Chapter 23. Snoop and the Professor: Cooper Comes to Visit
Bubby Josh and Sissy Jess came to visit this past week and, of course, they brought Cooper with them. Now Cooper is a hound dog, just like me, but he is a bit on the large side. In fact, I often simply walk under him or he walks over me and we don’t even notice each other. He has the tallest legs I’ve ever seen on a dog. The Professor thinks that Cooper is part Blue Tick Hound. I have no idea what that is and I didn’t know that ticks were blue but I do know that the young Cooper is like a bull in a china shop. Full speed ahead and you better get out of his way! While Cooper is my buddy, like most youngsters he has a lot to learn about the world.
Yesterday, we were out back while the Professor was reading. He’s always reading, that’s what Professors do, even retired ones. I think that’s why he can talk forever about so many things that I don’t care about. I mean do beagles really need to hear long discussions about Cuba, Nicaragua, trade policy, immigration, revolutions, and terrorism? Not this beagle. Anyway, Cooper comes galloping out the door and spies the local hawk way up in the sky. I gave the name Henry to the hawk early this summer when I discovered him. Cooper then sat quietly next to the fence looking up in the sky until he spied Henry the Hawk again. He then raced through the yard trying to catch Henry. He even jumped up in the air thinking he could get close enough to catch him. When he reached the other side of yard, he sat down and looked up to find the hawk again. When he saw it, he would repeat his charge across the yard and his attempts to leap and catch Henry. Cooper did this all day. I don’t mean to make fun of Cooper, but it was rather hilarious. This young hound dog thinking he was going to catch Henry the Hawk. The Professor and I laughed so hard. After a while, I simply took a nap thinking Cooper would learn that he’s never going to catch that hawk and that he should stop all this nonsense and just take a nap like a wise beagle would do. But, at the end of the day, he was still running and jumping. Don’t you just love young dogs!
Now we also have lots of squirrels in our backyard and I’ve learned not to pay any attention to them because, like Henry the Hawk, you can’t catch them either. Experience is a great teacher. The squirrels like to run across the top of our fence, throw nuts at me, and jump up in the trees. In between running across the yard trying to catch Henry the Hawk, Cooper would see a squirrel on our fence. Off he charged trying to catch it. Now our fence is about 7 feet tall, so there’s no way to catch that squirrel despite the fact that Cooper can jump higher than any dog I’ve ever seen. His paws would reach the top of the fence but he never got close to a squirrel. Then he chased it along the side the fence until the squirrel jumped up in a tree. So, all day Cooper worked at catching Henry the Hawk and all the squirrels in our yard. I bet those squirrels and Henry the Hawk had a good laugh that evening.
But, you know there is a lesson here. Young dogs have to experience life before they can become wise like I am. And you parents have to give your youngsters the freedom to experience life. They may fail at catching Henry the Hawk or a squirrel, but over time they learn to ignore the hawks and squirrels of this world and focus on more important things like taking a nap and enjoying life like this older and wiser beagle does.
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