Madeline: The Early Years

I met Madeline in the Decatur pound in May 1993.

After 10 years of living in the Chicago area, I had started a new job in Champaign at the beginning of April, bought my first car a week later, moved into an apartment shortly thereafter, and the next week adopted a dog.

I had visited the Champaign County Humane Society several times and not found the right dog there, so I went

Classic Food Tales

The only things she wouldn't eat were olives and celery. And even celery, well, she'd give it a go if it had been cooked with something else.

One summer day I watched in disbelief as she strolled over to a cherry tomato plant in our backyard, plucked the only red one off, and ate it.

My friend Deb is still in awe over the time Maddie swooped in and snatched

Two Most Remarkable Stories

Most of the Maddie Dog repertoire involves heroic feats of stealing and/or consuming food or food-like substances. Here are two favorites in this vein.

The Story of the Winter Binge; or, Fool Them Once, Shame on You, Fool Them Twice, Shame on Everyone

So it was a very cold January when my college friend's daughter was born. How cold? Cold enough that if you blew a soap bubble outside, it would

Maddie and the Mail

I think of my dog as an original, so I always teased her about her clichéd obsession with mail carriers. How did she know to hate the lowly letter carrier? Her hatred took root in puppyhood when we lived in the Hessel Park apartments. My apartment was across an entryway from the four mailboxes of the units in my building, so the mail carrier never actually touched the wall adjoining our apartment. But I heard from neighbors that

Maddie and My Parents

Although Maddie was housebroken fairly quickly in my apartment, for some reason she felt entitled to poop inside at my parents’ house for the first year or so. Back in these early years, Maddie would also show remorse, or at least awareness, over doing something she wasn’t supposed to do. She’d skulk around behind furniture, hide under the bed,

Maddie and Lena

One time Lena made a necklace with Froot Loops at an afterschool program. As soon as Bill saw her, before they’d left the school, he warned her not to wear the necklace around the dog. Despite this she left it on, and within 5 minutes of her arrival I heard her cry out. I turned from the stove to find her bent over clutching the necklace

Maddie’s TP Phase

Maddie was always one to make her feelings known. She went through a phase a few years ago eating toilet paper off the roll whenever we left the house. It took us a while to internalize the countermeasure of always leaving the bathroom door closed when we left. Sometimes she’d leave a trail 10 or 15 feet long into the living room. Other times she’d just take a bite out of the roll like it was an apple.

One time my husband caught her in the act with a roll she’d sneaked out of the supply closet. You don’t take things out of Maddie’s mouth, if you value your fingers, so he knew he couldn’t get it away from her unless she broke her grip. He carried her into the kitchen under his arm like he was pointing some sort of weird weapon, a furry personal hygiene bazooka.

Maddie kept a straight face, never unclenched her jaws as we tugged on the roll, tried to distract her with other treats, and eventually took several photos.

Maddie's Mind: Training & Memory

For a time (what was I thinking?!) Maddie got a small treat reward when she came in from using the backyard facilities. It didn’t take long before she was asking to be let out and no sooner out the door than asking to be let back in for the treat.
She didn’t get a treat for that. So she learned to go out the door, count to 12 or whatever, then ask to be let back in. You always had to be on your toes with Maddie.

After she had me trained that when she went to the back door I would stand up (because

Maddie and Exercise

When I first got Maddie, I was a (very slow) jogger. It would have been great if she would have joined me on my jogs, but she was too interested in sniffing everything along the way. For a time I tried making her retrieve a tennis ball for exercise. But after all, she's mostly beagle. She would

Maddie and the Vet

When I first got her I took Maddie to a clinic on Neil Street just north of Armory for no other reason than it was a convenient location. I liked the young vet immediately because she got down on the floor with Maddie and sang "Paddling Madeline Home," a song I hadn't heard of before or since. When Maddie got her first shots she made a sound like a car alarm going

Your Stories, Please!

I would love to hear tales of the pets who have had a place in your heart. Please post them here, or anywhere else on this site. Thank you!

Eat-a-thon Honors All Pets

Thank you to all who attended the Madeline T. Dog Memorial Eat-a-thon at the Red Herring on November 17! It was a wonderful gathering of more than 40 pet lovers and friends, with fixings from Hickory River, World Harvest, and English Hedgerow. I'm happy that many people told me they used the evening as a time to recall their memories of their own special animal friends.

A special thanks to my coworker Debra, who brought a delicious tray of gourmet chocolate chip cookies; my sister and nieces who came from Decatur and Springfield (Carol brought 4 lbs of chocolate turtles in homage to one of Maddie's food escapades!); and my friend Deborah-Eve, who ordered a delivery from Big Mouths (fried Twinkies and Mediterranean salad!) all the way from Fort Collins. I was worried there wouldn't be enough food, but there were loads of leftovers, even with sending folks home with doggie bags.

An extra special thanks to my husband for all the care and attention he gave to Maddie since the first moment he came into our home and lives, for his calming influence on me during the last few weeks of Maddie's life, and for his support and hard work in cleaning up all those leftovers after our party! xoxoxo