For one brief, shining moment today, a Denver beagle lived out the beagle dream.

Theo the chubby beagle did what all beagles are wont to do: he ran.

With his nose presumably pointed to the ground, he ran out of his yard. Following smells we can never smell, he ran to Sloan’s Lake. Then he ran out onto Sloan’s Lake. He ran all the way to an island, where perhaps he thought to himself in a Forrest Gump voice, “I’m pretty tired.”

So there Theo stayed, doing beagle things, until someone called the authorities.

Theo. Was. Not. Having it. There were still many things to smell and roll around in.

But Theo was eventually outnumbered and captured. I’m assuming one of the firefighters knew that the best way to catch a beagle is to offer it food.

Once caught, the round little hound was carried to safety.

He looked less than pleased, yet resigned to this turn of events. Perhaps he always knew freedom would be fleeting — that a beagle’s best life is lived in small bursts of abandon.

? I hope you had the time of your life. ?