For much of his nearly 5 years, The Monkster has had the classic Beagle tear stain problem. It probably wasn’t all that evident in the blog photos because I often edited to remove or at least reduce the stains, but they were always there. I tried most of the common remedies such as:

• switching to the single non-poultry protein variant of their regular food
• adding a splash of organic cider vinegar to his meals
• omega 3 supplement
• gentle topical applications using manufactured and natural DIY solutions to reduce any possible irritation

None of them made any substantial difference, and obviously the topical remedies weren’t popular with a highly suspicious boy who believes the world is out to get him! Eventually I concluded that it would better just to accept it, as he was in all other respects in perfect shape. However,  about a couple of weeks ago I realized that I wasn’t having to doctor any of his photos any more. I took a good look at the boy himself and the tear stains had indeed gone; occasionally there’d be a bit bit of gunk in the corner of one or other of his eyes after a nap, but the tearing really had stopped. The only change I’d made in that timeframe was to try out a candidate replacement food, and then only as a partial rather than a complete substitution.

The food change had been completely unrelated to my attempts to fix his tear staining; instead the goal had been to develop a shortlist of foods I could switch to if his staple food brand suddenly went down in quality. That’s something I’ve seen a few times in recent years. The pattern is always the same: a previously respected independent brand gets taken over by a big corporate, and then maybe six months later or so, the packaging changes and with that, the food itself appears changed. Maybe it’s a different color, or shape or consistency; when I scan through the dog-food related forums and groups I monitor, I see reports that some dogs who consume that brand and have done so for some time, are suddenly having issues. Examining the packaging typically reveals subtle changes to the wording and sometimes, but not always, changes to the listed ingredients.

Regardless, a couple of months ago I found a well-regarded cold-pressed food that looked like it could be a fallback if something were to happen to their current, also well-regarded cold pressed high meat content food. I ordered a bag, and began substituting it into their daily meals (70% current stuff, 30% new stuff by weight) to test it. I should point out that both foods have around the same calorie levels by weight, and as they’re both “complete”, there should be minimal risk of any nutritional deficits or excesses. I took notice of any changes in poops and such; Monkey started pooping a bit less (I was using fewer poo bags each day) and Daisy stopped having the occasional sloppy poop. Over the same period, both Susan and I commented that Monkey was being a bit more mischievous. It seemed his energy levels had been upped a little – though I hadn’t considered them in any way lacking prior to this – and of course more recently I noticed that his tear staining has ceased. Other than ever so slightly better poop consistency, there were no changes in Daisy.

Obviously nothing about this is even remotely scientific. I haven’t tried stopping the partial supplementation of their food to see if the changes reverse, and I have no plans to switch the pups completely over to this new food in the foreseeable future. However, the timing of the improvements in Monkey is hard to ignore; I intend to keep them on this mixture going forward as it seems to be working so well for them. While I won’t mention the brands involved (there’d be little point as so many brands seem to be changing recipes and/or quality these days), I find it interesting that it’s the mixing that seems to have brought the benefits, and for what it’s worth the new food’s primary protein source is chicken! In many internet dog groups chicken is the go-to villain, always to be avoided and eliminated from a diet (despite being a rather good natural source of taurine).

Anyway, I’ve recorded these things as much for myself as for anyone who might land on the blog, and as usual I’ll finish with a serving of photos of Monkey and Daisy on those precious days when it wasn’t raining. Or at least wasn’t raining that much. I mean, we’re in autumn now and this is Scotland :)

Daisy tootsies

Chilling by Beanie’s tree

When we’re playing fetch, Monkey uses his rubber lobber and Daisy gets her orange tennis ball – them’s the rules!

Except that the new, mischief-enhanced Monkey 2.0 sometimes goes for the nice bright tennis ball instead!

Daisy is more than capable of getting her ball back of course!

Yeah, that’s how it should be!

But punishment must still be metered out for the boy who nicked the ball in the first place!

Clearly the change in food has not made Daisy any taller, or Monkey any shorter

Humping inevitably leads to wrestling!

And more wrestling!

Nap time!

Daisy seems to have made it her mission to humiliate me in public. She’s now around two and a half years old but I still have to tell her to go do “pee-pee and poo-poo” at night even if the neighbors can hear me; failure to give her that very particular instruction is likely to result in a wet bed. That would be bad enough, but now I must also administer frequent cuddle top-ups during our main walk each day.

The need for a cuddle top-up is signaled by nudging and nibbling the backs of my knees and generally getting under my feet. When I stop and look down, there’s that gorgeous, cheeky little face looking right up at me and before I know it, Daisy’s walking up my legs with her front paws. The top-up can now begin, and should always include the following key components: kisses to the bonce and/or the cheeks, ruffling of the ears, tickling of the tummy and massaging of the chest.

As far as I can tell the ordering of these components doesn’t matter but Daisy can tell if the process is being rushed, and if I bring the top-up to a premature close the demand will be re-issued. I’ve been caught giving cuddle top-ups by other dog walkers several times now; sometimes I think that maybe I wasn’t spotted, but then I see that tell-tale grin and shake of the head as they pass me and I know the game’s up. If I try to guide Daisy to a less exposed location she seems to forget the top-up, but the moment we get back on the path those pesky knee-nibbles come back in force. She wants her cuddle top-up, and she wants it in a publicly viewable place.  I suppose I could resist it if really wanted to but.. nope, who am I kidding, she’s just too cute.

Not wanting to leave Monkey out of things I try to make a fuss of him too, but when he’s on a walk he’s just not interested. He only wants affection when he’s back home, and given the amount of time he spends on his back getting a tummy tickle, I reckon he’s a very happy boy.

Unfortunately, he’s also a boy who’s recently been in the doghouse for the crime of bedicide.

Monkey has always had a difficult relationship with beds. Like Biggles before him he has the delusion that he’s a world-class bed maker, but whereas Biggles’ bed-making focused on trying to tug things into shape, Monkey prefers to scratch manically with his paws. When he does this in a crate the sound of his nails on the plastic base sounds a lot like an old-school DJ scratching a record, so of course we call him DJ Monkey.

Monkey will have a DJ session anytime and anywhere; he’s even gone hell-for-leather on Biggles’ canvas hammock chair – while Daisy was in it alongside him! It’s bad news if he does it on one our sofas, and it’s annoying if he decides to do it at night when we’re trying to some sleep, but until recently he’d never really damaged anything with his antics. That changed when I got an extra plush crate bed for him. It had really thick memory foam and lovely fat padded sides that were purpose-built to be a Beagle chin rest. I was certain it would keep him extra warm and comfy as we head into autumn and winter. It won’t of course, as it now has a big hole right in the center of it, not just through the top layer, but though the inner bag containing the foam and through the base layer as well. He’s totaled it.

He acted quite sheepish when I discovered the damage and gave him the “Oi!! Monkey what have you done!!?” routine. I think he got the message that this was a bit worse than shredding a whole loo roll on the hall rug or pulling plates and food containers off the kitchen worktops.  He rested on our bed with his head between his paws as I cleaned up the mess and installed one of his older backup beds, and he got into his crate quickly and quietly when I pointed at (usually I have to remind him that all of his bits have to be in the crate before I can close it).

The Monkster didn’t spend long in the doghouse of course, and he never did any of the duvet-shredding that Beanie and Biggles indulged in as pups so he deserves some credit for that, but when it comes to beds he’s still a very, very silly boy.

That’s the deep, contented nap of a boy who has pulled off the most technically demanding, physics-challenging and artistic poop known to Beagle kind. I hate to admit it, but it far surpasses even Biggles’ best efforts – though it was The Biggly Boy’s tutelage that undoubtedly laid the foundation for Monkey’s faecal triumph.

We were in a woodland area of one of our local parks. As is his way, Monkey had already let loose with a couple of decently-sized but otherwise unremarkable number twos; bulging around his back passage signalled that number three was on the way. As we walked past a tree he looked like he was beginning a squat, but he didn’t drop straight to target depth – instead he kept shuffling his feet, executing what I soon realised was a precision docking maneouver that would have made NASA proud. He reversed his bum really, really close to the tree – so close that I feared the bark might seal his opening – and then instead of lowering into a deep squat he raised his rear end as far as he could, kind of walking it up the tree. When he reached his maximum height he began to push, all the while maintaining pressure against the tree surface.

You know those gel stamps that leave a circular patty of slow-release, fresh-smelling cleaning agents on the side of the toilet bowl? Well this was essentially the same thing, only bigger, brown colored and definitely not fresh-smelling. When he’d finished Monkey didn’t even turn to examine the result – he didn’t need to see it to know it was good – but Daisy and I stood and marvelled. After a second or two Daisy went in close for a sniff. I didn’t, but I was severely tempted to whip out my phone and take a snap. I wish I had; moments like this are what make me proud to be a Beagle daddy.

Oh Monkey, I’m so proud to have you as my brother!

Thanks Daisy. It’s just what I do.

Also I have really big balls.

A video and a few more shots to finish. As you can see, Daisy’s respect for Monkey was shortlived, and was followed by humping attempts, chases and wrestling.