Thank You, Mr. Sug
A lot can change in ten years. It seems like a blur, yet I look at old photographs and I hardly recognize myself. Almost ten years ago, I decided to get back into beagles after a short time off. I mentioned this in my first blog, but I would like to expand a little on this. I contacted Mr. Sug McMillen from Wooster, Arkansas. I had known of Sug for years, but had never had actually done business with him. I told him what I thought that I was looking for, but I pointed out that I was on a serious budget. Within a couple of weeks, Mr. Sug called to let me know that he had found a female that might work for me. She was a daughter of Hale’s Nubbin that was four years old and had been used as a brood female for a couple of years and she was in my price range.
I picked her up and spent a great deal of time trying to get her tuned up. It became evident that she was never going to be more than mediocre. Within a short time, Mr. Sug called and invited me to run with him. We ran a nice pack, and there was a young male that really impressed me. I was not in the market for a male, so I did not pay that close of attention to him. When we unloaded the dogs at his house, I was looking through the dogs and I could not take my eyes off of this male pup. I questioned. Sug about him, only to find that he was not for sale. I commented that while I didn’t really want a male, but that this pup seemed special. Mr. Sug let me know that if he ever decided to sell him, that he would definitely be out of my price range.
We were visiting by phone regularly, and after about a month. Mr. Sug called and told me that he had been studying and he decided that I was going to buy that young male that I liked. Of course I was embarrassed to admit that I was not in the financial position to buy a dog of that caliber or price. He talked kind of rough to me and told me that he had not called to debate finances; that he had called to tell me that I had bought a dog! Mr. Sug worked with me to make sure that I started out with a quality dog.
Since that time, I feel that we have helped each other out a bunch. At times, he has called to say that he needed fresh eyes to look at and run a young dog, so I would put some miles on it. At other times, he has called to tell me he had a dog that I needed. At other times, I have sent him dogs that worked better for him than me. Now, do not get me wrong, Mr. Sug is a real salesman, but our relationship has went way past making a sell. We have worked to help each other out, with money never being an issue.
Ten years have now passed, and our kennel has grown and evolved, but Mr. Sug is still there to lend a helping hand. The perfect example came about this month. In a conversation with my nephew, Mr. Sug had mentioned a male that we had sold over seven years ago. Brian had commented that he regretted that we had not bred a female to him. Well, a week later Mr. Sug called to tell me to come pick that male up. Ironically, he had got him in on a deal and he gave him to Brian. He refused money and seemed delighted to just feel like he had helped a younger beagle out. I have multiple stories just like that about Mr. Sug, but I will not bore you with more of my ramblings. I do wish, however, that every beagler had a mentor and friend like Mr. Sug. The sport of beagling would be a much better thing if they did. Thank you Mr. Sug, for all that you have done to help some poor boys have better dogs. I hope that we are able to carry on your love for these dogs and generosity to others.
