Dad, can I have a sheep for Christmas?

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Paul

On Saturday we headed out to Muirshiel Country Park for a long, strictly on-lead walk. The moment we got onto one of the signposted walks Beanie and Biggles went crazy. They pulled like mad on their extending leads and kept tying each other up. We decided to leave the narrow paths and head out into the fields – with all that space our professional lead tanglers would be easier to handle.

It started out well – the ground was muddy but manageable. After a few minutes we came across what appeared to be drainage ditches. They didn’t look too wide, so I got as close as I dared to edge of the first one and jumped across. As my lead foot landed it sank straight through what had appeared to be solid ground. I was wearing waterproof shoes, but they aren’t very effective when you’re calf-deep in cold water. A few steps later Susan also had soaking wet feet. We squelched onward for a while, but eventually surrendered to common sense and headed back towards the signposted paths.

As we approached the edge of the marsh I was feeling quite envious of our all weather, all terrain Beagles, especially Biggles. He was strutting about so proudly, head and tail held high. But you know what they say about pride…

Suddenly Biggles disappeared from view. He’d slid into one of the ditches, and at first I couldn’t help but laugh. I expected him to come shooting straight out of the water, but a few seconds went by without any sign of him. I was about to run over to extract him when a paw reached up from the watery abyss. Then another paw appeared, and a mad scramble ensued as he hauled himself up the other side of the ditch. He shook himself off, put his tail back up and carried on ahead without even sparing me a glance. I’m still a beginner at reading Beagle body language, but in this case the message was abundantly clear: “Nothing happened. Move along!”

We’d had enough of the whole “off road” idea by now, and it was too windy for Windy Hill, so we headed out along the old mine track. In many ways this walk was much easier going; no mud, and no water-filled ditches. It did have hazards of a different kind though: sheep!

We’ve known for some time that Beanie’s quite keen on sheep, but she can’t hold a candle to Biggles. Every time he caught sight of one he went straight into hunting posture and started baying.

Beanie often joined in on the act…

but Biggles was nearly always the first to spot them, and the last to come out of hunting mode. While Beanie would often lose interest and wander off for a casual sniffabout..

..he stayed focused and was on the lookout all the time.

There’s no doubt about it: Biggles has a much stronger prey drive than his sister! At least now we know what he wants for next Christmas.

A few more shots from the walk:

A rare moment – no pulling!

Normal service has been restored

Power walking, Beagle style

Hup Hup Oops

Posted on March 14, 2009 by Paul

Beagles! Who’d ‘ave ’em?

Just as we’re making progress with Beanie’s pickpocket habit, she develops a new way to stress us out. Her latest naughty habit is leaving the puppy field at the park to roam the paths that surround it. She’s still a safe distance from any roads but it’s particularly annoying to us because we’ve invested so much time and effort on improving her recall. In fact the more we work on her recall, the more she seems to delight in going off on her own private expeditions.

We’re coming to the conclusion that it’s just another of those phases she goes through every so often and if we just weather it as best we can, maybe in time she’ll calm down a bit. It doesn’t help that she’s lost interest in playing with all but the fastest dogs at the park. She seems to have gone up a gear recently, and while this may mean some wins when Beagle Racing starts up at the end of the month, it now takes a whippet-cross to give her any decent challenge in a chase. They are, sadly, in short supply.

By contrast, Biggles is behaving himself remarkably well. We took him to see the head trainer at his obedience class for a little help with his only significant problem – growling when he’s got hold of a sock – and since then he’s been almost angelic. He’s also incredibly affectionate. Male Beagles are as a rule supposed to be more affectionate than the females, and he never passes up an opportunity for cuddle. This morning when he was allowed in our bed for a bit he snuggled around my head. It was like wearing a big warm fur hat, albeit a fur hat that farts.

Our little boy also showed his sensitive side last week at Beanie’s flyball class. The trainers kindly let us bring him in with us and try some of the easier exercises, like retrieving a tennis ball from the flyball box and bringing it back to the start line. He was on lead and doing really well, and spurred on by the flyball chant “hup hup” we started walking the course a little faster. Too fast for me as it turned out, as my well worn trainers slipped on the vinyl floor in the hall and I went flying. My well padded bum saved me from physical damage, but the fall scared Biggles. He wasn’t at all keen on approaching the box after that, and refused to pick up any tennis balls.

To help Biggles get over his shock and to hone Beanie’s flyball skills, I’ve spent much of my free time this week constructing our own flyball box.

Hup Hup! Bring the ball back Dad!

It’s modelled (sort of) on the Canadian style flyball box, and should let us train Beanie to use the more efficient “swimmer’s turn”. There’s no release mechanism for the ball as yet – other than prodding it with a finger (or a paw, as in the above pic) – but it’s good enough for our purposes, and certainly seems to have cured Biggles of his fear!

I don’t know how long it’ll stay in one piece though!

And finally, it looks like Beagle Racing is going transatlantic. I got an email from a US Beagle Owner who’s seen some of the photos and videos from last season and is in the process of organizing his own races. He’s got a blog at http://beagleracing.blogspot.com – I can’t wait to see some pictures!

The snow’s back, and so is Biggles!

Posted on March 5, 2009 by Paul

Biggles got the final all-clear from the vet yesterday after his neutering, so he got a full length play session at the park. And what a session it was! It had everything a fun-starved little Beagle boy could want: snow, mud and great doggy company!

He got very, very excited, and as everyone knows (especially our neighbors) an excited Biggles is a noisy Biggles. There was much barking and baying..

On the rare occasions when we wasn’t barking, he was clearly thinking about it!

When he got into a grappling session with Maya, a similarly aged pup, it was immediately obvious he’d been using his convalescence to formulate new play strategies. Time and again he’d get a firm grip on her cheek to wind her up, then let her go and nimbly dodge the return attack – sort of the puppy version of knocking on someone’s door and running away:

Of course you can only get away with being a cheeky little pest for so long. Dylan, the other member of the play team, eventually put our boy straight on a couple of things.

And when the chasing started, Maya showed them all who’s got the fastest legs!

Maya leads, Dylan holds second place, and the baying Bigglet brings up the rear