Alayne and I were eating lunch when blind Widget decided to climb up on the cot and join blind Willie the Beagle, a recent arrival, for a siesta. The cot is right next to the dining table, so Alayne went to my office to get the camera and handed it to me. I got out of my chair, knelt down and took this photo. That’s Widget on the left and Willie on the right.
The first thing that struck me about this scene is that it’s the first time we’ve ever seen Widget and Willie together. When Willie first arrived a few months ago he was a bit "in your face" about cot time with Widget, Callie and some of the other cot-aholics. They didn’t want to necessarily share their space and he’d keep on pushing, trying to climb up and move them off. This set off fireworks, needless to say, and Willie finally learned cot manners. He also learned how tough some of our blind girls can be! (Note: There are four cots in our living/dining area and five other dog beds, so there is no shortage of comfortable places to zone out!) Thus Willie and Widget have never exactly been pals, so this cozying up on the cot was a new thing.
But the other thing that struck me was that Widget, who is a Beagle/Dachshund mix, is the real Beagle in this photo. Vocal, confident, playful, energetic (when not sleeping), fearless, and a complete character. Oh, and very bossy. Willie, on the other hand, is a shrinking violet and very un-Beagle-like in personality. In fact, if he didn’t look like a Beagle, you’d never know he was one, because he doesn’t act like one. He will occasionally bay like a Beagle, but that’s about the only sign there’s a Beagle in that body somewhere.
So we assigned Widget a new job: teaching Willie how to be a Beagle. Or, as Widget says, "He’s got the uniform but he doesn’t have the moxie!"
(Click on photo for larger image.)
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