Biggles has just had his 14th birthday. The years are starting to catch up with him in some ways; his paintwork is looking a little faded compared to Poppy and Monkey, and some mornings jumping into bed with us for a snuggle takes more preparation and effort than it did in the past. In other ways, our boy is going through a second puppyhood. He’s back to being as woofy as he was at 14 months and he’s harder to handle than our other three Beagles put together.

For the last few years we’ve had “Biggle-hour”, where we can expect him go on the hunt for food and socks, pawing open cupboards and drawers and knocking things over along the way. More recently this hour has expanded and now we sometimes have entire Biggle-evenings. A cup left unattended in the living room will be snouted, slurped and spilled on the floor – guaranted or your money back. It’s possible he’s going slightly deaf  (a hard thing to assess with a breed famous for selective hearing), but he still senses when the kitchen-baby gate has been left open and sneaks in to create mayhem. On walks it’s often a toss-up whether he or Monkey will pull the most, but when he challenges Monkey to a game of Battleshits Biggles always wins on the number of squattings (though Monkey still has the edge in terms of volume).

There are a few things that might explain this reversion in behavior. He could be going senile (something suggested by the vet after his recent sand-swallowing misadventure), he could also be reacting to competition from Monkey, but the option we feel most likely is that Beanie is no longer keeping him in check. It’s certainly the case that Beanie is allowing him much more latitude than she used to, and his confidence is growing by the day. We might just be seeing Biggles unbound – the noisy naughty boy inside that was previously suppressed by the threat of a righteous telling-off from Beanie.

I would never have expected Biggles to be a good teacher to our youngsters, especially as Monkey and Poppy often look at him like he’s the village idiot when he chases up and down the fence woofing at our neighbor’s dogs.

The strange white Beagle is doing it again Dad. I hope you know why because I certainly don’t..

He has nevertheless taught our youngsters some critical life skills. Thanks to Biggles, they both know how to lunge at garbage in the road when cars are passing, and Monkey has finally learned to cock his leg and do proper pee-marking. One morning, Biggles executed a textbook sniff-and-pee on someone’s gatepost. Monkey carefully watched the whole thing, and once Biggles had finished he moved in, sniffing first at the initial point of interest and then at Biggles’ puddle. I could almost see the penny dropping into place somewhere in his noggin; a cautious but well-executed full leg cock followed shortly thereafter.

Even boys who have suddenly become a right handful get a birthday cake when they turn 14

Happy 14th Mr Biggles! You’re a major woof-head and the pups might think you’re a bit weird sometimes, but we all love you!