According to the people I live with, today is my birthday. This day was chosen as no one really knows for sure when my actual birthday is.
I am something called a teenager as I have hit the ripe age (for a dog) of thirteen. I don’t know what being a teenager entails but if it means that I get loads more tickles and treats, I am hoping I get to be a teenager for ever now. Even Lenny is being nice to me.
To be sensible for a moment I must admit that I am lucky as I am safe, loved and live a good life. I am grateful for these things as there are many other dogs that don’t enjoy the privileges.
Today is one of those days when I worry about what will happen next. I am reluctantly handing over my blog to my younger brother who isn’t really my brother. I have taken him under my wing so to speak and shown him the ways of the beagle. Anyway, here goes.
Hello, it is I, Lenny. I’m four today! I don’t know what that means but I do know it comes with treats, a birthday card, extra tickles and a stroll around my new favourite place, being the Paw Paddock. I think I can get used to this sort of attention. Dex has been told he has to be nice to me today (although he usually is!) and I get first dibs on biscuits and treats albeit for one day only.
We went nice and early to the Paw Paddock and I was let off lead to run around like a fur possessed. Instead I merely wandered off, sniffed and then strolled back to a parent to be re-shackled after fifteen minutes or so.
Chicken flavoured treats may have assisted in my recall however I want it known that I have been complemented on my recall generally in recent times. Dex was released and he too just strolled about and then disappeared to the other end of the paddock. When he returned, again to the sound of a treat bag being rustled, he was promptly re-attached and I was again released.
There were some tasty rabbit droppings that I wasn’t told off for eating so, I assume, it must be a special day.
We returned home just in time for the forecast rain to start falling. Its been dry as a bone here for a couple of months so this little period of rain is very welcome. We avoided getting wet and now I’ve been told I can laze on whichever chair I want for the rest of the afternoon. I wanted to laze on the big bed however that was deemed too cheeky and is out of bounds. In due course I will expect my food to be served and then I will relax for the rest of the day.
I’m a lucky lad to be honest and sensible for a moment. I want for little (apart from snoozing on the big bed) and Dex is a good brother to me. He’s had more of these birthday things than I have, although I shouldn’t say “three times as many”.
We had a good walk this morning and then I saw that he got some extra kibble in his bowl. Not much, mind, but enough for me to notice. Apparently he’s on something called a “bit of a diet”. Anyway happy birthday little brother Lenny, I hope you’ve have a good day and I might even let you chew my ears as a treat. I suppose I had better let him say something.
I wonder if I’m allowed to eat bees on my birthday?
Hello everyone it’s me Lenny. It’s my birthday apparently and I am something called three. It’s good being three as I got extra food in my bowl for my second half of breakfast and my dinner. I hope I get extra biscuits later before I am forced to go to bed. So, I am determined to enjoy myself today and, who knows, maybe tomorrow I will be four and get extra, extra food? What do you all mean it doesn’t work like that?
Yesterday was my birthday. Well, officially I am an orphan and no one really knows when my actual birthday is, but please stay with me on this. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, birthday. I am now eleven. Apparently. My chip says 2010 so even rudimentary Beagle maths makes me two years away from becoming a teenager. Bad luck mum and dad.
I have been pondering as one does upon the life I live and what, if anything, I would like for my birthday. I am not a particularly materialistic type of dog and as I looked around the house and garden it struck me that I have everything I need or could want.
Beds? check. Brother? check. Safety? check. Food? check. Walks? check. Friends? check. I don’t do toys any more.
As I don’t “need” stuff, I asked my friends on my Twitter account to post a picture of them or their buddies having a good day, doing something they enjoy, getting some love or generally being somewhere that makes them happy. Whoa! what had I unleashed. At the time of writing my request has generated 397 pictures and 1,221 likes. This is unheard of and is truly wonderful. I know there will be people who will say “yeah, I get that regularly so what?” and they would be correct. However, for one day my Twitter account went off the scale with pals and their parents putting up photos of happiness, joy and contentment. Social media did a good thing, I think. I have friends who are really struggling with mental and physical difficulties and they tweeted pictures that made me, and others, smile. One of my friends was at the veterinary with her dog who seems quite poorly, and she posted a lovely picture. For one day the world seemed a little brighter and less populated by hate, fear, pandemic, brutality, death and hunger. Fine you may say, it was one day only. However that brief interlude made people smile for a short time, maybe only for a minute or so.
I truly did not expect to see the reaction I received to my tweet. Maybe twenty to thirty friends would post. I could smile and feel happier than I normally do and my birthday would have been good. I was and remain truly humbled by the response.
Dexter 