Mission Impossible: Beagle Ears.

One of the best description of the breed that my family has ever heard is "Congenially Stubborn".

But that's for normal beagles.

Anyone that knows me and my taste in dogs (and admittedly, people) knows I don't like normal.  Or boring, or easy or "nice".  I like tough, challenging, intellectual, looney, spaz-tastic, and neurotic.

This may be why I was paired with Duncan.

Duncan has,.................. and I quote "issues".  That makes him my kind of dog.

To put it nicely, Duncan is not "congenially stubborn".  Hahaha.

Observe, cute pictures:

Aww

Cute

He looks like he's thinking, but he's not.

Duncan is a retired research beagle.  He retired at the ripe old age of 1 year because he was not suitable for research. Why?  Duncan cannot be restrained.

I was tasked (as was one other trainer) to work with Duncan, to teach trust and friendship and other valuable life lessons that would make him more adoptable despite his "issues".

He became adoptable, because my family and I adopted him.

Duncan settled nicely, even started accepting hugs from other people.  It was going well.

Nails were a challenge, but snipping just one or two at a time on the couch solved that issue.

Then came the itching.  Turns out, the dogs had all managed to acquire ear mites.  Fun fun.  So off to Petco we went ( I took Duncan with me ) to find treatment and of course, so he could pick out a toy (a stuffed plush soccer ball, for those who were wondering).

All my dogs either sat nicely or gave up the protesting after a minute or so as I cleaned out their ears with the solution.

And then there was Duncan.

He threw a legitimate fit.  And my mom finally understood why the kennel was so excited that we were considering adoption.  As I tried to coax my sweet, adorable, loving  beagle to PLEASE let me clean out his ears, he tried to convince me to shove off and die.

I told him that trying to bite is annoying and he should stop.  My mom laughed at me.  

So I capped the solution and let it alone for a day.  He would continue to itch, but pushing Duncan isn't smart.

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So it was back to the lab again.  I knew that getting that solution into his ears would take cunning and skill, maybe even a workout-style 80's film montage. BUT I was up to the challenge.

Today I got him all worked up by playing with my favorite girly-dog, My Maggie Mae Gorgeous Darling Sweetie Baby Honey Pie.  That's her full name, no joke.  She responds to it.

Duncan gets jealous.  Seeing me give Maggie all the attention got him all riled up.  He brought his toy over and we commenced tug of war.  He didn't know that the solution was hidden under the futon, cap off, all-systems-go.

So Duncan is more likely to do his tricks when he's playful.  I won the tug of war match, and proceeded to shoot my dog. 

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Haha just kidding.  I yelled "BANG BANG" and he played dead, eyes shut and on his back. (Tail still wagging, though, he's gotta work on that).

Target was in position.

As he lie there, waiting for his cue to get up (be a zombie!), I rushed over, added a couple drops to each ear, and ran away cackling like a madwoman-----SUCCESS!

The look on his face was priceless.