By Suzanne

Arooo!  Arooo!  Arooo!

The sound of beagles baying and howling is a frequent part of our walk with these two. They were  born to hunt.

Most days we walk in the regional park near our home.  The scents they find there!  Cats, gophers, deer, wild turkeys, the occasional fox and coyote, and lizards (yes, they like to hunt the poor little lizards).

You can tell when Harley is beginning to get into his hunting mode – his tail starts wagging like a metronome, his sniffing sounds like a sucking noise, and he starts barking and baying.  A lot and loudly.  Scooter is more of a quiet hunter, but if there’s a very strong scent, or she sees something, like a cat, she will let out a high-pitched howl–almost a shriek. It’s very entertaining and often hilarious to watch them hunt, except when they are pulling my arm out of its socket in chase of whatever they see or smell.

One week I came close to a hospital visit, all because Harley and Scooter saw a feral cat:

We were in our park, near the top of an incline.  Fortunately I saw the cat first, and braced myself for when the dogs caught whiff of it, but despite holding on tightly to their leashes, I was pulled downhill at breakneck speed.  Thankfully I had on good hiking boots, as the path was still damp from previous rains.  The chase probably only lasted 50 seconds, but boy, was I praying that I wouldn’t fall flat on my face.  I’ve suffered a broken wrist and jaw before and would be quite happy to never go through that experience again.  And even though between the two of them they only weigh about 50 pounds, Harley and Scooter are strong little buggers.  They simply go crazy when they see potential prey.

Never a dull moment with these two.  Wonder where they will drag us to next?