Willie's first day at home

I got Willie March of 2008. I had wanted a dog for a long time but kept making excuses. My main one was that I work too much and would not be home in time to let the dog out. Then I thought what a better way to help with my work/life balance. So I started looking on the rescue website. I found a lot of dogs that I thought would be great pets - Willie was not one of them. So finally I went down to the adoption center with my list of dogs that I wanted to see. I was looking for a medium size dog because I live in a condo and do not have a yard for him to run in. Here were all of these dogs, probably about 60 of them barking away and went I walked past Willie's kennel he bowed his head and lifted his paw and never even barked. Every time I would walk past his kennel he would do the same thing. Finally I asked if I could take him out for a little walk. The person helping me told me that Willie was from Kentucky and they had saved him from being put down. They said that he had been abused and also had a fear of some of the other dogs. Well, Willie and I went for our little walk and when I put him back, he started to whine a little - put his head down again and raised his paw. I just did not have the heart to leave him. So I asked them if I could run to the store to get all of the stuff I would need and would be back in an hour to pick him up. I had not intended on getting a dog that day, just thought I would start the looking process.

I named him Willie because his name was Wilcox and that just did not sound right. Willie is part beagle with a very loud beagle bark. They had guessed his age to be between 3 and 4 even though he does have grey around on his chin. When we got home, he was a little timid and barked everytime he heard someone outside. It did not take him long though to figure out he wanted to stay. He is a great little buddy!

Understand I live in Michigan and some times we still get a lot of snow in March. The first week, I got Willie, we had 15 inches of snow and it got really cold. I thought on my, what have I done. I can't just let him out to go the bathroom, we have to walk awhile and then awhile more. Willie sure does know how to hold the bladder. Look at the picture below and you will see him in the snow that first week.