The Beagle Pack in Twitter

Flowers for @JDogJosie

Midori has a twitter account.  You can follow her at www.twitter.com/MidoriBeagle.  She along with thousands of Beagles have twitter accounts.  As dogs, Beagles are known to hunt in packs.  When they are not hunting ( which is the case for most beagles now ), they still tend to stick together.   So in the Twitter universe - the beagle accounts tend to stick together.

Flowers for @JDogJosie

When you read Midori's twitter stream,  you read about the common experience of beagle owners.  You will read about Beagoating - which is an appropriate term for the beagle's tendency to eat anything like what goats are known for.  You will read about them running away from their humans to track a scent.  You will see cute pictures of them sleeping ( because they love sleeping all day ).   You will read about the noisy baying that they are known for when they find something interesting.  For Beagle owners like me,  it had been a great way of enriching my relationship with my dog by reaching out to other owners who share my experience with my own beloved Midori.   By the way - Char Siew is a Shar Pei - but in this world - he is an honorary Beagle.

Flowers for @JDogJosie

Unfortunately - like the real world,  it is not always fun and games.  Yesterday was an example.  One of Midori's twitter anipal - @JDogJosie - at the ripe old age of 16 ( that's 112 in dog years ) crossed over the Rainbow Bridge.  As I read through Midori's twitter stream,  each of the Beagle account expressed their sympathy for Josie's family.  Everyone expressed crying over the sad news.  I admit - I cried when I read it.  I sent my own love to Josie and her family during this difficult time.   While I cried - I approached Midori - sharing the news with her because she really could not read the tweets on the iBone.  I really had to read it to her.  She looked at me with her puppy dog eyes looking puzzled.  Then - it seems like she understood and felt the grief - and she nuzzled closer and we hugged.  We hugged for a very long time.

Twitter has definitely given a gift to all of us.  That gift for me and the hundreds of Midori's friend - includes the feeling that we are not alone in facing the joy and the sorrows that the real life has to offer.