Now that Beanie and Biggles are having chases on the other side of rainbow bridge and generally trashing the place, Monkey and Poppy are enjoying new freedoms in the house and on walks. For example until recently the humie bed was a complete no-go zone for them, and with good reason; if the day had a “y” in it, the bed most likely had a Beanie in it, and it was in nobody’s interests to disturb a napping Beanster. Compare and contrast that with this:

As you probably guessed that is Monkey on the bed (it was those big rear paws that gave it away, right?). He may be protecting his modesty by covering his upper body in the above picture, but he’s generally an above-the-duvet “au naturel” kind of a boy, while Poppy is very much a burrower.

Each morning Susan gets up first and releases the pups from their crates for their first breakfast (like Hobbits they have multiple breakfasts, an ongoing concession to Poppy’s epilepsy). A little while after that there’s a noisy stampede into the bedroom then both of them charge up Beanie’s old padded staircase and dive onto the bed. While Monkey sets about pinning my legs with his 18kgs, Poppy briefly smothers my face with hers then noses her way under the covers and curls up against my stomach. I find getting out of bed after this is really hard, partly because of the weighty Monkey lying across my legs, but mostly because it just feels so very comforting. I’ve never understood why some people have a Beagle but don’t let that Beagle into bed with them; they’re missing out on some top quality cuddle time. Having said that, they also miss out on waking up to “I’ve just come in from the garden and I’ve eaten a poo” tongue kisses, and that wonderful feeling of having a dog barf under the sheets right next to them, so I guess they may have a point.

Increasingly the pups are getting to use extending leads on country walks; they’re both enjoying this extra freedom but Monkey in particular is loving being able to head off the path and go for a little explore.

Interestingly the youngsters have actually got easier to manage when they’re walking on short leads by a road; I’d long suspected that Biggles was a bit of a wayward influence in such situations, and this is being borne out now he’s departed. Some of his more entertaining habits have been retained by Poppy however; as we get close to the house on the return from the short evening walk, she’ll often howl and charge for the door in anticipation of nosh. Unlike Biggles her howl is high pitched and comical, like a cross between Michael Jackson and Mickey Mouse, and at only 9.5kg her pulling power is far below that of even the old version of The Bigglet, but she gets full marks for trying.

I’m very aware that I keep comparing the youngsters to Beanie and Biggles. I do see echoes of Beanie & Biggles in them sometimes, but they’re very different little characters and that’s a good thing. As an article Susan found put it, nothing will ever fill the holes in our hearts left by Team Chaos, but Monkey and Poppy can maybe patch those holes and dig their own new ones right next to ’em. As a nod to this I’ve given the blog header and title a little makeover, but the blog started with Beanie and it’ll always be hers.

A few more shots:

It’s play time!

It’s hoof time!

It’s hump time!

And it’s also “throw a bit of garden debris around and pretend it’s alive” time!

Yep, Monkey may be our smartest Beagle…

..but he does have some weird ideas sometimes!