The Cast of Characters

To understand why I am unable to provide a forever home for Harvey Danger you have to understand my two dogs Scout and Theo.

Meet Scout.  My eight year old blue heeler/beagle mix.  My first dog.  My one true love.  This is my girl.  Isn't she cute?!

So cute!

Anyway, I digress.  I could post a million pictures of Scout.  This dog may be cute but she has the unfortunate distinction of being half blue heeler and half beagle.  I did not know it when I got her but this is a dangerous combination.  This mix means she has the super smart loyalty of the blue heeler with the stubbornness, craftiness, a manipulative-ness of the beagle.  Needless to say this dog has caused me lots of grief.  She whines.  Almost constantly.  She pulls on the leash.  She doesn't always get along with other dogs and sometimes scares them by chasing them and barking at them.  She has been in fights.  Her bark is high pitched and annoying.  She has more energy at eight years old than Theo has ever had.  She has run away (but has always come back).  She doesn't like cats.  She jumped in my brand new car after being sprayed by a skunk...twice. She refuses to get in my car after a two hour run in the park because she is not ready to go.  Needless to say she needs a boatload of exercise.  And she gets it.

She may be a handful but she is the most loyal, lovable, smart dog I have ever met and she stole my heart.  I have been told she has "bucketfuls of personality."  This is true.

Next let me introduce you to Theo:

Theo is a six year old full beagle.  He is gentle, slow (at everything including walking, eating, and pooping), and a cuddle bug.  He would like nothing more than to cuddle with you all day long.  He doesn't really ever bark, he will occasionally whine, and everybody loves him.  He walks nicely on the leash, he doesn't run away (he doesn't even run really), he sleeps all the way under the covers in typical beagle fashion, and he is kind and gentle to every person and animal he meets.  He's just a lover.  The exact opposite of Scout. 

Awww...how cute!  He is practically perfect in every way...except when he's not.  Our most recent incident happened just this past Sunday.  Theo got into rib bones my boyfriend brought home for the dogs and ate all of them.  Then puked all over the house for two days.

For this incident he got publicly shamed on Facebook (all in good fun of course!).  You see while this beagle boy has a such a charming personality he has one thing on the mind: food.  He will get it any way he can.  I have to have a child lock the cabinet under the sink where the trash can lives.  I have to bungee cord my fridge shut.  Think I am overreacting?  Take a look at this:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2059047029873&l=4831552122571940175

This is a video of Theo opening the fridge.  I set up a video camera and left because someone was getting in the fridge on an all too frequent basis and making a giant mess all over my house.  I had to know who was behind this mayhem.  Since I have two dogs I did not know which one was responsible.  I took bets.  The overwhelming majority voted for Scout as the culprit.  Theo's lovable, gentle demeanor fooled them all.

My point is I have my hands full with these two characters.  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have it any other way.  These are my buddies.  And they love each other:

Theo has even taken to Harvey a bit.

Scout tolerates him.  

Harvey would make a great edition to any home and he is a welcome guest for as long as he needs to be here but my hands are full with the hi jinx of the two I have.  I do think Harvey will learn a lot from these two though!