Hot Water Beagle

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Paul

We’ve both been plagued by a really pesky cold over the last few days. It’s the type that makes you feel worn out and shivery rather than the full-on mucus factory version, so we’ve clocked up a lot of sofa time by the fire. Our recovery is being helped by our two Beagles though – especially Biggles.

Biggles provides the bodily warmth, Beanie’s there for moral support

He snuggles up really close and when he’s sleeping he gives off heat like a furry hot water bottle. Admittedly this particular hot water Biggle also snores and farts occasionally, but he doesn’t need refilling every hour so the pros outweigh the cons. Beanie’s not so good at the snuggling but she’s so cute it makes you feel better just looking at her.

Not that the sleeping Biggly Boy isn’t cute too, of course.

Lure Coursing

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Paul

It was a very dull, misty day on Sunday but despite that we had a superb lure coursing session. As before we were joined by Beanie & Biggles’ pals Tess, Tara, Clara, Cuillin and Jamie.

Our first race put Biggles up against Tara. Last time Tara ran well up to the first corner then lost focus, but I was hopeful that this time my trusty little boy would show her the ropes. Sadly this was not to be. Biggles kind of followed the lure but his tendency to cut corners didn’t help his running mate at all.

Biggles keeps the lure in sight…

…but loses poor Tara by the first turn

His approach to following the lure may have been a bit unconventional but he won his race and bayed his head off the whole way round!

Tess and Cuillin were next on the track. Both showed improvement over last time and clearly enjoyed running together, though Cuillin won the round by virtue of having completed more of the course.

It was Beanie and Clara next. They had a good race up to that treacherous first corner but then Clara failed to make the turn and Beanie shot away..

Beanie and Clara just before the start…

Beanie chases after the lure intently…

And savors her victory as she romps down the final straight

Beanie catches the lure at the finish, and Susan catches Beanie

Cuillin, Beanie and Biggles were now through to the next round, with plenty of time to chill out while watching the other races…

The deer hounds do their thing…

while Beanie & Biggles settle down for a good (legal) chewing session

The next round put Biggles and Cuillin up against each other. Obviously Cuillin is considerably faster than the Biggly boy, but on the other hand you can’t lead a race if you don’t know where you’re meant to be going…

Cuillin takes an early lead..

But Biggles hangs on in there..

Until the corner claims another victim..

Once Cuillin fell behind it should have been a simple matter for Biggles to follow the lure round to the finish, but things are rarely straightforward when the Bigglet is involved. Somehow he lost the lure and headed off on a little jog through the middle of the field.

I had visions of us spending the next ten minutes trying to recapture our cheeky little monkey, but thanks to some skillful lure driving by Kevin Rose this was not necessary. Just as Biggles neared the other side of the field Kevin started the lure moving once more, and it caught Biggles’ attention. He kept the lure right under our boy’s nose and guided him slowly but surely in towards the finish line..

In the very last yard Biggles lunged for the lure, caught it, and did a little victory roll before sliding neatly to a stop right at our feet. He got re-leaded immediately, but he also got a whopping great lump of chicken stuffed in his mouth by way of compensation. He was now through to the third round – a first for the Biggly boy!

Beanie’s next race was against a very fit looking whippet. It was pretty much certain she’d be beaten, but to her credit she gave her opponent a good race for the first straight, and then when the whippet pulled away she headed directly across the field to the final corner to have one more full-on chase to the finish line. She lost naturally, but she went out in style.

It was now getting darker and starting to rain, and though Biggles was still in the competition his next competitor would almost certainly have left him in the dust with no lure to follow. He’d have run off to do his own thing, undoing the good work of the previous round. Instead we decided to quit while we were ahead, and returned home with the unspoiled memory of our little boy doing his victory roll as he caught the lure.

There are more shots from Sunday’s lure coursing here, and here’s a video with a bit of footage from three races, one of which is Beanie’s valiant clash with the whippet:

Crouching Beagle, Hidden Poo

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Paul

In our never-ending quest to find sort-of-safe places to let our Beagles off-lead we paid a visit to Pier Park in Dumbarton on Saturday. We’ve been there many times before for training with the Lomond Flyball Club, but it occurred to us that it could be pretty good for regular walks too. On paper it ticks nearly all the boxes:

it’s big enough for a good run-around, yet small enough that we can quickly intervene in cases of extreme naughtiness
although it’s not fenced all round, there are natural barriers like Dumbarton Castle, the sea, and the solid brick wall of the adjoining bowling club
there’s only one way into it (and therefore, one would think, only one way out) and even if the dogs do escape they’re a good distance from the nearest main road
it never seems to get very busy
it’s got a truly beautiful view out to the sea

Even with all that going for it, we decided to start with our two on their long, thin training lines. As it turned out, that was a good move. Literally within the first minute Beanie discovered a gap between the fence around the sea-front and the bowling club wall. The gap is completely covered in foliage, but nevertheless Beanie went straight to it and squeezed through. Escape is Beanie’s Kung Fu, and it is strong.

If she hadn’t been on her training line she’d either have ended up putting her swimming skills to the ultimate test in the open sea or wandering along the bank to a nearby abandoned industrial complex that’s full of things that a Beagle shouldn’t eat but probably would. I went to help Susan haul Beanie Houdini back into the park, but stupidly forgot that Biggles (who up to this point had been a model of good behavior) was also on his training line and was able to follow his sister. Which he did. We retrieved Beanie and then I gave a good yank on Biggles’ line. After a moment he emerged with his harness pulled up to the back of his neck, and one of his front paws strapped to his head in a Benny Hill-style salute.

Needless to say we thought better of going for the full off-lead experience, and after a bit of walking and some retrieval games we called it quits and headed a little further down the road to Balloch Country Park. Drenched in sunlight, and with the colors of Autumn all around, I can honestly say it’s the most beautiful park I’ve ever seen.

And apparently it smells pretty good, too…

But the world must have balance, and so after the rich beauty of Balloch Country Park we returned home to our postage stamp of a garden that was in dire need of a thorough tidy up and grass cutting.

In our garden every grass cutting session is preceded by a thorough lawn inspection and poo collection. The inspection part is needed to lift up any stones, toys or other debris that wouldn’t react well to the fast spinning metal blade of our lawn mower. The poo collection part is also needed because our Beaglets have become adept at concealing their waste in the thicker patches of grass. This presents two obvious hazzards; the unexpected and unpleasant squelching underfoot as the lawn is being mowed, and the air pollution that occurs when the blade slices through a lump of hidden poo that has been allowed to “mature”. As I discovered to my cost, there’s also a third hazzard..

Our lawn mower is one of those electric, rotary types that throws the cut grass into a rear-mounted basket. If the grass is a little too moist or if the basket gets a little too full before it is emptied, the path from the blade housing to the basket becomes choked and has to be freed up by hand. The lawnmower has a number of safeguards that prevent the accidental loss of fingers during this process, but the one thing it can’t protect against is the brown stuff. Now I won’t go into the sordid details but just to set the scene.. have you ever found yourself in a public loo trying to wipe your arse and discovered that there’s just one solitary, weak and wafer-thin sheet of loo paper left on the roll?