His name is Bashful, Bash for short. It's the right name. Sadly, it's the right name.

Approximately 2-years-old, Bash should be a happy-go-lucky beagle with as much spark as he has freckles. Don't let the smile in the picture fool you.

Bash is anything but happy-go-lucky.

He arrived at the Clarington pound a few weeks ago. Where he came from is a complete mystery. Someone had apparently found him wondering the world on his own while on a road trip, but nothing really adds up.

For a beautiful young dog, it should have been fairly easy to find him a forever home through the shelter's adoption program, but it's that bashfulness that's made things complicated. He's not just shy. It seems as though certain things about humans scare him to the point of freezing in fear in one spot, needing lots of encouragement to move again. And there's his hearing. Sometimes, it appears he can hear but other times, it's as though he is altogether deaf apart from perhaps picking up vibrations. And no, we cannot chalk it up to typical beagle mentality and that classic beagle stubborn-ness.

There is something wrong.

We wonder if he's experienced some kind of trauma that's caused damage to his hearing.

And maybe even damage to his spirit.

We are determined to repair his spirit even if we can't bring back his hearing all the way.

On Saturday afternoon, snow coming down, our devoted foster parent Beth and her forever foster beagle Mistletoe Moe made the one-hour trek from their cottage up north to meet us at the shelter and gather up Bash.

We're going to give him all the time he needs to rest in the comfort of a loving home before investigating these things further.

Baby steps.

And plenty of unconditional love, dear sweet Bash.

Big thanks to the wonderful staff at the Clarington Pound for loving and saving Bash first…