We decided to swap the normal park visit for a swimming session today. Biggles is too young for a proper swim, so still needed a morning on-lead walk, and since we were running low on his food I combined it with a trip to our local pet shop. Dogs are allowed inside and it was incredibly exciting for him to be within nibbling distance of so many tasty treats. While he was in there a very large dog of unknown breed came in with his owner. He must have been four times the size of Biggles, and yet he was clearly terrified by the sight of our little boy trying desperately to hold the sit position even though his tail was wagging like a turbo-charged windscreen wiper. Serious loss of street cred for the big dog, big ego boost for Biggles. On the way back I had a seven kilo bag of Burns Minibites tucked under my right arm and a food-crazed Bigglet nibbling at it in the hope of getting an early tea.

No sooner had we got back home than it was time to head off to Allers Farm Kennels for Beanie’s swimming session. Normally she’s pretty relaxed about the whole swimming thing, but today she wasn’t too impressed by the temperature of the water. It was a little cooler than normal due to the heating having been turned off during the festive period. Beagles are supposed to be hardy all-weather creatures, but Beanie has grown too used to the life of a pampered princess and a luke-warm swimming pool is just not up to par.

We are NOT amused!

Of course with Biggles there she had to put on a brave face, and a few chunks of dried liver helped her to “rise above” too.

Biggles also got to dip his paws in the pool briefly, and showed that he hadn’t lost the instinctive swimming ability he demonstrated last time.

And of course if you swim, you get liver treats. Them’s the rules.

It was all very stimulating, and our little boy hit the sack in his own inimitable fashion when we got back home.

But the fun wasn’t over, because a little while ago I caught Beanie and Biggles playing with something. I’ve been doing a little computer open-heart surgery recently and it sounded like they’d found a little metal case screw, so I quickly intervened to get it off them. It wasn’t a screw though. It was one of Biggles’ baby teeth!

This may sound kind of sad, but I was really pleased to get it. We never saw any of Beanie’s – I guess she swallowed them (along with a quite a few other things). I suppose the tooth fairy will have to leave Biggles a little present for tomorrow morning :)