On 29 May 2003 06:49:26 -0700, in article
, Wilhelmina wrote:

eaten: ripe figs, unripe pears. Fruits were on branches 3 ft. high
and deer friends left droppings. :-)

Note that beagles can also do quite a bit of fruit eating but of course they
aren't much good at picking the fruit off the tree.

My old male beagle Ed *adores* fruit, and the beginning of mulberry season was a
revelation to him. We walk on campus (NCSU) at night a lot, and I'm constantly
dragging him away (poor guy) from some apple core (I let him eat them if Bill
isn't watching) or unripe peachy-things (what are those fruits near Gardner in
the brickyard?) or smooshed mulberries or ...

In our yard I know the pears and apples are getting a good start because he
beelines to the trees looking for early windfall. I fully expect him to be stung
sooner rather than later messing around all that rotten fruit. My apples,
incidentally, seemed to have suffered some fireblight but now seem to be coming
out of it. Has anyone else noticed it this spring?

The beagles *really* glory in tomato season, though. Is it too late to plant
them? If it is, they'll be sneaking over the neighbor's garden to raid the
tomatos. I've never seen dogs so devoted to fruit as these two I have now. I
think Ed would rather have a juicy apple (or a shiveled one covered in ants)
than a cheese sandwich. I worry about the peaches (they are right on our
property line, so no one ever sprays them and they rot every year), because if
he gets the soft part of the pits I think he could get ill. Probably he swallows
them whole, though...

Are there other fruit-eating dogs or are mine wierd? My collie-thing will eat
some fruit, but isn't passionate about it as the beags are.

- Susan