The Ben A’an Roar

Posted on September 11, 2009 by Paul

We’d been waiting for a spell of clear, dry weather to go up Ben A’an and on Wednesday our chance finally came.

Ben A’an is generally regarded to be one of the easier mountain walks in Scotland. Most guides estimate that the full round trip – from the car park at the base to the top, and back – takes less than two hours. It also has the advantage of being just a few minutes drive from the Byre Inn, which serves great food and is dog-friendly.

The walk may be relatively short, but it’s still not without its challenges. There are quite a few steep sections and – after heavy rainfall – plenty of mud to go through. For once the mud was more of a problem for our Beagles than for us. Both of them ended up thigh deep in bog, barely managing to scramble free before we had to haul them out. I think Beanie’s pride was hurt by her little mishap, but Biggles didn’t have any hang ups in that department. Later when we had to cross a small stream Beanie regained some street cred by leaping across it athletically, but Biggles just stood staring at it until I picked him up and carried him across. I can’t really imagine pack Beagles on the hunt waiting at a stream for their Dad to give them a lift, but then Biggles is more adept at nicking socks from the tumble dryer than your average pack Beagle.

Lead tangling – one of the other challenges for the Beagle walker

After a while the path emerged from the woodland and we got our first close-up view of Ben A’an.

Up the steps..

..and there it is

This seemed like a natural place for snack before the second part of the ascent, but we had to take a little care to make sure only legal snacks were consumed by the four legged contingent.

Strictly no nibbling!

Apparently there are two paths up to the summit from this point; a well trodden tourist track, and a tougher route suitable for those seeking a challenge. If you’ve got a Beagle tied to your belt then this is a good time to shorten the lead and not let her dictate the root you take. We only found this after Beanie led us up what appeared to be a path only to get stuck when it hit a dead end.

Follow the path..

.. NOT the beagle!

After short quad-burning climb you reach a plateau with some really beautiful views.

Click to see a larger version of this panorama

Even Biggles found the view impressive

The final walk to the summit continues up to the left.

It takes hardly any time to reach the top from there, and the view that greets you looks something like this:

All that walking and all I can see is Biggles’ bum

The highest point is marked by a little pile of stones. Biggles being the kind of boy he is couldn’t resist investigating these stones, and predictably there was a little mishap.

The stone went down there Dad!

Let’s just say that Ben A’an is now a couple of inches shorter than it was before we visited. Sorry about that.

We spent a bit of time chilling out on the summit, taking in the views and eating our snacks..

Once the snacks were all finished our thoughts quite naturally turned to the need for yet more food. The Byre Inn’s lunch time runs from noon to 3pm and it was already heading for 2 o’clock so a rapid descent was called for, though we never intended it to be quite as rapid as the one we got.

Just as we started on the return journey the wind picked up slightly, presumably bringing all manner of exciting scents from the surrounding countryside. Our resident baying expert Biggles had been remarkably quiet and well behaved up to now, but these new scents pushed him over the edge and seconds later he was grunting, squealing and aaarfing his head off.

Earlier in the morning I’d been watching a program on the Discovery channel about the new Wembley stadium. Among other things, the clever designers had found a way to make the stadium acoustically better for concerts while holding on to the atmospheric “Wembley Roar” – a sound magnifying effect caused by the reverberation of fans’ cheers during football matches. What does that have to with Ben A’an? Well, Biggles’ initial cries bounced right back at him and spurred him to even greater vocal effort. Beanie soon joined in and it sounded like we had a pack of thirty or more Beagles baying their heads off. In addition to the noise they were both pulling like crazy on their harnesses, but with our lunchtime window of opportunity in jeopardy we decided we just had to go with it, and continued downwards.

We moved fast. Very fast. In fact I don’t think it would be possible to return from Ben A’an’s summit much quicker without the aid of a parachute and/or the need for urgent medical attention, but the reward was some really good grub at the Byre Inn and a quiet ride back home with two sleeping Beagles.

Zero No More!

Posted on August 28, 2009 by Paul

Today Biggles’ integer age went from zero to one. That’s right, the world has been 100% more Biggly for a whole year.

Previously we’d been for a trip to Wizard of Paws to do some birthday shopping. It’s one of the few pet shops near us that actually allows pets inside to browse, and straight away we’d found something that made both their eyes light up:

Yep those are genuine pig snouts. If you find that picture pretty revolting, you’re gonna love the reverse view:

Needless to say on Birthday morning Biggles quickly located the package that contained his pig snout and tore it open..

There’s no shortage of interesting packages, and even an edible rawhide card…

…but after the briefest of sniffs his nose knows where the pig’s nose is

There was as you can imagine a bit of a delay before he got round to checking out his other prezzies, and predictably the most expensive one – a big blue “boomer ball” – received the least attention.

The wrapping paper went down a storm though..

..as did his new tug rope:

That was followed by a bit of play with his big sister, who duly gave him her gift of birthday bumps.

Then of course there was a bit of birthday cake (sardine flavored in this case):

That still left one more surprise for the evening:

The one on the right is mine. I love my boy, but he ain’t drinking my Stella!

He may be old enough for doggie beer, but he only got a brief taste of it. As a teenaged male Beagle he’s already stroppy enough without the aid of booze, and anyway if he wakes up with a hangover he can always try the traditional cure (hair of the dog)!

Finally, a short video of some of the other ‘firsts’ in Biggly boy’s life:

Paws In The Park, Beagle In The Rucksack

Posted on August 22, 2009 by Paul

Recently Beanie & Biggles’ obedience club – the Glasgow Dog Training Club – had its 30th anniversary. To celebrate this milestone the club held a huge fun day in Rouken Glen Park called “Paws in the Park”.

As Susan is a member of the Glasgow Dog Training Club committee the whole family was roped in to some degree. I had been asked to take photographs for the club website and Beanie and Biggles were featuring in the flyball demo which was being provided by their club – Lomond Flyball.

When I’d dropped Susan off at the crack of dawn the sites for the various attractions had been marked out but nothing had been erected. By the time I returned with Beanie and Biggles just a few hours later the change was amazing – stalls selling all things doggy-related had sprung up everywhere, enclosures were fenced off and ready to go and visitors were already starting to gather. There wasn’t much time to admire the transformation though, because the flyball demo was starting shortly and Beanie & Biggles were in it!

Given our two pups’ superb performance in a recent competition, I had been confident that they would play their part well. However, when I heard the music blaring around the main ring, pipe bands, cheerleaders and dogs everywhere I was beginning to wish that Susan hadn’t said to quite so many people “Make sure you’re there to see Beanie and Biggles in the flyball demo – they’re amazing!”.

My fears proved well grounded as you can see in the following video:

Flyball Demo – Beagle Style from Susan on Vimeo.

We often joke that Beanie has a faulty nose as she’s often hopeless at finding things. But somehow she sniffed out bonios in a rucksack from yards away. She remembered her training to a degree and when the time came for her first run she flew over the jumps and headed for the box to release the ball. But at the last moment temptation got the better of her and she sharply veered off to the right and made a bee-line for one of our team mates rucksacks. Club instructor Sarah quickly left her station behind the flyball box, extracted Beanie from the rucksack and prised a couple of bonios out of her mouth.

From that moment onwards, in Beanie’s mind the rules of the game had changed. A flyball run was no longer complete without a trip to the bonio rucksack! The audience seemed to thoroughly enjoy the chaos that followed.

Err.. the ball’s right here!

Little Robbie – one of the few who stayed focused on the ball

But eventually Biggles..

..and even Beanie managed to get it right!

The more advanced dogs followed and showed the spectators how it should be done.

Of course while the other dogs were running, our two weren’t quite finished letting the side down. What’s the most embarrassing thing that your dogs can do when you’re wearing your obedience club polo shirt and there are scores of people watching? How about a noisy round of play fighting while you demonstrate that you clearly have no control whatsoever over your dogs?

Fortunately order was restored fairly quickly.

Naughty? Who me?

After the flyball Susan had to rush off to work on the ‘Dogstacle’ or mini agility stall. There was a gazebo beside the course so we popped Beanie & Biggles crates in there and settled them down for a nap while I went off to check out the other attractions.

The Dogstacle course was running throughout the afternoon and proved to be very popular – there was a queue at it all day long!

Beagles seemed to be very well represented and we even bumped into Thomas who we’d previously met at Beagle Racing. Here he is having a go at the Dogstacle course:

Sue and Kevin Rose (the couple that host the lure coursing events that Beanie and Biggles enjoy so much) came all the way from Rumbling Bridge to set up a lure coursing run, free for all visitors to try. Obviously there was only room for a short course, but still it was enough to give dogs and owners a taste of how much fun the full thing can be:

This fellow got the idea of chasing the lure straight away

Cuillin was also a natural (Cuillin’s mum plans to take him to the next event at Rumbling Bridge!)

But the best lure chaser I saw was Tess – particularly impressive given that she’s only recently returned to full activity after her spaying op!

The flyball team also set up a have-go course that proved to be very popular. Not all of the newbies managed to return with the ball on their first go, but at least none of them raided any rucksacks!

In the main ring there were presentations by the Greyhound Awareness League and Dog’s Trust:

..and a demonstration of heelwork to music:

This was followed by a series of very popular dog shows (including junior handler, pedigree and crossbreed categories) and finally a doggy fashion parade featuring the latest and greatest from The Pet Stop.

The Dog’s Trust also ran a Doggy Dash competition throughout the afternoon – a short, timed restrained recall with some handsome prizes going to the fastest dog. I fancied Beanie’s chances in this and before the competition closed I prised Susan away from the Dogstacle stall and we gave both Beanie and Biggles a chance at glory. They both ran well and came straight to me but sadly their times just weren’t good enough to claim any prizes – the competition winner was a very cute little 7 month old Tibetan Terrier who shot over the line like a shaggy, fur-covered bullet.

Dog’s Trust’s “Doggy Dash” at Paws in the Park, Glasgow from Susan on Vimeo.

Lining the path between the various have-a-go events were a multitude of stalls. Some were simply aimed at raising awareness about animal issues, while others sold anything and everything from personalized gift cards to hand-drawn portraits and of course a wide range of pet products:

It’s just as well that yellow duck can’t read ;)

The time flew by and at 4pm everything came to a close. If the setting up of the stalls and enclosures had been impressive, the clean up operation was even more so. As the event was closing I took Beanie and Biggles up to the meadow for a nice walk while Susan was helping to pack everything up. I came back within an hour and everything was gone and the park was left completely spotless. Well, perhaps not completely. One or two rawhide chews had been left on the grass, but fortunately Biggles was able to help with these. Beanie does the giant Bonios in other people’s rucksacks, while my boy takes care of stray rawhides. What a team!

As always, all photos of the event are available here.