It’s taken a while, but life in our new home has settled into a comfortable routine. Beanie & Biggles have established new routines too, and a number of them involve poo.

Back in Glasgow, failing to scoop a freshly fallen poop was likely to incur a hefty fine, and because of that our two Beagles’ obsession with consuming and rolling in the brown stuff was relatively easy to manage. Out here in the country things are different; there’s no pressure to pick up poo unless it falls directly on a path or pavement. As a result, nearly every walk ends up being an all-you-can-eat Soylent Brown buffet. Some of the local dogs have a diet which produces poo with a reddish tint, and this seems to be particularly flavorsome to the Beagle palette. Even if you manage to dodge all the doggy doo, there’s still a plentiful supply of horse & cow droppings – it just never ends. It’s a wonder our two still  have room for their breakfasts after their morning walk. But of course they do. Still it’s meant to be good for them – friendly gut bacteria and all that, sort of a doggy version of Danone Activia. I can see the adverts now: “Feeling bloated? Sluggish? Just sling a big pile of horse muck down yer throat, that’ll sort you out”

Anyway, the morning routine goes something like this. A little while before we get up, I open up Beanie & Biggles crates so that they can come for a snuggle in our bed. Beanie jumps onto the bed almost straight away and quickly wriggles under the covers. Biggles – who still has a “thing” about not being able to jump onto things – needs more encouragement, but he makes it up there eventually. A little while later he goes out for his first pee of the day. He usually gets into a long-distance name calling session with local farm dog, and of course he’s always ready to defend the garden against horses and cows.

A boy must always be alert and ready to respond to any threats to his territory. Unless those threats are a bit scary, in which case it’s probably better to pretend you haven’t seen them and take the covering off your ball.

More serious threats can simply be monitored from behind the safety screen on the deck. It’s not too far from the kitchen if you feel the need to run inside.

Eventually Beanie joins him for sniff about, and before long it’s time for their first walk of the day. On their return – if they’re lucky – the treat fairy has visited their kennel and left pieces of kibble on and around it.

The kibble could be anywhere..

So a thorough search is required!

Breakfast is next, followed by a good long nap that lets us human types actually get a bit of work done. When they awake, there’s often time for a bit of play.

A ball is good!

But a ball on a rope..

..well that’s just..

..the business!

A carrot may seem like a good thing too

It’s certainly crunchy

But the taste is a big let-down. Nowhere near as good as poo

Lately we’ve been helping Beanie & Biggles to make new friends. They’ve already met a fellow Beagle called Bundy, and now there’s Ruairidh (let’s just call him Ru!)

He’s never tried agility before, but he quickly got the hang of it when he had a little go in our garden.

His impressive debut put a bit of pressure on our two to perform. Beanie responded with her super hero impersonation:

Biggles had a bit of a false start, but then he hit his stride.

Aaargh! Should have gone over the jump, not round it!

Looking better!

That’s it – just keep your eye on it Biggles!

The internet is littered with theories that ancient civilizations didn’t build wonders such as the pyramids all by themselves – that they had a little “outside” help. Beanie and Biggles can now report that these theories are correct, and that the other-worldly entity who provided this aid is called “Fergus”.

It all started yesterday morning when our intrepid adventurers discovered this huge construction in their garden:

I’m sure you’ll agree that its resemblance to the Mayan pyramids is undeniable, yet this 8th Wonder of The World was definitely built by the Fergus entity. We know this because he came along yesterday afternoon to put some extra steps on the back to make it easier for Biggles to reach the top.

Biggles spies a route to the summit of the pyramid. Beanie of course just plain jumped up there –  it’s not that much higher than the kitchen table, and she jumps onto that all the time!

The mysterious Fergus entity surveys his amazing work

You see Biggles is very good at jumping and grabbing things off table tops and shelves, but he hasn’t yet worked out how to jump on to things. Beanie on the other hand has the complementary special ability; she can jump onto just about anything, but she can’t do the jump-and-grab motion that Biggles is so very, very good at. If our Beagles ever manage to mind-meld and share their superpowers we’re in big trouble, that’s for sure.

Anyway, I digress – back to the Great Pyramid of Irvine! It’s a got a round bit you can run through, a small cave that you can crawl into and hide in, and of course the aforementioned steps that lead up to the summit.

It’s early days but initial indications (e.g. squabbling over who gets to sit on top or inhabit the “cave”) are that the pyramid is going to be a very popular addition to our garden.

Yesterday’s doggy breakfast was preceded by a loud scream. Susan went into the cupboard to fill Beanie & Biggles bowls, and almost scooped a handful of mouse instead of a handful of dog food! It seems the little critter (or more likely critters) sought refuge in our house during the recent big freeze and helped himself/themselves to our pups’ nosh. When I later cleared out the cupboard I found a little stockpile of kibble hidden in a corner behind a discarded kickboard. It was really, really neatly arranged, and when I saw it I had a mental picture of this merry little line of mice carrying kibble out of the food bag back to their corner, singing a little song all the while. Sort of like a rodent version of the “Underpant Gnomes” in Southpark. Needless to say measures have been taken, and the little kibble gnomes are not long for this world. Susan actually feels sorry for the little buggers, but as far as I’m concerned they’ve got it coming. Nobody messes with my pups’ food and gets away with it, whether they’re called Mickey or not.

On a lighter note, last night we met up with the gang from Lomond Flyball again for a really nice pub dinner. They had a surprise for us! At the end of last year they handed out prizes to their beginners for completing time trials. We missed out on the presentation because of the house move, but last night we got these lovely trophies:

You may have noticed that the one for 3rd place is a little bit grander than the one for 5th, but we’ve been deliberately vague about letting Beanie & Biggles know who got which one – we don’t want any jealousy rearing its head.

And finally, with the first lure coursing session of 2010 coming tomorrow we invited Beanie & Biggles’ new pal Bundy round to our place so she could learn what all this lure-chasing business is about. As one might expect, there was a little bit of a run around before we got down to business:

Beanie, Bundy and Biggles

Then we moved on to the lure coursing itself. Our little portable kit served us well and after a few goes Bundy seemed to have got the hang of it, so I’m hopeful that she’ll do well tomorrow.

Bundy’s a really sweet little girl. She has attributes in common with both our two; she’s pretty and fast like Beanie, and she can fart like Biggles!

By way of thanks for her crash course in coursing, Bundy gave Beanie and Biggles some little prezzies. Like all the best prezzies, they were edible.

The mice ain’t getting these rawhide shoes!

That’s for sure!