Marv The Beagle

One Friday evening last May, Billy and I were driving home from a local restaurant when I spotted this Beagle following a man as he crossed the street. "Oh, a doggie!" I said. It wasn't on a leash. "Let's get him," Billy decided.

We followed the dog as it ambled along after the stranger to a McDonald's nearby. Could it actually belong to this man? The stranger walked into the restaurant and the glass door shut behind him. The dog, as if on auto-pilot, walked right up to the door, stopped, then just stood there looking in. It broke my heart.

Billy gently picked him up and placed him in the back seat of our car. His tongue hung out as he panted -- a sign of stress. As we drove home, I petted him and talked to him as soothingly as I could. He had placed his front paws on the center console between Billy and me, and we could see how dirty and matted his fur was.

Once home, Chloe came over and wagged her tail as she sniffed him. Sally, our extremely jumpy cat who runs at the sight of the vacuum cleaner, just sat there eyeing us lazily. This new canine was apparently of little concern. Excellent! When bringing home a new pet, you always wonder if it and the old ones will all get along.

We immediately gave the new dog a bath, and took him to the vet soon after. The verdict: he's about six years old; no tracking microchip in him; been neutered; had an eye infection and an ear infection. They gave him his shots for bordetella, rabies and rattlesnake venom, plus some pet meds to make him all better. Don't ask how much the bill was.

But what to name the little fella? I searched online and came across one that had Billy laughing. "He does looks like a Marvin!" he said. And so it came to be. He has been christened Starvin Marvin Villegas/Spink.

He's been with us for two months now, and is doing great. I haven't seen any lost Beagle posters in the pet store near where we found him, for which I'm glad. Although he's starting to act more and more like Chloe the food junkie. Meaning he would sell us down the street for a nice piece of steak.

Marv's been labeled a cutie, and has a really sweet disposition. He doesn't walk very fast, and I actually think he looks bow-legged. But what's lovably amusing is that when we come home at the end of the day, he jumps up and down and runs all around, big brown ears flopping against his face. He bounds across the living room and does a shake-and-bake Steve Nash move, then jumps up to greet us with his paws in the air.

We're taking good care of him, and are getting him in shape. In a few months, we'll be hiking in Sedona with this little fatso.