LoupGarou Toy Fox Terriers came into being in 2001, with the purchase of Beau, my first show quality Toy Fox Terrier. Previous to Beau I had owned Omaha, a wonderful (if over-sized) representative of her breed. I will readily admit it. I was a big dog snob. I loved my Dobes, my Dalmatian, my Labrador retrievers. I wanted a collie, for Heaven's sake, not a sillyyappy toy dog. But Oma made me fall in love with the TFT despite myself, with her intelligence and willingness to please me. Even though she had been purchased for my then-husband, Eddie, she vowed to love me the moment she came home and would spend the next eight years of her life doing just that. I could have told her, "Oma, climb to the top of Stone Mountain (we lived in GA at the time) and throw yourself from it"--and she would have done just that. When a neighbor poisoned her, while she was in my own yard, I thought that the world had ended. I knew that if I was ever going to have another TFT that it would have to be just her opposite: male, without a blaze, and preferably a white and tan. That way I would never compare the two. If Oma formed my love for the breed, then Beau cemented it and sealed it forever. It took me a year to even think about finding a successor for Oma and then a while longer to find the dog I knew would be The One. The image that had leapt out at me was that of a tiny little puppy with honey-gold markings, standing in the middle of a one-foot square flooring tile. His head was cocked with interest at what was going on and all four feet were firm on the floor. He was not going anywhere unless the thing being pointed at him suddenly developed fangs and tried to eat him. I travelled to Louisiana from Georgia to get him, my little LoupGarou Kajun-Fox Beausoleil, named for the zydeco band that I loved to listen to. It was love at first sight for both of us. When he ran from the puppy room, I was the one he ran to of all four people in the room. He grabbed my shoelace and tried to run off with it, silly boy. Just a short time later, we were going home together. We'd be together for 12.5 wonderful years--not nearly long enough. He could have lived 100 years and it would not have been long enough. Life in a post-Beau world is not easy, but LoupGarou Toy Fox Terriers will carry on. Sadly, his grandchildren were not bred and I have been deprived of his genes flowing through the LoupGarou dogs forever. However, his memory and all the important things he did remain. He taught me so much and, for that reason, other TFTs, some who are his distant relatives, will hunt and run and engage in active sports as well as show themselves off in the conformation show ring. I am sure that somewhere he is watching, his head cocked in curiosity as he wonders what is going to happen next. I don't know yet, Beau, but I do know you'll be helping us pass the next challenge when we get there.