We stopped off at Pets At Home yesterday and got a couple of sturdy plastic dog baskets in addition to our usual provisions. It seemed like such a good idea: it would make their daytime bedding look neater, and may even encourage them to respect each others’ space.

Initially things went quite well. Biggles was the first to try one out. He seemed to think it was a new chew at first, but then discovered that while it wasn’t very yielding to his teeth, it was kind of comfy to rest in.

Then  the trouble started. Beanie went to try her basket, and Biggles decided he wanted that one, so they swapped. Fine. But then it became apparent that somehow, Beanie still had the better of the two identical baskets. Things quickly got out of hand…

… and for the rest of the evening, it was near impossible to get them to stop squabbling. On the rare occasions where we succeeded, we enjoyed less than five minutes of peace before one or both of them decided to chew their cushions, or failing that the door frame. When we intervened, the play fighting soon kicked off again.

By late in the evening they had finally tired themselves out. Beanie went into a deep coma on our bed, while Biggles crashed out in his basket, waking only to grab the odd tummy tickle when one of us passed.

Baskets. Another thing not to get when you’ve got two naughty Beagles.