Beagles

Maddie is a 2-year-old black and tan beagle and miniature pinscher. She is very outgoing and energetic. Maddie loves to run, play, cuddle up and spend time with her best friend.  

I nvestment banker Garrett Herman already has the rote trappings of success: the vintage wine cellar, fine cars, many unloved TVs, a room solely devoted to massage. Yet a closer look around Mr. Herman's Rosedale home indicates he does not fit any dog-eat-dog stereotype. In his spare time, the chief executive officer of the old-line brokerage house Loewen Ondaatje McCutcheon is a renowned expert on Charles Darwin.  

This is a very cruel question, because my answer is not much. Or maybe not enough. I have a novel coming out in April ("Something Red," Scribner), so I'm just finishing the second pass on that, the final futzing.  

Five people safely escaped two house fires Thursday in Tulsa, and a third house burned while its residents weren't at home. All three homes were total losses. A woman and two children were unharmed by a blaze that caused significant damage to their home early Thursday, and two women in a Midtown duplex also escaped safely when a fire engulfed the structure that afternoon, authorities said.  

Authorities this week said they are moving closer to identifying whoever wrapped a dog in duct tape and left it for dead in a trash bag in a remote wooded area of Saratoga County. Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III said investigators have interviewed everyone involved with the case and sent evidence to a crime lab to be analyzed. The dog, a beagle named Daisy, was found Nov. 8, emaciated and near death, by a group of hunters on property owned by one of them.  

Peggy Brink wants to give homeless pets a free extreme makeover to make them more attractive to potential pet owners. She was inspired to do so after rescuing Cressie, the Brink family dog, in 2004 from San Antonio Animal Care Services. The organization currently works as a house-training and pet fostering network, but Brink envisions an ambitious two-pronged organization that would ultimately act as a kind of pet safety net.  

A rare mockingbird that inspired Charles Darwin to develop his theory of evolution, is to be saved from extinction with the help of some stuffed specimens collected by the famous naturalist. Darwin noted that the mockingbirds on Floreana were slightly different from those living on the other Galapagos islands. He speculated that they could be modified descendants of a single ancestor.  

10-week-old male and female Yorkshire terriers, valued at $2,000. It seemed like an ordinary sale, said Jeremy Mitchell, 46, owner of Best Friends Puppy Boutique at Seminole Towne Center mall. Then four days later, he learned the purchaser closed her prepaid Visa account a day after the transaction and was nowhere to be found.  

Officials said yesterday that the seven health clinics run by San Diego County have virtually run out of swine flu vaccine, and they also reported the county's 33rd local death related to the H1N1 virus, a 4-month-old girl. Only a small supply of shots remained at each of the clinics yesterday, and the doses were being reserved for pregnant women who face a higher risk of complications from the virus. "We're waiting for information from the state on when we can place our order for the November allotment" of vaccine, said county Health and Human Services Agency spokesman Jose Alvarez.