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Serious Or Not Serious; That's The Question

by Maxie Wright :: Featured: June, 2003

We are seeing several commercials on TV referencing NASCAR racing fans and their overwhelming devotion to the sport recently. While they are somewhat humorous to view, nevertheless they are well able to convey the idea to us of the fans loyalty and deep dedication.

I'm personally realizing that our beloved sport of beagling and rabbit hunting also carries equal enthusiasm among our breeders. The longer I'm involved in this wonderfully celebrated endeavor, the more I become aware of it's contagious addiction.

So here is my perspective on the matter: I myself have been guilty of liquidating some of my most valued items in order to find cash to finance my love of dogs and this great outdoor lifelong adventure. I would venture to say that I'm certainly not alone in the grand escapades of keeping a low profile around the house pertaining to the growing amount of unrevealed loot invested.

Come on fellows, you know what I mean. You've been there and bought the t-shirt and forgot about it too. Truth is, my wife and I don't have secrets about anything and it's been that way around our house for the last 30 yrs. It is a pact we have with each other. So, in order to keep up my end of the bargain, I really have to be creative in my explanations of why and where and who and how much money this time, or how I can justify paying so much for such a small animal as a Beagle. But, our subconscious minds always afford us the ultimate unselfish reasonable answer to prevent us from having to sleep out there in the dog house with our loyal four legged buddies. Sometimes I may not be exuberantly hasty to divulge all of the criteria of my wheeling and dealing to the little woman, but after a few days of piece-meal selling her on my adventures of extreme importance (falling just short of being classified as top security affairs) she becomes aware.

After all, our little wives are very delicate at times and we never want to take them for granted you know. Then, as soon as the dust settles back down we can break it to them real gently on the way to Wal-Mart or some other favorite shopping place. Even better yet, wait until she gets there and sees that special item she’s had her eye on and was just waiting for the right time to bring it up and have the old proverbial adage "well honey, its on sale and it will never be this cheap again". This is called working the end against the middle.

Guys we win some, we lose some, and some just get rained out. I said all of that just to say if we are really serious about our beloved sport then why don’t we find an excuse good enough to spring on our ladies that will be acceptable enough to justify the furtherance of beagling on a little higher scale. Now here we go.

Well this is my version of how I am going to bring it up to her as to keep peace in the home. I would began by saying "Linda, do you realize that I could promote my beagles so much faster while securing my place in the annals of history of legendary red tick beagles if we could simply find a way to raise the funds for investing in artificial insemination of the top bloodlines world wide. What's your opinion dear?". "I knew I could get some expert advise from someone as savvy as you, sweetheart." Ok folks it is time I got serious with you. Until we get really serious enough to cull heavily and maybe explore the avenues of artificially breeding, and even possibly embryo transplants, we will have to settle for mediocre run-of-the-mill dogs. That is... in relation to what we could have.

Sure, there are lots of wonderful canines around but none of us can live long enough to breed them up to the point of ecstasy without applying the science of A-I. or Embryo transplanting eggs into surrogate mothers. Justly, so I do agree that our breeds, governed by our different breed associations, have produced some pretty terrific specimens to date so far, but we could take it to the moon with this technology available today. I know that if we could come together in the spirit of unity and share in expenses and pool our resources then we could certainly all benefit in the long run. In my opinion we can have the cake why not add the icing also? Make mine chocolate please!

Happy Hunting,
Maxie