Meet Juno the Beagle

I thought it was about time I posted about my dog. Like all people who own a dog I love talking about her and showing people pictures. Here’s my story of how I got a dog, why I chose the breed and what she’s like.

The story starts with a bit of sadness in that Juno’s arrival was in the wake of my boyfriend’s old dog passing away. We were heartbroken but I’d always wanted a new dog and after some umming and ahhing we decided to start looking.

Picking a dog is an overly complicated process unless you rescue from a shelter (which I’m totally for but didn’t feel comfortable doing for my first dog). Each breed has it’s own perks and pitfalls, especially when you’re looking at pure bred dogs, hell, even cross breeds come with a list of pros and cons these days. What I would say, though, is that the lists are VERY useful and very strangely accurate. Well, that’s what we found anyway.

The decision was made to get a Beagle. They’re described as:

Friendly – Confirmed; Juno loves everyone!

Easy to Groom – Confirmed; a brush every now and then is simple, however there is a LOT of hair shed in warmer months. More than you’d imagine!

Very intelligent/ trainable – Confirmed. Juno is scarily smart and learns things fast. Like a Velociraptor.

Stubborn – Confirmed; she likes to pretend she doesn’t remember her training when it suits her.

Energetic – Confirmed; she loves a good run and has bags of energy but once she’s done she’s done. It takes about an hour or two of concentrated energy dispelling (aka walking, running, play time) and she’s zonked for the day.

The downsides to the breed are things like; easily bored, escape-route genius… Juno isn’t one to destroy things with boredom but if she’s bored she will not leave me alone until I do something to entertain her. She also loves to escape into fields. Her recall is great when we are in parks but when she’s escaped she’s on her own terms and she lets me know it!

I love dogs and have always wanted one but was never allowed growing up. Now I’m a fully grown pretend-adult I couldn’t not get a dog. For me, getting a new puppy from a private seller was the right way to go. I’m still in contact with the family, we still meet up with the parents and all the puppies and we have little family gatherings and it’s just the cutest thing in the world but next time I might be tempted to rescue now I know how to train a dog!

In the next few weeks me and my boyfriend will be moving into a new place; from house to flat (apartment). Juno has always had a little extra running room but we’re moving to a first floor flat which isn’t huge. I am looking forward to getting her used to living in smaller quarters and working with her on patience! We’re moving onto the same road as her most favourite park so the plus side is she’ll get to free run pretty much every day.

Do you have a dog? Do you live in a flat/apartment? Please give me tips on how to get by! Luckily Juno is a tiny thing so she doesn’t take up too much space!

Sam

ps. If you want to see more pictures of this one head over to my Instagram (@scumbagsammi) because I take a LOT of dog pictures…