u/Buttsweat_n_Tears

Warning: I talk/type too much. Apologies in advance.

A little over 2 years ago we had to put down our 17-year-old Millie, the best dog EVER! I guess she turned me into somewhat of a "breedist" because now I wouldn't consider any other breed. I was fascinated by all the little intricacies of what makes a beagle a beagle and she always had me learning something new. I can't count how many times I found out we had a hole in our fence that needed patching thanks to her. She was always the happiest dog sniffing around seeking out that next piece of dropped food. When they were toddlers, our kids learned the concept of "survival of the fittest" by finding out what happened when they held their Eggo waffle a littttttttle bit too low. Even when she got old and lost her hearing, Millie was always trotting around looking happy. Even though she was click-clacking down the hallway not knowing she was actively pooping....her tail was still wagging. When the vet told us she had pretty advanced congestive heart failure, I didn't want to believe it, but accepted it. I had just lost my dad to cancer a few months earlier and wasn't ready to go through all that again. In retrospect, I've beat myself up often over the past 2 years wondering whether or not I was being selfish, but as many times as I asked Millie if it was time she never answered me.

My wife lost her dad when she was 12 and had many more years of coping skills than myself. She was ready to welcome a new member to the family long before I was. She would show me pictures, talk about fostering, and drop hints that I might come home from work one day and a beagle I had never met before would greet me at the door (she would never actually do this, for the record...she is an amazing wife, mom, dog mom, cat mom, and every other title I don't have time to list right now). The algorithms of all her feeds have pretty much been overtaken by anything and everything beagle, and we watched the whole Ridglan Farms thing unfold over the past months. When the big rescue happened and we found out that BDRR was only an hour away from us, I felt like the best way to finally conquer my mourning would be to provide a loving, beagle-obsessed home for a little ear-tattooed baby who was denied the feeling of being loved and given the opportunity to run and explore the sun-drenched outdoors sniffing away at all the scents the world has to offer to a curious creature who lives it life by where it's nose takes it. We filled out adoption applications for every rescue we could find that was receiving batches of beagles from Big Dog Ranch, just in case. After waiting a couple months, my wife finally got a call last week. She cried when the person introduced herself as "<name> calling from the Big Dog Ranch" about our application. We were invited to the Big Dog Ranch in Loxahatchee to see if we pass muster with any of the personalities residing there. Due to some work-related responsibilities, our schedule didn't allow us to visit until next week but we are officially on the calendar and we can't wait. Hoping there is somebody there that picks us and wants to come home with us.

Now, I know what you're thinking....that we think we're just going to pop back into our previous life with Millie and have a little buddy who jumps up on the couch to watch TV with us, perfectly house- and crate-trained, and trots through the house looking for someone to pet her when she wakes up from her nap. We've read so many stories, posts, and blogs of people lucky enough to have already had the honor of providing new homes for Ridglan beagles and we are under NO delusion that our experience will be any easier. We know we're not getting another Millie. We know there is going to be an adjustment period. We know it is going to take hard work and patience for the new addition to come out of their shell. Our kids are teenagers now and due to various medical afflicitions (now controlled, thankfully) have had to home/virtual school both of them at some point. We have adjusted our work schedules so that at least one of us is home on any given weekday. We have discussed the possibility of adopting 2 if there happens to be pair that have grown to become inseparable at BDRR (but we don't even know if that's an option). We are ready and we owe it all to the old girl who never knew how much she touched our lives.

Going through my late wife’s belongings for my kids to enjoy someday. Turns out her senior year of high school was Kate’s freshman year. Enjoy.

Fun fact: A few pages later I also found RJ Scaringe the inventor and CEO of Rivian (electric pickups, SUVs, and Amazon trucks). What a class! 😳