew on any pine cone he finds.

Nick is our fourth hound. He comes after Nolan the black and tan hound and Mickey and Callie, the beagles, died. Those three shared life with us for fifteen years and cannot, like a broken plate, be replaced. What they gave us during those years is a treasure that Mary Ann and I hold close, but we are now building a new bond with a bundle of beagle.

After all, what good is a life not shared!