Wilson

Wilson is one of the shortest members of our family, but we don't hold it against him. A little over two years ago we busted him out of jail, where he was on death row. To this day he swears that he was falsely accused, and we believe him. He is the model of a hard-working, law-abiding beagle who could have only been incarcerated on trumped up charges. He keeps pretty quiet about his life before us. We suspect that there were tough days he'd rather forget. So, we assigned him an approximate age and gave him a new name and haven't looked back.

Wilson and Joe have fallen deeply in love. Joe has written many songs for Wilson. Unfortunately, most of them have had to be banned or limited to only one repitition per day due to their annoying nature. As much as Joe and Wilson have in common, they do not share a love of early rising. Wilson loves to sleep late. He is also very good at pretending to sleep when you are trying to tell him good morning and get him excited about the day. He graciously shares his "bedroom" with the other shortest member of our family, Foxy.

Wilson is an adventurous beagle, always ready to get out and go. He has been on several camping trips now, but he finds the leash rules at most campgrounds to be very restrictive. Beach camping was nice because there were no rules. Of course, there was no shade, either, which Wilson did complain about.

A coat is just as important in the winter as shade is in the summer. Because Wilson hates being cold and wet, he realizes that sometimes one must sacrifice dignity in the pursuit of personal comfort. However, if a canine friend is coming to visit, dignity is far more important, which is why Wilson manages to lose his jacket whenever another dog shows up.

Yes, life is pretty perfect for a beagle. Sniffing out rabbits is, of course, one of his passions. He has not mastered the art of catching rabbits, which is fine with us. We advocate a catch and release policy. (Unless they are in the garden, but that is Foxy's responsibility) The only downside in Wilson's life is seizures. Well, that and being short. And the fact that Foxy manages to catch far more rabbits than he does and doesn't seem to put any effort in to it either. Foxy is keeping quiet about his methods.

*Note - Foxy declined an offer to have a page of his own on this site. He is a bit shy and worries that the paparazzi will be after him if he gets too much publicity.

Lily

Lily came to live with us in the spring of 2009. We had been considering getting a friend for Wilson (what were we thinking!) for some time, so when we heard that some friends of ours had picked up three puppies off the side of the road, we were interested. Lily is a long, lanky hound dog of uncertain origins. She has a wide vocabulary and uses it frequently to voice her opinions. Occasionally she even breaks into song. Her light-brown ears and one brown eye patch are about the only color she sports other than white; even her eyes are a pale yellow-green. She is about the sweetest thing you'll ever meet.

Wilson's reaction to her arrival was initially one of disgust and denial, but Lily slowly softened his grouchy attitude. Wilson soon realized the benefits of having another hound dog to go adventuring with and decided she wasn't so bad after all. Unfortunately, there is confidence in numbers, and their adventures now cover such a large area that we may have to move to Alaska in order to keep them away from roads and neighbors.

Foxy also gave Lily a bit of a cold welcome, but Lily did not let that deter her in the least from falling madly in love with him. Much to Foxy's chagrin (at least that's what he wants us to believe), Lily frequently lavishes Foxy with attention and drowns him in kisses. Having learned that hissing and scratching are completely ineffective at stopping these amorous onslaughts, Foxy just hunkers down and prays she'll get it out of her system soon. We have reason to believe, however, that really he loves all of the extra attention and only acts disgruntled to maintain his reputation and dignity.