I think that I am one of the few beagles in the world whose mother started a club just so I would have playmates! My name is Bonnie Blue Beagle and I moved to San Diego in August of 1994. Within a short time, my mom and I discovered Lake Miramar and met Sparky Beagle and his parents Mary and Armin. Sparky was not particularly socialized, but he took a fancy to me, so this encouraged his parents to plan activities for us together. Mary and Armin lived near a small park in Rancho Peñaquitos, so we began scheduling our meetings there on Sunday mornings and several beagles from the neighborhood starting joining us. These included Buddy Beagle (son of Ernie and Sally), Derby Beagle (son of Diane and Don) and our sergeant-at-arms, Brandy Beagle (son of Kathy and Norm). We began calling ourselves the Beagle Brigade because of the way we “paraded” around the park. Mom started writing the original Beagle Bugle as a means of communication for our rapidly growing club, and articles in the San Diego Union Tribune began to attract new members.
As the club grew, we tried different times and days and finally decided on Saturday mornings at 9 a.m. for most activities. When the Poway Community Center opened their Dog Park in the summer of 1996, the Beagle Brigade started meeting there so we could run off-leash and frolic without our parents. We stay safely inside the paddocks, yet we can tear around with our buddies as much as we want! Brunch, hosted by Rosemary (mother of Taz), is now served to amuse our parents while we play!
After ELEVEN years, the Greater San Diego Beagle Brigade now numbers on its roster almost 240 of us beagles! Some of our members have moved out of the area and some have gone on to other activities, but our growth continues in huge spurts! We now meet monthly on the first Saturday of each month and some of the months have field trips on the third Saturday. The goal of our club is for us beagles to get to see each other, have lots of fun, and provide moral support to our parents! They need it with us!
Editor's note - Bonnie Blue Galbraith died on Tuesday, January 02, 2001 at 1:42 a.m. of complications from metatastic breast cancer. She was only 11 years old but had led a full and happy life. Bonnie was born and raised in Texas, and later moved to California when she was five years old. She was the essential ingredient in the creation of the Greater San Diego Beagle Brigade, a social group numbering well over 200 beagle-friends, and had appeared on KUSI TV in February 2000 to promote Beagle Rescue. Bonnie also spent time in Belize, Central America, where she lived on a small island and survived Hurricane Mitch, before returning to the States in November of 1998. She spent the remainder of her life near Balboa Park, where she delighted in chasing the squirrels and bunnies and helping to distribute peanuts to them. Bonnie will be privately cremated and scattered at her favorite places.
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