It’s not often that Beanie & Biggles get individual walks, and still rarer that one of them has an intentional solo offlead adventure, so when I unleashed Biggles on the beach at Barassie to serve as a model in a product shoot I was doing, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.

As it turned out, he was absolutely brilliant! He stuck to me like glue as I hunted for good locations, and even seemed to read my mind when I thought about posing him on top of rocks. What I really needed though was action shots of him dashing through water, so I put him in a sit-wait at various points, got into position with my camera, and recalled him. I couldn’t always predict the path he would take on his return, but he did come back every time and hang around at my feet as I checked the results.

A lot of treats got handed out during that photoshoot, and by the end of it I felt even closer to my little boy than I normally do. As we walked back to the van I spotted the unmistakable profile of Beanie watching out for us from the driver’s seat. Her tail started wagging uncontrollably when she saw us, and when we were just a few meters from the van she dived off the seat to meet us at the door. The greeting we both received from her was incredible – it was obvious she’d really missed us, and though I took them both on a joint run along the beach straight afterwards, Susan told me in no uncertain terms that I should hold another solo photoshoot, this time with Beanie as the star. So I did.

Where Biggles almost walked to heel when offlead, Beanie was much more into sniffing and exploring as we walked across the beach, but any time I called her for a shot, she was there in a flash.

The only problem I had with The Beanster was her insistance on the one shot, one biccie rule. Any time I tried to get a few extra shutter clicks in, she wasn’t having it. Rules are rules, and Beanie has always been a stickler for them.

On our return to the van I found that Biggles hadn’t been too bothered by our departure, but he was happy to see us all the same. As before we went on another normal beach run together to round things off, and by the end of it, Beanie was ready for a bit of.. private time.

There may not be an actual “Do not disturb” sign in plain view, but the body language says it all!

Back at home when I was processing the photos I became acutely aware of just how often Biggles’ rude bits had made it into the frame. I had to reject a lot of otherwise cute images due to the conspicuous presence of his furry tackle, and I started to wonder if maybe he’d done it deliberately. I think I got my answer later in the day when one of the old Christopher Reeve-era Superman films came on the telly. Initially Biggles was curled up on the sofa, but just as John Williams’ excellent signature theme started to play, he rolled over onto his back and put it all on show.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it isn’t, and it certainly wouldn’t get a PG rating like the movie.

It could have been a coincidence, but it felt like a statement, and I’m now completely incapable of hearing that tune without thinking of Biggles’s timely display.