I think I’m finally starting to understand what it is to have the appetite of a Beagle.

I’ve been training hard and sticking to the diet we started at the New Year, and mostly feeling pretty good on it. Yesterday however I did a pretty hard “legs” session at the gym and today hunger has dominated my thoughts. On tonight’s dog walk – just before tea – Beanie & Biggles found a trail of crisps and assorted snack wrappers and it sent them straight into “spider-beagle” mode. For those who aren’t familiar with that term, it’s my attempt to describe the spread-eagle stance our Beagles adopt when they’ve found something they think is edible and they want to resist the tug of the lead for as long as possible. When they get like this, the walk descends into a dragathon; first I’m trying to pull them away from one site of interest, and just as I succeed, they sniff another site up ahead and suddenly they’re dragging me towards it. Anyway, the thing is, tonight I was almost as interested in their finds as they were. Every “Flake” or “Cadbury’s Caramel” wrapper they located sent me off into a brief food-related fantasy. I didn’t salivate at the sight of dog poo like they did, but when we got back home I demanded my tea double-quick, just like Beanie.

The two Bs have been mostly sticking to their New Year resolutions too, though for Biggles the strain of not opening the toy cupboard (much) has pushed him back into his old sock addicted ways..

I can confirm that socks were harmed during the making of these photos, but it was a worthwhile sacrifice!