Barkley the Barcza beagle came into our lives exactly a year ago next Monday. He came home with me and Erika January 8th 2023. His birthday is May 2nd. He will be two years old in four months.

The recent interview with Connie Barcza has reminded me. No I’m not as adept with my smartphone as Connie is with her camera, but I thought I could share some of the photos I’ve taken over the past year. 

Barkley is a Beagle. Since my childhood popular mythology has centred on Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s dog. 

Although Charlie Brown adores Snoopy, sometimes it seems that Snoopy is smarter than Charlie Brown. That works for me, given that I often think Barkley is smarter than me.

I am a bit leery of the breed, because they’re challenging. I shared some of my misgivings early in the year in the wake of reading André Alexis’s 2015 novel Fifteen Dogs and the Crow’s Theatre adaptation of the book.

Beagles are smart! 

In the book and the play Benjy the beagle tells Majnoun about his ability to get a response from people by rolling over. Sigh, I’m a sucker for everything Barkley does: and probably Barkley knows it. 

Barkley has a fan club among my friends. They’ve been very helpful.

No wonder I currently have over 300 pics in my camera, mostly pictures of Barkley.

Barkley is the ideal dog for this opera lover. When I’m at the opera I’m ready to cry, ready to believe whatever they put in front of me. Barkley can be as loud as Jon Vickers and as passionate as Maria Callas. I’m hooked.

Sometimes he stands on his hind legs. We’ve heard speculation from friends that he might be part coon hound or harrier, given his size and disposition.

As he’s a rescue who came into our lives when he was over half a year old, we don’t know for sure.

Today we took him to the veterinarian because he was limping. His paw seems to be fine but somewhere below his left shoulder, something isn’t quite right. Some days he runs like crazy in the back yard, and you’d never know there’s anything wrong: until on the way into the house he starts limping again.

The vet thinks it might be a muscular sprain of some sort. As I recall when I’ve had a twisted ankle or a pulled muscle, I would adjust. You walk differently when you know you’ve hurt yourself, and you avoid taking risks. I wouldn’t play touch football or run for the light if I had something hurting in one of my legs.

While Barkley seems to be one of the smartest dogs I’ve ever encountered (for instance when he brings me his inter-active toy that requires refilling with kibble), I can’t expect him to stop dashing after squirrels just because of a pain in his leg. So we’re nursing him along, hoping he’ll heal.

The vet recommended anti-inflammatory medication to help healing and reduce his pain. And we’re also encouraged to give him Melatonin to keep him chilled out, more willing to nap while he’s healing.

It’s a relief when he settles down to rest. It makes me nuts to see him limp. But I don’t believe it’s very serious. Sometimes he seems okay, walking without a limp. Is he limping for effect? smart as he is, I don’t think so.

He ran and ran like crazy in the snow. It seems pretty universal that dogs love snow. We haven’t had very much so far this year, but he did get his chance earlier this month, before it all melted.

Barkley and Erika are watching tv right now (okay he’s snoozing beside her), while I write this. I’ve spent much of the day cuddling up to him. It’s a bit addictive, especially during the holiday season.

He’s not the only one who has gained weight.