How I am Doing...straight from the beagle's mouth

Day 75: I just realized how different things are for me these days. I seem to be fully house trained - I know I am supposed to do all my potty business in the yard, not in the house. Unless MaMala is gone a really long time without Rachel coming to let us out in the yard (which pretty much never happens) I can wait for the next trip outside and I do.
I also eat with the other dogs now; I'm not sacred of every little noise or every time MaMala makes   a move so I can keep eating even with the other dogs bumping into me and MaMala doing stuff in the kitchen. So I clean my plate and even lick their dishes when they're done. Not that any of us leave much; we're all beagles after all!
Sometimes at night I sit at one end of the couch while MaMala sits at the other end. She usually leaves me alone, so sometimes I will sneak up and sniff her hand or lick it, if I am feeling especially bold. When Jimmy is here I like to curl up on his feet because they smell very interesting. And they are almost as big as me. I let him pet me too because he knows I like the pets but can't always make myself sit still when people get too close.
I let Rachel come up and pet me: she always goes slow and never puts her hand over the top of my head. For some reason that makes me really scared. Rachel always rubs me under the chin, which is pretty nice.
But my favorite new skill is taking treats from MaMala's hand (and Rachel's and Jimmy's and Siobhan's and Matt's) and... well if it's a salmon treat and we're in the house and they stay pretty calm, from all of them. I REALLY like salmon treats and kibble and canned food and...well, anything salmon. That is also a new skill: knowing what SALMON is!!!!!! I like that one a lot!

MaMala goes away

Day 63: QT here. MaMala went away with JT and Mibs for 5 whole days. She left us here at the house with Jimmy and The Dog Walker. It was pretty much like it is when MaMala goes to work except she wasn't here at night to take us up to her room to sleep. we like going to MaMala's room because there are 5 cave beds in it.  Toirin and Bridget usually sleep inside the cave beds, Sid starts under MaMala's bed then usually ends up in his cave bed the rest of the night. I like it under the bed but I usually sleep in the corner behind one of the cave beds. The beds are nice but it's summer time - too warm to sleep inside with that fleece lining. Kaya sleeps on top of her cave bed, which always makes MaMala laugh.
Jimmy slept on the couch while MaMala was gone; one night he was so tired after a day of working outside that he fell asleep sitting up on the chair and a half. I woke him up by licking his feet because the little black box he holds to his ear and talks to was making a loud noise and I didn't like it. He ran around like a crazy person, then left for work.
We got into some trouble because Toirin figured out how to open the dog gate with his big paw or his big nose - he is very talented. And someone (I have been sworn to secrecy) peed in the house a couple of times. One of us got sick too, but that could happen to anybody. Other than that, it was life as usual.
But boy, did we go crazy when MaMala and JT and Mibsy came home! We spent almost all Wednesday evening in the back yard playing and running around and having fun. And we got to sleep in MaMala's room!!!! Toirin deserted us and slept with Mibsy; that's his daddy.
Thursday we got in trouble again. The men came and opened the pool and MaMala was doing something called "backwashing" all day long. There was a lot of really interesting smelling stuff coming out in the water and we all kind of rolled in it. Well, I guess there's no kind of about it: we rolled, we stunk. MaMala was NOT pleased with us. Jimmy almost got sick because he was eating his dinner when we came in the house. If there was only one of us it might not be so bad, but there were four smelly beagles in the house. Of course the princess, Bridget, did not participate in our shenanigans.
The trouble we got into was we had to get baths. NONE of us likes being wet, so that was not fun at all. I may think twice before I roll in something stinky again. Maybe.
Here is a picture of all of us that Rachel, the Dog walker, took of us this week. Sid was busy smelling himself so you can't see his face. But that's my pack: Sid smelling his old self, with Toirin right behind him. I am way in the back, with Bridget right in front of me. That is Kaya looking back at me. That little pink pig on the floor? Toirin ate him later that day so no more pig to play with. He pulled the stuffing out of my little brown rabbit too. Sheesh!