Once a child who couldn’t resist “borrowing” the neighborhood dogs, Marjie Alonso grew up to make her passion her profession. She spent decades as a dog trainer, behavior consultant, and executive director of animal behavior nonprofits. Over the years she shared her life with Emma, an American Eskimo, Betty and Addie, a pair of Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, Nellie, her first beagle, and now Alice, along with countless foster dogs. A devoted parent and storyteller, Marjie writes with humor and heart about the joy, mischief, and everyday conversations that make life with dogs so deeply meaningful.

 

Marjie has just completed a memoir about taking her sons to meet their biological mothers in Paraguay and a reckoning about adoption. She writes essays for publication, and has a weekly Substack.

Dear Goddamned Beagle,

Re·morse ( rəˈmôrs/ noun )

Deep regret or guilt for a wrong committed.

I realize this is not a concept familiar to your Beagley kind, so it’s not completely your fault. I’m just suggesting that, when caught standing on my desk  – ON MY DESK – with a bag of treats in your mouth, you at least try to seem sorry.

Looking at me, shaking the bag as hard as you can, hurling it toward me and then standing there with a huge smile on your face in no way suggests my work space is safe from further forays.

Then jumping from desk, to file cabinet, to window seat, to the floor, to me expecting me to open the bag for you seems a bit much to ask.

Love,

Your Foster Person IMG_4305

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