Happy Bark-day!

Today is Roxie’s fifth birthday. There was very little fanfare in the morning, I’m sure, because I spent the night in the city last night with Kate and wasn’t here today to remind Jim and the boys to give Roxie an extra special “Good morning!” Wait. “Little fanfare?” I feel confident that there was none. I am the only one who keeps track of things like the dog’s birthday. I’m sure their remorse will be palpable when they find out they forgot.

I can’t believe that she’s been with us for six weeks short of five years. They grow so fast! (sniff sniff) I was going to tell you the story of how Roxie became our family’s Chosen Dog in today’s post, but I’m exhausted from my 24-hour Chi-town visit with Kate and I’m doing some planning for our family trip coming up this weekend this afternoon, so I will, for now, just show you that I gave Roxie a makeover for her birthday.

Just look at the “Before”. Sad, right?


I bought her a black collar when she grew out of her first, itty bitty puppy collar because I personally think that beagles, being tri-colored already, look better in a black or a red collar. My other dog, the late, great Bijoux, wore a red collar and I was having a hard time putting one on Roxie, just because Bijoux wore one. But black, though slimming on humans, doesn’t do anything for beagles except coordinate with their fur. I was at Petsmart the other night to pick up some food for her and decided to look at collars. Other solid colors available in the plain old adjustable nylon collar? Purple (ICK), bright blue (CLASH), green (WHA?), pink (NOPE), and red. As I picked up the red one, I held it in my hands, thinking about it. As I turned my head to the side, my eyes stopped on the collar that Julesie and I used for the cover of my book. The red one, with the rhinestone heart. Signal from beyond heard loud and clear: no solid red collar would be purchased that day.

You will be surprised to read that I am also persnickety about dog collars with prints on beagles. (NO, really Melisa? Amazing.) Normally I don’t like them. I like collars with prints on solid-colored dogs, and solid collars on multi-colored dogs. Weird, I know. I own that. I found, however, the perfect compromise for my irritatingly OCD-like collar preferences. It’s a simple print, and it includes a shade of red that is not the cherry red I have preferred in the past.

collar+detail
And you know what? Roxie LOVED IT! (She told me so. Sort of.) She said nothing out loud, but her eyes said, “Wow! You have great taste! I am super-stylin’ now! I will look really, really great the next time I roll in bunny poo in the back yard! Thanks so much!”

Check it out:


And with that, I have to close this out and go get to work on planning a few things for our trip. Most of you have no idea where we’re going, but I have a hint for you. Here’s a needlessly too-long video I took for my kids the last time I went there:

Guess if you want, but I’m thinking that it’s one of those obvious things. ACTUALLY, why don’t you all guess where my family is NOT going this week? That might be more exciting, to see which places you all pick out. Have fun with it!

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17 Comments

  • Mom24

    She doesn’t look a day over 2 1/2! Happy Birthday.

    Love the collar. Very cute.

    Hope you have a wonderful trip…wherever you go.

  • Otter Thomas

    My lab’s 5th birthday was Saturday. They could make a cute couple if it weren’t for the hundreds of miles seperating them and the neutering.

  • Andie

    cute cute cute. Happy Birthday Roxie!

    Scruffy’s colllar is camouflage Apropos considering he thinks he’s a big dog! 🙂

  • Sue

    Happy Bark Day!! The collar is very sharp!

    I am thinking that you are not hitting the beaches of Hawaii this weekend! Nor the beaches of Cape Cod since we have no ‘T” here.

  • Isabella

    I’m loving the before and after details on the pictures!

    Let’s see…from what I gather, you’re not going to Bali. I’m assuming that unintelligible warbling over the loudspeaker isn’t Balinese. I can’t be too sure.

  • Michelle

    Is it ok if I laugh at you? And can’t stop? 😉

    Am I allowed to guess where you’re going? 😀

  • Melisa with one S

    Mom24: ROFL @ “she doesn’t look a day over 2 1/2”!!

    Otter Thomas: Yeah, the neutering always gets in the way…

    Andie: Camouflage? Very cool. They make SOOOOO many more different kinds of collars for small dogs like Scruffy. I wonder why that is?

    Sue: Ding ding ding! You are absolutely RIGHT about where we’re NOT going! Great guesses!

    Buddy the Nukebeagle: Roxie said to have your people call her people.

    Isabella: Thanks! And YOU are also exactly right about the non-destination of our vacation: Bali? NOPE. Awesome guess.

    Michelle: Of course! Laugh away! (um, but not too hard.) 🙂

  • WeaselMomma

    Buddy the NukeBeagle must be a horndog.
    Where are her 35 candles?
    I’m guessing that your not going to visit “baby daddy” in the state pen.

  • House of Jules

    Aww, happy birthday to Roxie, one day late! I’m just getting around to some of my blogs now… I’m a bad aunt.

  • Colleen - Mommy Always Wins

    Happy Bark Day toooo yooooou,
    Happy Bark Day toooo yooooou,
    Happy Bark Day dear Roxie,
    Please don’t roll in the poo!

    Are you going to Ishtanbul?

  • Momo Fali

    You are not going to Aruba. Just a hunch.

    I love that little cock-headed picture! I always stretch out the fun stuff I ask my dog (“Doooooo yoooooou waaaaaaant toooooo goooooo foooooor aaaaaaaa waaaaaaaalk?”) just so I can get that look from her.

  • dearmisterman

    Your pup looks great!The kids and I want a dog, but my better half does not. She doesn’t think the kids will be responsible enough to pick up poo and the such. How do I change her mind?

  • Melisa with one S

    Weaselmomma: 35 candles? I’d be lucky if I could find five birthday candles in this place. Besides, Roxie prefers to talk about her age in human terms and not in dog years; it keeps her young.

    Julesie: No you’re not.

    Colleen: No, not going to ISHTANBUL…but awesome guess!

    Momo: Ooh, close but no cigar with Aruba. 🙂 And we do the same thing all the time with Roxie just to get her to do that.

    Dearmisterman: Thanks! My advice to you, which I will also leave at your blog in case you don’t come back, is that you and your wife have to know that the two of you will be the primary caretakers for the dog, especially if she doesn’t think the kids would be responsible enough. I have to go back to your blog anyway because I can’t remember how old your kids are, but if they are younger than 9 or 10 there’s going to be a lot of nagging about picking up poo…I find that it’s best if both adults are all for getting the pet; saves issues later.

  • dearmisterman

    Thanks for the feedback, Melisa. Bae is 11 and J.C. is 8. I agree that getting a dog is a decision that my wife and I have to be on board together with. Since I am a W-A-F-H dad (see my post On Dad Blogs-Voice of Reason), the burden would be on my wife, which she obviously doesn’t want. My point to her is that we have good kids who do well in school and they should be rewarded, BUT we need to use the dog the same way that we do with other things in life: as a lesson. My kids are begging for a chance to prove that they can be responsible. I love and respect my wife, so I won’t get a dog without having her buy-in.

  • The Microblogologist

    I think that dearmisterman’s wife should let them get a picture of a dog, it is much easier to take care of and clean up after 😉