My Princess Daisy *dot* com - Southern California Beaglefest

2004 Southern California Beaglefest

Okay, what has brown hair and can be really lazy? If you're normal like me, you will guess a Beagle.... but you're wrong. The answer is ME! Ha ha ha! It took me a whole month to type up one journal entry about Beaglefest. It's not my fault, I swear! Actually, I have been working on 3 other web sites for some other people. It's a good thing to keep busy, so that's exactly what I've done in my "off" time around here. So first things first!

Saturday, May 8th 2004, the Southern California Beaglefest was held in the city of Huntington Beach, in the beautiful state of California! The event was scheduled to start around 10:00 AM, so I thought I'd make a fashionably late entrance, say around 11:00 AM. I left the Pasadena area around 10:00 hoping to make it there by 11:00, but something made me forget that I live in Southern California, where there are jam packed freeways at all hours of the day, especially near the beach. So I ended up getting there at 11:45 AM.

We turned onto the street where the Best Friend Dog Park was and already we could see a family walking their Beagle across the street into the park. From that moment on, I was pumped! Daisy, my girlfriend and I parked the car and walked on over to the park where the sounds of Beagles were present. What an exciting feeling to be able to attend something that I've been wanting to go to for about a year! When we showed up we checked in with the lady in charge and she gave me my name tag for the day! ===>

I introduced myself to the lady in charge of Beaglefest and in turn she introduced me to her husband. Both were really nice people and I was glad I was finally able to meet them in person. She gave me Daisy's goody-bag which was filled with doggy treats and some other cool stuff. I also received my batch of Beaglefest T-shirts. They turned out pretty darn good. I was lucky enough to be part of the shirts by choosing the colors for it. The guy that actually drew the shirt design did a really good job. I wish I could draw, but I can't. I can color... so that's exactly what I did basically.

After that, I headed for the food. I didn't eat breakfast, so I was hungry! The food table was huge and had all kinds of food! It even had Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, which are my favorite. Who ever brought those is a genius! Anyways, I grab some food and a drink and found my spot in the park under a small tree. I looked around at all the other dogs roaming around. There was a decent amount of Beagles there, I'd say about 50 or so. Maybe more. I didn't count. There was a pretty good amount of people there too, I'd say about 100 or so people. Everyone seemed to know each other or something, cause they were all talking to each other, mainly about their own Beagle. I knew absolutely no one there. So I just hung out with Daisy and my GF.

Not long after Daisy and I was sitting under our tree, a girl came up to me and asked if that was Daisy. I said, "Yeah!" She introduced herself and it turns out she is a member of Beagle World. A place full of other Beagle owners where we can all talk about Beagles, pretty much. It was nice to put a face with someone you've never met before, and it's even better when they are nice them self. Her and I talked small talk, pretty much about our Beagles, just like everyone else was. Slowly other people would join in on the conversation and before you knew it, you were in a small huddle with other Beagle people. It was pretty fun to hear all the stories people had to talk about.

Not too much later, another girl came up to me and asked if I was Brian. I said "Yeah!" She introduced herself to me and it turns out she is a member of Beagles Rule! group where people talk Beagles. Again, it was nice to put a face with someone you've only typed to over the internet. She was really nice also and was really easy to talk to. Her and I ended up taking a picture together to show the other members of Beagles Rule! It was great meeting new people that all had the same interest. It made it easier to talk to everyone there. At Beaglefest, the atmosphere is so fun. Everyone is there to have a good time.

Over on one side of the park, they had a booth set up where you could have your Beagle take the Good Canine Citizen test. I heard about this beforehand and really wanted Daisy to take the test. Daisy is a really smart dog, but she tends to get shy when we are in public around other people and dogs we don't really know. I think Daisy just wants to be sure her surroundings are safe. I don't know. Beagles are weird. Anyways, I knew this would happen and I was going to wait to see how Daisy would respond to the other Beagles there. Daisy was really quiet. She just kind of sat there, looking around at all the other Beagles playing and all. I'm not quite sure what it was. Usually around noon she is sleeping while I am at work, so I'm thinking she might have been tired. I don't know. I could tell she wouldn't have responded well to the test and most likely wouldn't have passed. If the test were taken in our yard at home, she would pass with no problem, but life isn't that simple. I'm not worried about it. I know she'll eventually pass. Most of the Beagles that I saw passing were all older Beagles that didn't care about anything. They just did what they were told to do and they passed with no problem. Daisy and I will return next year and try it.

Later on in the afternoon, Daisy and I headed over to the part of the dog park where you can take your dog off it's leash and let it run free with the other dogs. We went and I took her off her leash and she went around sniffing all over the park. There was some other Beagles in there doing the same. There was also some other breeds in there as well. There was one of those Australian Shepards, I think, running all over the place. Man, those dogs are fast!!! One Beagle was chasing the Shepard and it was a lot faster than the Beagle. I thought Beagles were pretty fast too, but not as fast as this dog. Wow! There was also this huge monster of a Pit Bull running around. This thing was all muscle with a tongue. It was huge!!! And of course it comes on over to where Daisy and I were playing fetch. Okay, that made me nervous, but the pit bull seemed pretty cool. It was just going around doing it's thing... looking tough.

After that, it was around 2 or 3 in the afternoon and the eventfulness of the day was gone, I'd say. It was a nice warm afternoon in Huntington Beach, but it was time to go. It was nice meeting new people and being able to hang out in a quiet park with your Beagle. Okay, so maybe it wasn't THAT quiet, but it was nice. I'm already looking forward to Beaglefest next year.