Losing Weight - by Dad

Beagles love to eat. I think it is the only thing Cooper thinks about all day. His favorite haunt is the kitchen, sitting at the feet of whoever is cooking or eating, waiting for a scrap of food to fall. We don't feed Cooper table food, never did. And we never thought he was overeating. But somehow he has put on an extra 4 pounds and it shows on him.

But this post is to give hope to anyone who has a beagle that is a few pounds overweight. What was our solution? Cut his morning and afternoon dinner (Eukanuba low fat food) by 15% and limit his night time treat to a couple pellets of food.

After 4-5 weeks Cooper has lost about 4+ pounds. He was about 34.5 pounds, he is now about 30.5 pounds.

It was quite easy.

I was just looking at a picture of Coop, so cute - check him out at: Mousepaduniverse.com

The Loyal Friend - by Nicole (Age 8)

Cooper is such a loyal friend to all of my family. Even my people friends and cousins! Sometimes I say to Cooper"Go to Mom and tell her I'm going into my room!" Then, he goes up to my mom and looks at her!

Also, if you are ever sad he will ALWAYS make you fell better. Also Cooper licks me all the time. We also all play and do nice things with Cooper. My Dad and my sister plays with him with the football, my brother takes him for playing walks, my mom gives him special gifts and I take him for playing walks, and play with him with the tennis ball.

We all sit with Cooper. We do all of that just because he is a loyal dog! He never lets us down because he is a loyal friend! LOYAL FRIEND,LOYAL FRIEND!
LOYAL FRIEND!!!!!!!!

Cooper with a bone, October 2006.

Ruined Furniture - by Dad

Another family in town got a beagle puppy about the same time we got Coooper. In a few months they said their beagle was chewing up their furniture. We said, "No problem with Cooper. He's not ruining any furniture".

While Cooper never gnawed on furniture legs he has recently taken some bites out of a nice leather chair. How'd it happen? When Cooper's nemisis the mailman comes to the house, Cooper goes a bit berzerk (did I spell that right?). He runs around the house back and forth, jumps up to the window to get a whiff of the mailman, and then jumps up on a nice comfy leather chair to get a good look out a window. But then he needs to bite something. He put a few bite marks in the chair, which we ignored. But then he took a nice chunk out of the arm of the chair - leather, padding and all. Ouch. That was one expensive chair.

Solution? We put an old football on the leather chair which Cooper bites into when he gets aggresive.

Uh-Oh, Not Chocolate! -By Elizabeth (Age 11)

One night, my family was having a wonderful Christmas party. We had just had dinner so we were sitting in the living room. I went upstairs to go get something and I noticed candy wrapper all over my floor. At first I was confused, wondering what could've done it, but then I realized what had happened. Cooper went into a bag under my desk that had a HUGE chocolate bar in it. The chocolate was now all gone and only some wrapper was left. The chocolate was about an inch thick and about 5 x 5 inches. I had gotten it at a Christmas party I had with my friends. I ran downstairs and told everybody. Immediatley we went to find Cooper. He seemed fine, but if he wasn't cared for in minutes, the effects of digesting chocolate could be as fatal as death.

We called the vet but they weren't there, but on the answering machine they gave a telephone # for a 24-7 emergency room. We took him there right away. But since it was about 12:00AM midnight, I couldnt go.

I sat home waiting for a call. My dad finally called from the emergency room and said that they gave Cooper powerful eyedrops to make him throw up. He threw up tons of chocolate and candy wrapper. Cooper had to stay at the emergency room until about 2:00AM so they could watch him, to make sure none of the chocolate got into his digestive system.

Luckily, none did, and he is well now. But if I didn't go into my room, then I wouldn't of noticed he ate the chocolate, and then we wouldn't of brought him to the emergency room.

NOTE: If enough of it is consumed, chocolate is a risk to all dogs, not just to beagles like Cooper.