Yep it’s that time of year when Biggles temporarily catches up with Beanie age-wise. On Tuesday he was four years old, just like his sister. As tradition demanded Beanie administered the Beagle equivalent of birthday bumps, and then I took them both for a run on the beach.

Birthday bumps.. Beagle style!

As the day progressed it became evident that the extra year on Biggles’ age had brought with it additional confidence and maturity. When Susan left her new foam roller unguarded (used for getting the kinks out of tired muscles), Biggles picked it up and carried it to his basket without a single guilty backward glance. His self-assured trot said “I’m just taking this, OK”. When Beanie tried to push him out of the basket with plushest blanket he gave her a robust humping. Obviously that wasn’t the best of decisions because she mercilessly yanked on his tail for some time afterwards. Nevertheless, it was clear that this was Biggles reborn: older, not particularly wiser, but bolder – much bolder. Oh yes, this worm had turned.. right onto his back for a tummy tickle!

Another questionable decision came when a delivery guy brought a mysterious cardboard box. Biggles had any number of ways to react to this intruder, but he chose the woofy one. Mr Delivery Guy was not phased by the noisy outburst, which was very fortunate because otherwise Biggles would have missed out on the best part part of his birthday (more on that in due course). In addition to the woofing, the afternoon passed with much napping and snoring and before long it was time for the second walk. I took them over to Troon for a rocky scramble along the shore and a game of chase hide-and-seek.

Dad, you do know it’s teatime already, right? Just saying.

Where’s that pesky sister of mine gone?

She’s around here somewhere!

She’s behind me isn’t she?

A moment of quiet contemplation before our return home..

When we got back home Beanie & Biggles took up position by the kitchen door to wait for their second meal of the day. When it finally came the usual teatime routine was observed; Biggles did a power-boing and managed to nose the bottom of his bowl even though Susan was holding it at her head height, while Beanie did her ritual “gimme the food dance”. They then raced to their serving positions and went into a sit. Beanie held her sit perfectly, her bum seemingly welded to the floor by the power of the approaching kibble. Biggles, as always, struggled to keep his rear end from lifting and wagging. The seconds dragged by until the “Take it” command was given, whereupon small chunks of Burns Alert went flying all over the hall as they dived into their bowls. This time the servings were disappointingly small, but before a protest could ensue I ushered Biggles into our posh (mostly Beagle-free) lounge to investigate the mysterious box that had arrived earlier.

The first thing to come out of the box was a brown bag held closed by a little golden paw sticker. Whatever was in there, it smelled really, really good.

Blimey, it’s a biccie with Biggles’ name written on it!

There goes the UK record for speed eating

Also inside the mystery box.. another box..

Containing an extra large Wuffin! It’s Wuffinzilla!

A while back when we’d sampled the delights of The Beagles Bakery I’d been torn between ordering personalized biscuits vs. wuffins for Biggles’ birthday. As you can see I resolved the dilemma by getting both. I have to say though that these birthday wuffins were even bigger than the ones we had before. Biggles did really well to contain himself until I gave him the order to take his wuffin, but a split-second later he pounced on it so eagerly that it virtually exploded. He was merrily hoovering up crumbs from the floor for the next five minutes!

Since the day was also Beanie’s unbirthday, she got one too.
Happy 4th Birthday Biggles, and happy unbirthday Beanie!