I may moan about the beagle from time to time, but the fact is that even I have to admit, the beagle is the most good-natured, docile and loving of dogs.
True, the beagle may have many faults, but her amiable nature is undeniable.
Except this morning.
It started as any other, with the harness going on, the lead being clipped into place, and a left turn up the road for a nice little 3.5km wander and snorf. And then the unthinkable happened: the beagle snapped at the ankles of a passing jogger.
Bad beagle.
She didn’t get very close, to be fair. But still, this is wholly inexcusable, and though I apologised immediately and he was very nice about it, I found myself rather embarrassed and actually rather shocked.
This was not typical beagle behaviour.
The grumpy, somewhat aggressive behaviour continued through the walk, but thankfully, I was forewarned and kept things (mainly the beagle) on a very short leash. Still, we managed snarls and tugs in the direction of people, vehicles, other dogs, squirrels (ok, fair enough) and birds. Feisty, irascible animal. She even had a bit of a go at a fence.
A fence! How grumpy do you have to be to take a pop at a fence?
I’m putting this weird, out of character behaviour down to her just getting out of the wrong side of her basket this morning, and she’s actually been absolutely fine ever since we got home, but I’m definitely going to be keeping an eye on her next time we head out around the neighbourhood.