One month with the Adorables, 2 beagles rescued from NC research lab

Moxie sleeps on Huck

We celebrated our one-month anniversary with Moxie and Huckleberry this week. The Adorables, as we like to call them, were from a NC lab that shut down after a Peta investigation. We’re still working on housetraining, whining, that tricky issue of what fits into the categories of food and toys and a few other matters of etiquette. But overall we’ve made progress.

We get on hot streaks of no accidents in the house; I don’t want to brag, but we’ve gone up to five days in a row with no one peeing or pooping inside. (Unhappily, today was not one of those days.) One of them is starting to bark when I go out, leading me to set up a webcam to see which one. Needless to say, when it’s been on, they’ve been angels.

We don’t see much difference in them, but neighbors says they seem so much more confident and happy. Moxie and Huck have made many friends in the building, neighborhood and dog run. They like everything and everyone. They are grateful and bedazzled by the world. Huck especially has become Will Ferrell’s Elf, this week even picking up fresh gum off a NYC sidewalk. He’s also picked up whole beer bottles, attacked the ornamental kale at The Scratcher, developed a taste for apples and honey. Huck loves running, chasing and hugging people on the street (he puts two paws up on their knee).

With Huck, I worry he’ll eat something bad on the street. With clever Moxie, I worry she’ll figure out how how to use my credit card and buy treats online. Moxie loves all bread, cookies and chips and thinks nothing of leaping to try to snatch it from my lips. She still checks the magical rib bone tree to see if any more delicious treats have appeared (she found two bones there her first week and is not giving up on the tree producing more).

With most NYC dogs, in winter you have to worry about their little paws getting burned by sidewalk salt. These knuckleheads will actually try to eat it. Then flap their jowls in disgust, only to try it again a few minutes later.

Moxie would like to grow up to be agility dog. Huck wants to be a therapy dog. Once we finish the housetraining.

They are seem to know and like us. And they really love each other. Probably the best thing we’ve given them is the chance to live with each other. Two beagles are what’s called a “brace of beagles,” which used to mean a hunting pair for those who couldn’t afford a whole pack. “When you are thinking Beagle, immediately start thinking two Beagles,” the site Woofahs says. Excellent advice.

Read more about the adventures of Moxie and Huckleberry

Read about the Peta investigation

Where to Go See Animals Down South