The beagle is at the office with me this morning! Everyone say "hi"!

[Critters2]

She's seemed bored lately, so I brought her to work with me. Right now, she's bothering my assistant. Probably something to do with the breakfast bars in my asst's desk drawer.

[Patiod]

1. What kind of company allows doggies?

My friend who worked at the Humane Society could bring her little guy to work, but that's just logical.

Where is this beagle?

[Critters2]

2. A church!! That's what kind of company!

:)

[Patiod]

3. Yay for your church!

Ours is too poor to have employees, so no one can bring their dog to work there!

People at my tiny firm have suggested I bring the dachshund I'm living with into the office, but I'm afraid he'd bark at the office-park geese.

[Critters2]

4. What denomination are you?

I've worked in rural ministry, mostly, and haven't usually had any staff other than me. Having an office assistant is new for me. I've served two churches where my office was in my house, to save money by not having heat on in the church during the week. I prefer having an office at the church. I've served some very small churches in my career. This one isn't huge--about 200 members.

I think more businesses should let people have their dogs at work with 'em. But I hadn't thought about the trauma to office-park geese. :)

[Patiod]

5. Quaker

With an active congregation of only about 60 (about 250 on the books).

So there's a (volunteer) treasurer (bookkeeper), 2-3 different types of "secretaries", a newsletter editor (me), and a Clerk, who does Everything Else. Our Clerks tend to keep the job for a very, very long time because no one else can ever be persuaded to take on what amounts to an unpaid Pastor position, which includes visiting the sick, running weddings and funerals, and being the person the police call at 3am every year or two when a drunk driver ploughs into the stone wall around the Meetinghouse.

On a totally different topic, Beagles are great little animals, but doesn't he try to escape and to steal food? We had a beagle when I was little, and my mother was constantly out looking for him - either that or removing a roast or other meal ingredient from his mouth.

[Critters2]

8. Oh, yeah, I have to keep anything edible where she can't get it.

I learned this lesson the hard way. Years ago, when she was two, she chewed open a bottle of 5htp (an herbal mood stabilizer). When I got home from a deacons meeting, she was in full serotonin syndrome, having a seizure, muscle rigidity, foaming at the mouth. Long story short, the wonderful vet I had at the time pulled her through, with injections of valium, ciproheptidine (which she had to send her associate to the human ER to get), pumping her stomach, charcoal, fluids, and hours and hours of observation. The vet said she'd almost certainly have brain damage, but she doesn't seem to (but she's a beagle, so how would I know? :D ).

Living with a beagle means your house has to be "puppy-proofed" well beyond the puppy years.

As to running away, this hasn't been a real problem since she was a puppy. She's never off leash except in our fenced yard, and hasn't tried to run away in years. I think part of it is that I try to do lots of stimulation work with her, so she doesn't get bored. She's got a title in rally obedience work (Rally Novice), and goes to obedience class once a week, mostly to give her something to do. She really sucks at utility obedience work, but in rally work I'm right beside her, so she's less easily distracted. But with all of that, you can never let your guard down with a beagle. One sniff of an interesting scent and they're off!

She's my second beagle, so all of this--making sure she doesn't have the chance to run away, keeping edible things out of reach--is practically second nature to me now. I've already decided that, when she's gone, which I hope won't be for a very long time--I'll adopt another beagle. There are so many in shelters, and they really aren't for everyone, for the reasons you name. Me, I'm used to 'em. As someone who knows and loves them, I feel a responsibility to provide a home for at least one beagle (I'd take more, but I live in a parsonage, so my parishioners--and my cats--may object).

I've known quite a few Quakers. I used to be executive director of a faith-based Victim Offender Reconciliation Program. The local RSOF meeting was among our strongest supporters. I did presentations at their monthly potluck a couple of times. My practice was to worship with any congregation that asked me to do a Sunday presentation, so I attended Meeting for Worship with them. That was interesting, and would take a lot of discipline for me to do every week. I got to know the clerk there, and I know he functioned a lot like a pastor in terms of being the official contact point for the meeting.

Nice to meet you! A beagle-loving Quaker is about as good a person as one could expect to meet!

[Patiod]

12. One of the nicest people I know is in Beagle Rescue

They bring them to the local Barnes and Noble, and if I didn't know what my mom went through beagle-wrangling, I'd be sorely tempted.

I could tell you stories from the 1960's, the days when people left food to defrost on their porch or windowwill - let's just say that was NOT a good idea when there's a beagle in your neighborhood. It wasn't just OUR turkeys and roasts that my mom had to wrestle away from the dog -- he came trotting home more than once with a neighbor's defrosting steak or pork roast in his mouth. But he never drank mood stabilizers, at least as far as I know....

But hey - it's not just beagles. The dachshund I'm living with right now has been breath-takingly well-behaved his whole life, and my friend and I left him for 10 minutes to go pick up a pizza, and when we came back, her $450 leather coat was on the floor, ripped to shreds and eviserated (did you even know how much stuffing is in the average leather coat?)

As for Friends Meeting, I find it very refreshing. I grew up Catholic, and whenever I return to Mass, all I can think is "can't they just shut the heck up for 5 minutes?" Not surprised there was a Friends contingent with your VROP program - it sounds right up their alley.

Nice to meet you too, and your little beaglette! :hi:

[Bertha Venation]

6. How fun!

:bounce:

[Critters2]

10. It is!!

Not a lot of work getting done, though :)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. Hello to the beagle

sweetness!

[Critters2]

9. She's sniffing my mouse right now. I wonder what it smells like. nt

[Tuesday Afternoon]

11. like your hand?

so cute:loveya:

Your job and stories remind of a series of books.
The Mitford Series of books by Jan Karon

Have you heard of it?

eta link:
http://www.mitfordbooks.com/