The Sound of Socks

Posted on February 16, 2009 by Paul

There was another Glasgow Dog Training Club pool party at Allers Farm Kennels on Saturday, and our two Beagles were booked in for a slot. As usual Beanie got the lion’s share the swimming time, while Biggles hung around at the side of the pool and amused himself with one of the toys.

This next clip is my favorite of the whole bunch. Look how affectionate Beanie is as she rests her sweet little head on Susan’s arm as she’s swimming. The truth of the situation becomes apparent by the end of the video though!

Yep, it’s all about the piece of sausage in that tennis ball. The power of the sausage also motivated her to do a few dives into the water from the ramp. OK, it’s not exactly a triple backward somersault with pike, but it’s a big deal for a little Beagle who wasn’t keen on water until fairly recently!

By now Biggles had grown tired of the pool toys, and was getting bored. He tried nibbling on the poles and nets in the corner, but I pulled him away. He tried to chew on my camera case sitting on the floor, but again I caught him in time and pulled him away. Boredom turned to frustration. As I readied the camera to film another Olympic diving performance from Beanie, Biggles saw that my attention was diverted and made a grab for one of our towels. He got it, and as he pulled it away he saw that it was covering an even greater treasure – Susan’s shoes, and inside them, socks! Our sock-crazed little boy thought it was Christmas all over again and lunged straight for them. They might have been a lowly cotton/polyester mix, but to him they couldn’t have been sweeter if they’d been made out of month-old sausages that had been left out in the sun. But then fate dealt him a cruel blow – his lead was just fractionally too short to reach them. It was truly a tragedy of Big Les proportions. Unfortunately you can’t actually see any of this happening on the next clip, but you can certainly hear our Biggly Boy’s desperate cries.

Finally, here are a few shots I took of the park session on Sunday with Beanie:

Kirby and Beanie agree to disagree on the course the chase should take

So Beanie and Skye (The Yeti) join forces for a bit of bum biting

A “Condor” moment with a tasty stick

A great chase with Bonnie (a pal from the previous day’s swimming)

Perhaps Beanie could do with a breath-freshening mint?

You tell her Bonnie!

Beagle Racing : new season starting 29th March

Posted on February 16, 2009 by Paul

Beagle Racing is starting up again on Sunday 29th March, at the earlier time of 2.15. If you’ve got a Beagle and you’re within reasonable travelling distance of Kincardine Bridge then it’s not to be missed! The great thing about it is that every dog has a chance of winning something sooner or later – whether they’re a speed demon or not – because some races are handicapped. You can see photos and video clips of last season’s racing by browsing our Beagle Racing category here (there are quite a few pages, so keep hitting the Previous Entries link at the bottom of the page to work back through them).

The races are held on a short, straight & fenced track at Inch Farm, which is pretty close to Longannet Power Station ( FK10 4AA). Here are rough directions if you’re coming from the Glasgow/Edinburgh side of the Firth of Forth:

After you cross Kincardine bridge keep following the road around to the right (following the coast). After a short distance you’ll come to a roundabout. Take the third exit (towards Longannet Power Station). A short distance down the road (perhaps 100m) you’ll see a farm road on the right. There will be cars parked in the field and Whippets & Beagles. Turn down the farm road and then an immediate left onto a muddy, bumpy track. Go straight past the little bit of parking on the left and drive into the field to park.

You can also take a look through the club’s forums here. Don’t be alarmed by all the Whippet stuff, you’ve got the right place! The track is used primarily by the Caledonian Thistle Pedigree Whippet Racing Club, but they let the Beaglers have a go too.

There’s balls in them there hills!

Posted on February 10, 2009 by Paul

Just when you think the snow is on its way out, it returns full force. Bad news for cars and people who prefer not to fall on their bottoms, great news for dogs.

Beanie just loves her new ball-on-a-rope

Anyone for a game of conkers?

As you can see Beanie got to play with her latest toy – a ball-on-a-rope from Auntie Sheila – and thoroughly enjoyed it. I swapped it for her tennis ball after a few minutes though, because Beanie has a nasty habit of losing her toys in the snow.

Predictably, she didn’t hold onto the tennis ball for long. It was saved, briefly, from a white, powdery grave when Lola (I think!) dug it up and started a chase..

.. but a few minutes later Beanie managed to lose it more thoroughly. Fortunately she didn’t miss it, because little Maya was well up for a play session.

They had a great time together, although Beanie soured it slightly by telling Maya off for some reason. Happily, it was all waggy tails again seconds later.

Soon it was time for Biggles’ off-lead session, and boy was he ready for it. He was so wild with excitement he lost his Air Kong ball within the first couple of minutes, but again it didn’t matter too much because he soon found some new friends to play with!

When you’ve lost your ball, you just have to work with what you can find

The prelude to a chase…

And they’re off!

His playmate had good straight-line speed, so Biggles had to draw on the skills he’d learned from his sister Beanie:

Sprint hard..

turn sharp and..

..break away on your own!

He did well, but then he seemed to forget that you’ve got to keep doing those sharp turns if you’re going to out run a bigger dog!

Still, he’s relatively new to this chase game. I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it soon. After the running was over our little boy seemed keen to show off his howling ability to another of the Eurasiers.

I’m not sure what he was howling about or why, but it didn’t seem to have the desired effect. Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

He had a great time though and afterwards we took the long way back to the car, allowing our two pups to pack in some more sniffs and us to see some pretty unusual sights. Believe it or not, this is the “Pond” – the park’s lake, totally frozen over and covered with snow.

Beanie and Biggles weren’t too impressed by the view though, and we weren’t too impressed with Biggles’ idea of walking to heel.

At least he doesn’t share his sister’s worrying fascination with walking on ice!

As we left the park, I made a mental note to restock my pockets with balls for tomorrow. That’s three of our balls lost in the snow in the last week or so, and who knows how many lost by the scores of other dogs who frequent the park. When the snow finally clears it’s going to be Christmas all over again for some lucky pups!