People say that beagles are tricky, they say it over and over again as if our family had chosen a particularly big challenge.

I don't know dogs very well. I used to look at dog owners with their dog-poop bags and pity them. It is a task among others that you do out of love, I know. I just didn't love dogs. And now we have one, and some animal form of love grows like a curious outcropping. It's still a dumb dog right now... our expectations of each other don't always meet: too much or too little, and so the rhythm of our interactions is off and we look like clumsy dancers.

A beagle is small enough to carry in one arm, like a slumpy handbag. A beagle has long dangly ears like comical accessories. I'm teaching it to sit and lie down and stay and leave it and drop it, and it seems to like to learn. When people say beagles are tricky, I start to doubt myself as a trainer and think, “maybe I should be having an easier time with this.” But I've seen different breeds of dog who have no puppy-age excuses for their bad habits and inattention. Which makes me think that somewhere a false cliché was established and that the intricacies of this breed were condemned rather than praised. Part of me enjoys this challenge. On good days, I say to beagle belittlers: “watch me”!