The last two weeks I have been taking beagle to Doggy Daycare twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Previously it had just been one day a week, with a dog walker coming by the house twice a week in the afternoons, but it just wasn’t sucking enough energy out of the little scamp and his daytime apartment adventures were getting no better. His daycare is somewhat close to my office, but it still takes me about 10 miles out of the way, well out into the countryside, and on those morning it takes me close to an hour to trudge through traffic to get him to daycare and then to the office.

When Baxter rides in the car with both me and Lauren, he is confined to the backseat, with the center console opened so he can’t get up front. But when he’s riding with just me, I try to get him to sit on the passenger’s seat. He usually sits on the seat with his front paws perched up at attention on the console, glaring into my eyes wondering where I’m taking him. I knew it was bound to happen one day when I would slam on the brakes and he’d go flying. That day was last week… I was driving about 50mph when I was forced to slam on the brakes, and off flew the beag.  He went head over heels, crashing under on the floor of the passenger’s seat upside-down, legs a-flailin’.  Once I tried to go again, the car just revved up but didn’t move when I stepped on the gas.  Still moving, I was able to put on the hazards and pull into a driveway to check on the car, fearing the transmission had gone out. Thankfully Baxter had just shifted the car into neutral on his nasty spill.  He definitely learned his lesson and kept his ass on the seat from then on.

The instructors there have many interesting comments on Baxter, but usually the report is something along the lines of “I have never seen a dog that full of energy, he just ran and ran and ran and ran non-stop for the last ten hours! Other dogs needed to be separated from him so they could get some rest!” Baxter has in fact had to be isolated on occasion just to slow him down so his tiny heart doesn’t explode from overuse, but he doesn’t take well to being alone with the other dogs within ear or eye range, and so it’s right back out to more frantic all-out sprinting.

Lately he has taken to the lake. The Chancellor of Academia told me he threw a ball into the lake for an older lab, but in jumped Baxter and out-swam all the other dogs out to the middle and fetched the ball first. Returning it was another story, of course.

Today was a very special day for Baxter also. The dean noticed he was sheepishly scooting around rubbing his ass on the ground, so they stuck their fingers in and expelled his anal glands. Thank God they did it and we didn’t have to. I remember quite vividly when Sarah popped Roscoe’s glands, and it wasn’t a pleasant aroma.

Baxter is also in for a real treat on April 18 when he attends his first pro sporting event. That night is “Bark at the Park” night for the AAA Round Rock Express. Baxter will get to join us in the outfield grass and watch the Rangers’ minor-leaguers in action.

I’ll leave you with this lovely shot I took of Baxter at St. Edwards Park.