He stayed close to me on the portage into the lake itself. He would run ahead, but if he got too far ahead, I'd look up and see him stopped in the trail, looking back and not moving until he caught my eye. Then he'd move again.
He explored the site as soon as we made it out of the canoe, and immediately went for a drink. He found a good spot where he could gain ready access to the lake, and scramble back up the rocks onto the site.
He was constantly roaming the camp site. He would sit close to me, watching the woods behind the site very carefully. I wonder what he would see. His nose twitched and moved from right to left, up and down and clockwise and counterclockwise. His nose was actively engaged with the environment.
Monty ate kibble mixed with warm water, and he would finish off my meals cooked over the the fire. I would eat 4/5ths of a Snickers bar. He would eat the remaining 1/5th of it. And he drank and he drank and he peed and he peed. Life was especially good that week for a beagle.
At night he would come into the tent, and snuggle up beside me while I read my book by candle lantern. Curled up, sometimes he would chew on his brown doggie stuffed toy. This is an important thing for him. He likes his stuffed toys. He's only five years old.
He would wake me up at 7:00 on the nose, sometimes by squeaking at the door flap, and once in fact by licking my nose.
Despite roaming through a marsh up to his belly in dark mud, and laying around in the soil and muck by the lake, Monty's coat was cleaner than I had seen it in months. I think it had to do with him going for dips in the water (again, just up to his belly), but also because he was walking through wet vegetation that both removed dead, loose hairs from his coat, but also washed him well.
Now that we're back, I'll be bringing him regularly into the valley so that he won't forget the experience of roaming the woods.
Good night.
Mungo
.JPG)
