Bones Not Bangs

Another firework season is mostly behind us. It’s left Beanie a bit jumpy in that she’ll look at me for reassurance if someone slams a car door or drives over a loose manhole cover when we’re walking by a road, but for the most part I think she’s coped better than last year.

This time around Bonfire Night landed just after a weekend, with the result that local organized displays were scheduled a day early on Sunday, with many unofficial sessions still going off on the following Monday night. For us the Sunday was pretty painless thanks to two things: an extra long, extra sniffy daytime walk to tire the pups out, followed by the most absorbing treat we’ve yet found for our Beagles: meaty filled bones.

I chose Culzean as the location for our walk, parking by the sea front in Maidens and taking the pups straight across the sands and into the woods near the castle. The area is teaming with wildlife – birds, deer, rabbits and so on – so noses went into overdrive almost as soon as we started. We stuck mainly to the quieter coastal paths, getting to sample high level sniffs from the cliffs and ground-based whiffs from the beach below the castle itself. It’s easy to while away a good few hours at Culzean, and the sun had set by the time were heading back to the Beaglemobile.

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As we arrived back home the fireworks were already in full flight, but I quickly carried the pups into the house where the routine of their tea-time meal – followed immediately by meaty filled bones – distracted them until most of the whizz-bangs had stopped. The next day I didn’t have time to get more filled bones and consequently things didn’t go quite so well. The Beanster spent an hour or two cowering in the bathroom wrapped in her Thundershirt, followed by an extended period on my lap, during which a little bum-hole print mysteriously appeared on my t-shirt. As usual Biggles was much less affected, but even he dived under a blankie and snuggled with Susan when things got really intense.

At some point in the future fireworks may be a thing of the past; a recent episode of The Gadget Show featured a very effective alternative display using brightly-lit drones. Until then it’ll have to be extra long walks in the daytime and a copious supply of filled bones, because it seems that even in the most desperate times a tasty bone can beat a loud bang.

 

2 Replies to “Bones Not Bangs”

  1. Jill

    It’s been quite a while since I’ve visited your website but I’m glad to see that you are still posting with your lovely beagles. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Give Beanie and Biggles my best.

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