Beau Smart

Remember Dixie, the 16-year-old pug whom we fondly crowned Queen of the iPets? We think we’ve found her a match made in heaven. It’s an iPet iDate bonanza!

Meet 17-year-old Beau Smart. Beau is short for Beauregard (of the North Carolina Puppy Mill Beauregards, teases Beau’s personal servant, Kay Smart). When your writer met Beau, he was holding down the hardwood floor of his gorgeous LowerTown home. Kay, owner of the awesome BeBe’s Artisan Market, and husband Jim, who’s a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Paducah Campus of UK, bought the pug 17 years ago. “We got him as a surprise for my mom for Christmas,” says Kay.

Mom said thanks but no thanks, so the couple took the puppy home.

“We suspect he had an unsavory personality disorder,” whispers Kay.

Apparently Beau talked the couple’s Lhasa Apso into running away almost immediately, and shortly thereafter their Doberdane died.

“Beau cleared the playing field and got all the attention lavished on himself,” explains Kay.

Books describe pugs as “little gentlemen.” They love to cuddle.

“Well,” says Kay, “Beau’s a little gentleman, all right. Attila the Gentle Hun!”

It’s a good thing the little guy was tough. The Smarts went for a backpacking trip on the Continental Divide when Beau was a year old. “We forgot about the elevation, and our overnight trip turned into a three-day hike,” remembers Kay. “Beau was so tired, I had to hold his leg up for him to pee, or he’d just tip over.”

Beau shares his humans with Trixie, a 15-year-old Lhasa mix. (No worries, Dixie: Beau and Trixie’s relationship is purely platonic. Brother/sister.) Kay describes Trixie as the mellow, passive/aggressive sort. “She’ll stomp her foot if he pushes her too far,” Kay laughs. “Now that Beau is blind, Trixie does her level best to steal his food and water; live by the sword, die by the sword, you know!”

Asked about the secret to her dogs’ longevity, Kay reveals that it’s diet and exercise. (“And a cigar every day!”) “Jim monitors Beau’s diet. Pugs will eat themselves to death. We’ve never let him get obese.”

In his dotage, Beau is hand-fed every meal in Kay’s lap. Each morning, Kay cleans his ears, gives him eye car and softens his nose with a bit of mineral oil. Your writer noticed that Beau’s breath was pristine and his teeth looked amazing. “He used to get terrible infections,” Kay says. “Pugs have horrible mouths. I do daily mouth care and I stick a Listerine breath strip in each cheek every morning. He hasn’t gotten an infection since!”

Normally I ask folks if they can imagine life without their pet. I confess, I simply couldn’t ask this time. Kay was holding Beau in her arms, and his sweet blind eyes never left her face.

“You can learn so much about people from watching dogs. They’re just the same, only without the secrets,” Kay says. “Dog behavior is right out there.”

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