Happy Birthday, Percy the Beagle

PERCY THE BEAGLE STATUS UPDATE: Today is Percy's arbitrarily determined birthday in which he reaches a guestimated thirteen years old.

He was given to me by a friend twelve years ago and, as he was a stray, his real birthday is unknown.

I determined to mark his birthday as the anniversary of the Saturday in March, 2002 where I came to own him. (Or him to own me, as it seems to have turned out.)

I can't even remember that for sure but I'm pretty sure it was March 16th.

Took him to the vet who determined, based on his teeth, that he was about a year old. He was full size, but still had a puppy face.

Between separation anxiety, an ability to eat any object that would fit in his mouth (including two 2" wood screws and the buttons off of damn near every piece of clothing I owned), a tendency to run away and being all but impossible to walk on a leash, it really was two years before I finally decided I'd not put him up for adoption.

He has at least two malignancies in his body and two more suspicious areas. He sleeps almost all the time although he certainly seems most comfortable and relaxed when he does so.

Last night I had a friend over to watch TREME and we had chicken and dumplings while he was locked in his crate. He howled like all the banshees in hell combined.

When I finally fed him a portion that was fully the same size as the one I had eaten, he all but knocked me over to get to it. He proceeded to drain his water bowl and then go in the backyard and pee and crap like a champion. Then came back into the house and begged for the last surviving dumpling which he somehow correctly determined was still beyond his sight, on top of the stove. And eventually wore me down until I fed it to him, firmly convinced he vomit the entire meal up on to the carpet.

He didn't.

He jumped up on the couch and immediately went to sleep, snoring like a buzz saw.

Now that the weather has improved I've begun walking him again and he's really loving it.

He rarely comes upstairs to my room anymore but, between me getting up at 5AM and Chester staying up half the night and not leaving for work until mid-afternoon, he is rarely alone.

He may be a dying animal reaching the end of his normal lifespan but, at least as of right now, he's living the good life.