Back in June of 2006 we were looking for a beagle...and came across a picture of Jefferson.  He wasn't doing so well and was undergoing Parvo treatment.  He was far from a beagle - he's a Great Dane/German Shepherd mix, but we had to have him.  A month later we were moved into our new house and 6 month old Jefferson, who was all recovered, was delivered to us in Catonsville, Maryland.  He was super skinny, but full of energy...at least for the first half hour.  Jefferson made himself right at home in no time at all.  Within minutes he figured that the dog bed sitting in the middle of the empty family room (did I mention that we had just moved in?) was his and we couldn't get him off of it.  He slept for the first couple of days and we thought, "Wow, what a well-behaved puppy we have."  The days to come proved that the was merely trying to win his way into our hearts, because he became a little terror.  He ate everything he could whenever we left the house and proved to have serious separation anxiety.  You told us to get him a crate, and this definitely helped him be less destructive - until he started escaping from it!  So, we put c-clamps on the crate and he broke those.  We put chains on it and he broke those, too.  We finally put steal clamps on it, and he couldn't break those, so he broke the welds on the crate instead!  He was very busy while we weren't at home.  Eventually, we decided to get him a friend to calm him down and help him wear off some energy.  Little "County" came into our lives and she should have been named "Mini Me."  The look identical and act the same, too...yes, she is full of the same puppy energy, but thank goodness isn't strong enough to break out of her crate!

The two of them are an absolute joy to have around.  They must think the same of us, because they don't seem to like it when we leave.  They are getting better, and this is all a part of the "puppy stage"...which will hopefully slow down soon because they just keep growing!  Jefferson is up to 72 pounds and County is just over 50.  I guess she forgot to be a "small" dog.  I never did get my beagle, but the two of them have more than enough "personality" to go around.  It's always funny to see people's reactions when they ask where we got our dogs.  "Beagle Rescue?  He doesn't look like much of a beagle."  Jefferson in an honorary beagle and we couldn't be more grateful that you let him be one.                                               1/14/07