In This Chapter
Keeping Out Forbidden Fruit (and Other Stuff)
If you thought that winsome,
big-eyed Beagles were the last dogs who could protect a nation, think again.
These days, Beagles serve their country with distinction by making sure that
illegally imported fruit doesn’t get past U.S. Customs inspectors. These hard-working
hounds were once called the Beagle Brigade and worked for the U.S. Department
of Agriculture. Today, however, they are called Agriculture Detector Dogs, and
they are an important part of the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) Canine Enforcement Program.
With the help of their human
handlers, the specially trained, greenjacketed Beagles in this program patrol
the customs areas at American airports and other border entry points, sniffing
any luggage that crosses their paths. If a dog smells any sort of fruit, he
alerts his handler by sitting down. The handler, who is a U.S. Customs officer,
then asks the owner of the luggage for permission
Technical Stuff
According to CBP, these dogs are responsible for about 75,000 seizures of illegal fruit, vegetables, meats, and plants every year. Nearly 150 Beagle/handler teams currently work in the United States at 24 airports, land points of entry, and major mailing facilities.
Shaming a President
Back in the mid-1960s, a Beagle
demonstrated to no less than a U.S. president that a dog’s ears are not
designed to be handles. The Beagle’s
name was Him, and he belonged to President Lyndon B.Johnson. During a photo
opportunity at the White House in 1964, the president attempted to show that
Beagles didn’t mind being picked up by their ears. American animal lovers felt
otherwise, however. Even the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum acknowledges
that the maneuver triggered a storm of protests. (If you want to see the
picture, go to www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/Johnson/archives.hom/FAQs/dog/pet_image_index.asp#ear.
You can click on the “C311-7-64.JPEG” link to view a larger image of the
photo.)
Him and his Beagle companion,
Her, moved into the White House with the Johnson family in December, 1963, soon
after Johnson assumed the presidency. Her died in November, 1964, after she swallowed
a rock. Him died in June, 1966, after being struck by a car while racing across
the White House lawn.
Inspiring Children
During a visit to Shiloh, West
Virginia, children’s book author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor found a frightened,
abused dog — and was so haunted by the experience that she decided to write
about the dog. The story became the classic children’s book Shiloh, the
story of a mistreated Beagle who finds a new home with young Marty Preston and
his family. The book in turn inspired countless children to treat animals with
greater kindness, to stand up for what they believed to be right, and to view
fellow human beings with greater empathy than might otherwise be the case.
The book won the Newberry Medal,
the most prestigious honor a book for young readers can receive, and spawned
two sequels: Shiloh Season and Saving Shiloh. Two movies, Shiloh
and Shiloh Two: Shiloh Season, were released in 1997 and 1999,
respectively.
Nailing the Red Baron
Of all the characters in the
classic Charles Schulz comic strip Peanuts, the most beloved may well be
Snoopy, the Beagle who puts Christmas lights on his dog house, sleeps atop the
same dog house, and fantasizes about being a World War I flying ace. In 1966,
those fantasies inspired a singing group called the Royal Guardsmen to record
“Snoopy Versus the Red Baron,” a song that stayed atop the popular music charts
for many weeks. A video game of the same title is available for Mac computers;
you can download it from the Web at http://snoopy2.sourceforge.net/download.html.
Not to be outdone, the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a series of postage stamps
featuring Snoopy in his flying ace regalia.
Flying in (Way) Outer Space
The television show Star Trek:
Enterprise featured a canine character named Porthos, a Beagle who belonged
to Enterprise Captain Jonathan Archer. The backstory of Porthos notes
that he and his littermates were all named after characters in the Alexandre Dumas
classic The Three Musketeers. Porthos appeared in more than 30 episodes
during the show’s four-season run. A great image of Porthos with his best
friend, Captain John Archer (portrayed by actor Scott Bakula), is available at www.tvacres.com/dogs_beagles_porthos.htm.
Comforting Other Dog Owners
Owning a dog can pose a
considerable challenge to the most dedicated human. Not every dog behaves like
Lassie does. Some canine miscreants steal underwear, destroy couches, and
create all-around mayhem. If your Beagle fits this category, you may wonder
whether you’re alone in your efforts to cope with your four-legged hooligan.
Emily Yoffe, author of What
the Dog Did: Tales of a Formerly Reluctant Dog Owner (Bloomsbury USA, 2005),
assures you that life in Beagle-land can be tough for any owner. Yoffe
chronicles the capers of her beloved Beagle, Sasha, and explains how, despite
the havoc Sasha wreaks, Yoffe and her family come to love the dog. The story of
how Sasha enabled Yoffe to evolve into a loving dog owner will comfort anyone
who wonders why her Beagle isn’t Lassie.
Knowing When to Mold ’Em
Mold is gross — if you can see
it. When you can’t see it, mold can still destroy your stuff and make you feel
icky. So how do you find the mold you can see? Never fear: Mold-detecting
Beagles are here! They’re trained the same way Agriculture Detector Dogs are — except
these doggies ignore forbidden fruit and sniff out molds instead. After you
find the mold, you can take steps to get rid of it. Check out the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency’s mold Web page: www.epa.gov/iaq/molds/moldcleanup.html.
Turning Out Termites
If molds suck, termites suck even
more. No homeowner wants to have these obnoxious critters literally eat his
house from within. Trouble is, finding the termites can be difficult, unless
your house is literally falling down around you. Enter the Termite Dog — which
in all probability will be a Beagle. Experts deem the Beagle the dog of choice
for this specialized role, which calls for the same scent discrimination skills
the Agriculture Detector Dogs and mold-detecting dogs employ. And because
termite infestations are often hidden, Beagles can find infestations that elude
human pest control specialists.
Befriending the Famous
Beagles aren’t one of the most
popular dogs in America for nothing. Their compact size, winsome good looks,
and easygoing temperaments win them friends from countless unknown individuals,
but a few persons of renown as well. Among the individuals who reportedly live
with Beagles are Dr. Phil McGraw (yup, Dr. Phil); singer Barry Manilow (who has
a fan club called the Beagle Bagels that raises money for various charities),
and multiple members of the British royal family, past and present.
Taking Us to Our Pasts
Arguably, the most famous Beagle
of all isn’t a dog but a ship: the HMS Beagle. The Beagle transported
naturalist Charles Darwin to the Galapagos Islands and the western coast of
South America on a voyage that began in December 1831 and continued for five
years. Darwin detailed his observations in his book Voyage of the Beagle—a
book that may well contain the foundations of ideas that Darwin later developed
into his theories of evolution. An image of the Beagle in the harbor of
Sydney, Australia, is available at www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/nathist/darwin/darwin3.html.
by Susan McCullough
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