Baby Abby

So last week I introduced Abby and her love/hate of squirrels. This week I wanted to share how Abby became a part of my family.

Abby is currently 8 years old, and will be 9 in May. I believe her birthday is May 6, 2002. I got her when she was only 7 weeks old, and she was the length of my foot. I believe she was only about 7 or 8 pounds at that time, and now she is 35 pounds. I remember I used to drive around with her sleeping in my lap and whenever we would go to the Dairy Queen she would try and stand up on my lap to look out the window. The people working the drive-through thought she was so cute and would give her a pup-cup, which was a small cup of vanilla soft serve.

Here is Abby the day I brought her home. She looks like a little doll. I still have that little red collar and can't believe how small her neck was.

So the story about how Abby became a part of my family actually starts a year before I got her. When my ex and I moved in together he had a basset hound named Woody. About 3 months later we ended up with a chocolate lab named Groundhog. Groundhog was one of my ex's friends's dog, and this friend could no longer take care of him, so he ended up at our house. Woody and Groundhog became the best of friends, and about a year later, something happened to Groundhog and he passed away. We are not sure exactly what happened to him, but we think maybe he ate something that caused his stomach to twist.

Woody got so depressed and really missed his buddy. He even got to the point where he wouldn't eat very much any more, and we really started to worry about him. After about a month, we decided we needed to get him a new friend. I had a beagle growing up, and my Grandfather raised beagles, so I researched them online, and found Abby through an ad in the local paper. I did get her through a breeder, but she is not a registered beagle, and I'll be honest, I think this breeder was actually just trying to sell these pups, so I am not sure if she is 100% beagle or not. Some people tell me she has basset hound in her, and at times I do see that. She has longer ears than a beagle, and her hind-end is somewhat like a basset hound (or so I have been told).

When I went to go pick her up there were 3 female beagles left. They brought all 3 of them out into a small pen in the yard for us to watch them play. They all looked the same, and I had no idea which one I wanted. Abby was the first one to pee, so I said, "look, she peed, so she is good to go!" The breeder was about an hour from our house, so I was a little concerned she would go to the bathroom in the car.

When Abby was little her head and ears were almost black. Within the first year her head and ears turned brown, and besides a little gray around her eyes now, she looks about the same as she did from when she was a year old (well, she did put on a few more pounds also, but we don't tell her that!). I did this scrapbook page a while back to show how much she changed over the first year. It's amazing because she looks almost like a different dog!

Abby has always been the baby in the family, even though most of the dogs in my family are younger than her, but it is funny because she has always been the more dominant dog in any situation. I think she loved my ex more than me, and Woody took to me more than my ex, but when we split up, I ended up taking Abby and my ex ended up taking Woody because it was his dog to begin with.

Here is Abby a few months ago, begging for a treat. She is really good at sitting or standing on her hind-legs if you have a treat or some type of food to give her. She loves food, but that is a whole different post!