Mr Burns Rewards Santa’s Little Helpers!

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Paul

Over the Christmas period Burns pet food ran a festive photo competition on their facebook page, and a certain two Beagles won with the following snap:

We were promised that a “little something” was on its way to us as a prize, and tonight – just as Beanie and Biggles were about to tuck into their tea – we received a very BIG something, safely wrapped in a sturdy plastic bag!

After the initial external inspection, the unpacking began…

Biggles seemed particularly adept at this

One by one, he carefully extracted the goodies from the bag

and ran off with them to his “corridor of doom”

The kelties and fish bites have been unpacked, but there’s still more in there!

OK, who’s got dibs on the Duck & Brown Rice?

We managed to get them to pose with their impressive prize haul for about 3/10ths of a second…

but we couldn’t hold off the first tasting any longer than that!

The prize couldn’t have been better for our Beagles; two bags of kelties, two bags of fish bites, a couple of sturdy frisbees (Biggles destroyed our others), a big bag of their favorite kibble, and a very posh looking blanket which amazingly matches the color of our sofa:

Thank you Mr. Burns!!!

Get Foxy!

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Paul

The snow came back, and Mr. Fox came out to play.

One fox, two Beagles. Whatever happens, it’s gonna be noisy!

Beanie got hold of him first and pranced about like a new puppy, trying to tempt Biggles into a chase:

Go on Biggles, try to get Mr Fox, I dare ya!

Biggles didn’t take the bait though; he knows he’s not fast or agile enough to catch Beanie when she’s taunting him with a toy. Instead, he just sat quietly watching and waiting for Beanie to get bored…

Without the thrill of a chase, Mr. Fox loses his appeal and Beanie’s attention starts to wander…

After a few minutes, Mr. Fox’s head mysteriously stopped squeaking and Beanie dropped him for a moment to go investigate something else. This was exactly what Biggles had been waiting for! He sprinted in, grabbed Mr. Fox and chewed furiously at the remaining squeaker in the tail end!

With Beagles, possession isn’t just 9/10ths of the law, it’s ALL of it!

Beanie complained loudly at this blatant case of foxnapping, but Biggles wasn’t giving it up. He was now willing to engage in a chase however; Beanie may be the superior athlete, but he’s the superior tactician, and when he gets the pole position in a chase he knows how to hold on to it!

Biggles issues the challenge!

His chase, his rules!

And we’re off!

Mr Fox is currently drying out in our utility room. He’s down to one working squeaker and he’s looking a bit sorry for himself, but he’s still in one piece and I suspect he’ll be joining our two on another chase before long.

New Year’s Bay

Posted on January 2, 2011 by Paul

In the past we’ve often celebrated the New Year by going for a good long walk, but this time we hauled ourselves and our sleepy Beaglets out of bed extra early to go do a parkrun at Strathclyde Country Park. This is a different venue from our previous parkruns, and it looks set to be our favorite. For one thing it already has a small but dedicated core of cani-x runners, but over and above this it has an almost ideal course for running with dogs; most of the route is flat and straight with a wide band of grass running alongside it – perfect for overtaking – and the half-way point is clearly recognizable so it’s much easier to pace yourself.

Lining up at the start with my Biggly Boy, I had high hopes for a personal best, but as the starter noted, PB or not all runners were guaranteed their best time of the year so far! It was very exciting, and with Biggles, exciting equals noisy. I did my level best to keep his baying under control using treats as a distraction, and as the last piece of bone shaped biscuit disappeared into the black hole that is my boy’s stomach, we got the “go” signal.

He took off like a rocket, while I took off like a rocket with an ignition problem and a fuel leak, but between us we managed to overtake a fair number of other runners and find our place within the pack. We kept the pace up despite a few patches of ice, and when one of the marshalls offered us a lucky dip from a huge tin of Quality Street, we both resisted temptation.

As we came down the home straight I looked for the little tent that marks the start and end of the race, and when I finally spotted it, it seemed to be a good couple of hundred yards further away than I remembered. This is apparently a common experience for runners at Strathclyde; the organizers insist they don’t sneakily shift it further back during the race to prolong the torture, but I have my doubts! Regardless, we eventually we caught up with the evasive tent, crossed the line and took up position to watch for Susan and Beanie. We didn’t have long to wait – the two of them finished strongly and I got the distinct impression that we’d all be getting personal best times!

The start of the race. With all that grass alongside the track, it’s easy for cani-x runners to run as wide as they need until the pack thins out

Me and the Bigglet slowly moving up the pack!

Susan and Beanie on the outward leg of the course

Many thanks to Ross Goodman and Andrew Jeske for these fine mementos of the run. You can see more pictures from the Strathclyde parkruns on Flickr here and here.

When we got back home, we had a hefty dinner (steak pie & veg of course!) and crashed out in front of the telly, rising only to check the parkrun site for our times. When they appeared, it was PB’s all round: 24.06 for me and Biggles, and 32.19 for Susan and Beanie!

Biggles gets a well earned nap

Beanie hears the camera and strikes a suitably princess-like pose

But she can’t keep it up for long

Biggles reacts to news of his personal best time

What a great way start to 2011!