We’ve always thought that Biggles was special. Every time he’s got his head stuck in a box, or fallen into a lake, or spent a full five minutes rearranging his bed in the car crate only to end up sitting uncomfortably on the plastic base, or squatted for a hefty dump while crossing a busy road on lead, “Oh yes”, we’ve said to ourselves, “he’s a special boy alright”. Biggles himself however was blissfully unaware of just how special he was until recently. I’m not sure exactly when it happened but I’m guessing he was just noisily snoring away on his back one afternoon with all his bits on display, when his one good brain cell finally put all the evidence together..

Blimey! I must be a really, really special boy!

His epiphany was no doubt inspired by all the first-class treatment he received while his foot was bandaged. He got to sleep in the big bed with the humies while Beanie had to slum it in her crate; when going for trips in the car he got to ride up front on someone’s lap, and he never got left alone for longer than a minute! All these things and more were solid proof that he was a much more important little Beagle boy than he’d ever dared dream.

Once the realization had dawned however, there were notable changes in his behavior. Suddenly he had the confidence to play with Beanie’s favorite toys – which previously he’d considered to be way off limits – and even trashed one of them. If she occupied his posh new day-bed, he’d bravely woof her out of it, and he even diversified his lucrative sock gathering business to include pants. On the day I took him for the final post-surgery checkup for his foot, the vet said “Fabulous! I don’t think you’ll have any more problems with that!”

I was about to reply “Actually, I’m pretty sure I will” but then I realized she was just talking about his foot rather than the whole Bigglet.

Now of course we’re gradually resuming our normal routine. It took a couple of false starts, but he’s sleeping in his crate at night again and has accepted that he’s back in the steerage compartments when we go on a car journey. Despite this his confidence is still running high; he hasn’t been this full of beans since before the days when his puppy license expired and Beanie told him off. I’m loving it, but I feel slightly saddened that we didn’t build him up enough after Beanie slapped him down; has he spent all those intervening years feeling undervalued? Regardless, things are definitely going well in the Biggleverse just now.

Finally, a few more shots from our recent “no more bandage” celebratory trip to Loch Venachar: