This morning started like any other. I dragged myself out of bed, opened Beanie’s crate, and patiently waited for our little furball to emerge. As usual, the waking process began with a big yawn, followed by a long stretch that ended with her front paws poking out of the crate and making tentative contact with the carpet. Then she reached out further with her front legs and slowly dragged her body forward. As her rear approached the lip of the crate she didn’t bother to engage her back legs. Nope, the lazy little bugger just kept on inching forwards until her bum fell out of the cage and hit the deck. Then she just lay there, waiting for me to pick her up and rush out to the garden before Nature could take its course. And this morning, Nature had a big surprise for me.

After her pee, Beanie circled, sniffed and squatted for her “Number Two”. I could tell it was going to be a big one: a cloud of steam emerged from under Beanie’s tricolor arse as hot jobby met frozen grass. When Beanie finally stood up, I clicked my clicker and bent down to give her a treat (Beagle house training 101) but she immediately shifted position and squatted again. Blimey, a double!

I gave her the treat anyway and readied the poop bag. She stood up, moved a couple of inches and sank her bum back down. Yes folks, that’s three Number Twos in a single session, and it made the scooping process even more challenging than usual. It’s bad enough trying to get your polythene covered hand round one jobby while keeping your lighter and friskier Beagle from standing in it – or even worse – having a quick nibble of it, but three jobbies!!??**!

Once the bag was closed it was safe to breath again, but rather than chucking it straight in the bin, I allowed the fresh Beanie poop to warm my hands for a couple of seconds. Who needs gloves when you’ve got a Beagle?