Above, Zookie on December 19, 2009 snowstorm
Update 3/14/09:
This brief note from his foster mom arrived today:
The poor guy has sutures all over the place, but he's such a sweet guy. I must say I was apprehensive (as I always am when I agree to foster), but this guy has been a real joy. We truly enjoy having him around and could call him Little Mr. Sunshine. Just soooo easy and happy-go-lucky.
Update 3/15/09:
Yesterday, Friday, the 13th, was Aladdin Zookini’s big day. He was dropped off at the animal hospital in the morning and emerged from it in the early evening hours a changed dog, so to speak. In addition to the routine neuter, he had dental work that included the extraction of four teeth; the growth on the inside of his left eyelid was removed (he will have to go back to have the sutures removed) and another benign growth was removed from the left side of his chest. It was also determined that he has an ear infection and some intestinal infestation... He was sent home with half a pharmacy!
The next step will be to deal with his heartworm. This little guy is a trooper. He’s taking it all in stride and appears genuinely grateful for all the attention. He’s so touched by the letter Dudley wrote to him that he dictated a reply: Check out Aladdin's reply to Dudley's letter. (And if you missed Dudley's letter of advice to Aladdin, be sure to read it first. Dudley's letter to Aladdin
Update 3/3/09:
Hello Beagle Maryland fans. Here is the latest on Aladdin aka Zookini.
The little fellow has been in his foster home for three weeks now. Because he came in very sick, he needed quite some time to recover. He’s almost out of the woods and his fosters expect him to be ready for the next step on his road to recovery within another week or so. He no longer has a faucet in his big beagle nose, he no longer coughs and sneezes his head off. Once in a while he will go through a bout of reverse sneezing, which indicates that his infection is not entirely history. Of course, it does not help that it got very cold and the area is blanketed with snow. Warm air would be much better for him, but we don’t have much of a say in these matters.
He is also beginning to fill out. His hip bones no longer stick out like some prehistoric piercing weapon and his ribs have become less prominent. Aladdin Zookini will have to stay on puppy food (and that occasional cat food he gets into) for a few weeks more. His coat badly needs refurbishing – we want to see it soft and shiny and thick. We’re working on getting there. The tear on his ear is healing nicely and will soon be completely forgotten.
His next step will be neutering and taking care of his Lyme, and above all, heartworm diseases. So he's still got a ways to go.
In the meantime, we have found out a lot about this little “reject” beagle. First of all, he is nothing short of affection on four legs. He wants to be with his humans and has discovered the joys of being petted and talked to nicely. He takes obvious joy in his new lifestyle. This beagle boy is simply very easy and happy-go-lucky. He loves the oversized pillow that all the resident beagles share on a first-come-first-served basis. Aladdin Zookini found that if he uses the free end of the pillow, he can actually share it with somebody. So share he does to his heart’s content.
He has also discovered stuffed squeaky toys. The hedgehog and squirrel have been moved around the house and been hidden innumerable times. No place ever seems right. One just never knows, some other dog may find them or they may walk off. They have to be hidden and re-hidden endlessly. And their squeakers need to be tested.
Aladdin Zookini’s hunting days are a fading memory (although his sure knows how to play his bugle in the woods!). And this is what we would wish for all our beagles and assorted hounds. They would all rather have soft pillows and kind loving families rather than the life the knew before coming to the rescue.
2/10/09: Once upon a time, behind seven seas and seven mountains, across deserts and marshes, there lived a little beagle boy. He had been born in a back yard and his mother had to fight hard to get scraps of food and to shelter her puppies. One day, the little beagle boy was taken away and never again saw his mother and brothers and sisters.
He lived the only life he knew. He ate whatever his master threw to him, tried to find a warm place in winter and a cool place in summer. There was a world out there, beyond the cages and fences and he knew a bit about it. His master spent time training him to hunt, but this little beagle boy was a dreamer. He looked into the sky and saw birds; he watched animals in the grass on the other side of the fence. And he wondered and dreamed the dreams of a little beagle boy.
Out they would go to look for rabbits. He enjoyed running with the other beagle boys and girls. He liked the grass under his feet, the smells, the rustle, the baying and calling of the other dogs. It gave him the feeling of being free and he wished he could grow wings like the birds and just… take off! Time went by and the little beagle boy was no longer a puppy. He became a grown-up beagle, but his head was still full of dreams and wild thoughts.
“What is my master’s house like, on the inside” He wondered. “How does it feel to be warm and have a soft bed? What is it like to sit in a lap?”
The other dogs told him to stop dreaming.
“You’ll never find out!” said the oldest one who already had a lot of white in her face. “Do you think this is easy? My joints hurt when I run and my stomach feels empty, but I still run with the others because I’ve seen dogs disappear when they stop running. So you better start doing what our master wants!”
“Be happy,” said another one of the older boys. “We at least have some straw to lie in. The place I was at before… I don’t even want to talk about it…” And he would always walk away shaking his head and making his long ears flap.
Life just went on for the little beagle boy. Days followed each other, dogs came and went, and running in the fields became more and more difficult and less and less fun. He was not interested any more, he could not keep up with the others, even the older ones, and he just wanted to stay behind and sleep. Then, one day, his master took him to a new place.
“He doesn’t wanna go huntin’ no more,” his master told the people there. And that is how the little beagle boy was put in a small room with a wire mesh door where he could hear a lot of dogs barking.
He didn’t know what to make of it. It wasn’t cold anymore and he was getting food and water, but there was something about this place that he could not quite understand. He even had a towel to lie down on. People came to see him and left. More people than he had ever seen in his life. But he was scared and very nervous and wasn’t feeling very good at all. Something inside him made him just want to lie down and drift away and never return….
He went up to the wire door and found that if he rubbed up against it, his itchy skin felt better. So he rubbed and rubbed until hair flew, but oh! It just felt so good! Suddenly, right in front of him a wise looking old beagle stepped out of a puff of smoke.
“Finally!” He woofed.
“Who are you?” The little beagle boy was so terrified, he stopped rubbing.
“I’m the Beagle Maryland Genie! I’ve been waiting for somebody to rub up against that wire mesh door so that I could come and help.”
“Help? What do you mean? Nobody has ever helped me.”
“Well, I’m here to help. You get three wishes only and I tell you what they are. You have no choice and it’s take it or leave it. Let me see…” he fumbled in the blue waist pack he wore. “Ah, yes, here it is. So… let me see…” he dug through the pack again and took out a pair of glasses.
“So,” he resumed after adjusting the wires behind his long ears. “You are… Aladdin. I don’t care what your master called you before, but I’ll bet my feather bed that it was uh-gly. So, you’re Aladdin from now on. Can be Laddie for short. So here’s your wish contract. Let me read it to you:
“Wish Number One. Get me out of here.
“Wish Number Two. Make me feel better.
“Wish Number Three. Find me my own home with a warm bed, food and lots of love.
“Aladdin, do you agree to these terms?
“I don’t know about wish number three,” said the little beagle boy now known as Aladdin. “What is love?”
“Ah, my child,” and the Beagle Maryland Genie took off his glasses because they became all steamed up and wiped a tear. “That is the best thing in the whole wide world. It is something that will grip you by the throat, make you want to sing and dance, make your heart flutter, make you talk and behave silly… it is beyond description. People have written books about it, composed music, painted pictures… well, yes, hum… believe me, you want lots of it. You’ll know it when you feel it. Don’t refuse it. Take it when it’s offered.”
“I’ll take it,” said Aladdin. “I’ll take all three.”
“Done deal!” Bayed the Genie beagle and he was gone in a puff of smoke.
Aladdin thought it was all just a dream. He went to lie down on his towel.
Later that day, one of the people who had come to see him took him on a ride…
Aladdin, who is blind in one eye, suffers from heartworm, Lyme disease and a serious respiratory infection, had his first wish granted. Beagle Maryland is in the process of granting his second wish. And we are looking for somebody who will help us grant his third and greatest wish: Love. We know that once his health allows it, he will pay back with something very precious, the love and companionship of a dog.
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