Women in Beagling-Betty Cunningham &The Good Life
By Trena Street, BraceBeagling Author
March 07, 2004

FOR BETTY CUNNINGHAM THE GOOD LIFE
IS ABOUT FAMILY, ANIMALS, STAYING INVOLVED

There’s no doubt about it…Betty Cunningham is definitely from the ‘Show Me’ state. Truth is, she is one-woman proof the state theme line should be changed to ‘I Can Show You.’ Based on facts gathered in a recent interview, my perception of Betty Cunningham has changed somewhat. She is not only a delightful, interesting, gifted person. She just might be approaching expert status in several of those talents.

Born in Macon, MO Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Boots married Wade Cunningham and together they raised two sons, Forrest and Harold. Forrest has two girls and Harold has two boys. “A few years ago, Harold, 44, wanted more kids, so he went to Romania and adopted two girls,” Betty said. “ So now we have six grandkids.” Both Forrest and Harold live nearby the Cunningham family home located in Ashland, MO, near Columbia.

“I had the luck to stay in love with my first love”, Betty said. “Wade owned a locker plant near Moberly, MO and my mother worked for him. I was 15 and just starting my senior year. Yep, it was love at first sight…puppy love, I guess you might say!”

Throwing her head back with a bright-spirited laugh, Betty says, “And now 46 years later, it’s still puppy love, cause boy are we involved with puppies!” Betty and Wade’s first date was at Hawkeye Beagle Club. “I was running dogs on my first date. Warfield Red puppies is what we had.” That was the start of it. They ran under the kennel name of C-ham Beagles for many years, starting with real fast hunting dogs…”Then, we saw the light,” Betty eagerly nods her head emphasizing her point that ‘the light’ was slow-tracking brace beagles. Now using B-Way Beagles, Betty says, ”we have ‘his’ dogs and ‘her’ dogs. Mine are personality dogs…like Cricket, a ‘Robert Southard Special’. When my mother died, I didn’t talk about it to anyone but Cricket for two years. I couldn’t, I was so upset. But Cricket understood”.

She’s a mother, a grandmother and a great friend.. She’s a farmer, owner of ‘Blue’ the talking parakeet, a cattle baroness, a shepherd and a horsewoman. She’s a meat cutter, an animal trainer, and a hay-baler. She avidly fishes for trout from Alaska to Canada to Missouri, a hunter and a highly respected un-licensed apprentice vet. She’s a breeder, a Beagler and…. a character! A multi-talented, vivacious lady that knows a lot about a lot and it’s a joy to hear her enthusiastically talk about a full and fulfilling life, thus far.

“Our first field Champion was Pearson Creek Whicker. George Nixon told me, ‘if you will sell your six cull dogs, I’ll sell you Whicker for $150. So, we sold them. George told me, ‘She’s a pretty good dog, Whicker is, but she’s ugly!” But we bought her anyway and finished her about a year later.” The Cunningham’s have now finished about 25 out of their kennel. “We’re still raising some pups,” Betty said. “This year, so far, we’ve had about 12 puppies. I guess you call this a ‘hobby’. It’s a hobby because it loses money! But we love it.

The Cunningham’s are both retired from their jobs. Wade worked for many years as a meat cutter for United Supermarkets. “When Wade quit, I quit. That was five years ago,” Betty says with that great ear-to-ear grin. A roving meat cutter, Betty worked part time for several grocery chains like Kroger and National and was ‘on-call’ when they needed her.

In addition to Beagling, Wade and Betty own a 215 acre farm, 50 head of cattle and raise and breed under 30-inch miniature horses. “We also used to raise Quarter horses. We have just bred one of our miniature horses with a miniature donkey named DonkeyKong. We hope to have miniature donkeys soon. They’re an unusual breed, they are spotted, Appaloosa’s, called spotted Asses, miniature mules.”

Ever wonder what Betty Cunningham does in her spare time, when she’s not fishing, bailing hay, breeding dogs, horses or going to field trials? She’s the neighborhood vet. That’s right, a veterinarian. “When I was 35 years old, one of the area Vets wanted to sponsor me to go to vet school. I apprenticed for eight years with vets. I had two sponsorships to the University of Missouri Vet School…but I didn’t go. I still tag along to seminars so I can stay on top of things. I’m not a licensed vet so I can’t take payment.” But Dr. Betty has certainly been given her share of payments…. peach cobblers and Pepsi’s.

When asked what Beagling has done for her, Betty quickly says. It’s taught me to mellow-out. It doesn’t do that for everybody, but it does for me. I enjoy beagle’s performances. I always think there’s gonna be a good one there. If you ever see just one outstanding run, even once a year, that makes it. Two dogs doing what they should…. that’s what it’s all about.”

It ‘s the competitive spirit of beagling that Betty so loves. “I really like to participate. I like the competition and love to finish one.’ If you haven’t been around Betty when she and Wade finish another Field Champion…it’s worth the wait. This is a woman who really gets into the moment. “I just go berserk when I finish one. I just love it!”

“If I could change anything about Beagling, I would do something to get more interest in it. To revive it. The IAMS style of judging may be the way. I don’t know the answer. But I hope we can find it,” she comments.

A self-described ‘Military Brat’, she traveled the world with her family, never staying in one school more than nine months. “And that was in Puerto Rico!”. When Wade proposed to Betty, he got down on his knees to ask. “I said I would marry him if he would promise me my kids would go to one school all their life.” He did, she did and they’re still there. The family, all nearby, enjoy being with each other as well as their extended ‘Beagling’ family. “Beagling is our family and I don’t guess we’ll ever get out of it. Why would you drop your family after 40 years.