Beagles are definitely becoming a more popular breed choice – we seem to bump into new ones at the park every couple of weeks. On Friday we met Oscar, an eight month old boy. I was impressed by him immediately – he’s got an athletic build and a gentle face with lively eyes. In fact if you made a male version of Beanie I reckon he’d look pretty much like Oscar. It turns out Beanie was impressed by him too, although I didn’t realize just how much until they met off-lead at the puppy field yesterday.

Just before he arrived, Beanie had been looking like she was about to wander off on a long sniff so I’d broken out her “special” tennis ball (I cut a slit in it so that it can be loaded with treats). It doesn’t always hold her attention, but when it works, it works well. Biggles doesn’t really get it yet; he seems to forget that there are treats inside and loses interest after a few seconds, but that doesn’t really matter because if his sister doesn’t get the wanderlust then generally he doesn’t either. Anyway, Beanie had a loaded tennis ball in her mouth when Oscar caught her attention, and they set off on a chase together almost immediately.

Normal Beanie chase etiquette dictates that it’s the holder of the MacGuffin (stick, ball, squeaky chicken, poo bag etc) that is the chasee, but Beanie was apparently willing to ignore the rule book for Oscar. They ran all over the field together, with the ball forgotten, though still lodged in Beanie’s jaws.

After a little while Oscar took Beanie over to see his Mum. Beanie gave her tennis ball a good squeeze, perhaps in the hope of sharing its treats with her new beau…

Soon the chase was back on, but this time proper etiquette was observed and the ball holder took the lead.

They went round and round Beanie’s favorite bush. Biggles tried to get in on the action..

..but the two lovebirds just changed direction and left him out in the cold.

He had an adventure of his own though when a playful little pup called Murphy caught his eye. Given that Biggles has honed his playfighting skills against Beanie,I was surprised to see Murphy getting the upper paw for the first few rounds.

But then Biggles turned it around. He used his superior weight..

..along with one of Beanie’s favorite dirty tricks, and one of his own, to even the score.

Beanie fighting technique #1: the surprise nibble from underneath

#2: the bum bite. This is 100% pure Biggles

Beanie and Oscar came over – initially to spectate – but Murphy was so much fun that Beanie was drawn into the action. While she was rolling around on the ground with Murphy, Biggles got the opening he’d been waiting for. Beanie’s tennis ball was lying unguarded in the grass. He grabbed it and ran to a secluded spot. I thought the penny had dropped and he’d soon be squeezing the ball to release its tasty treats….

Not a chance! He stood there with ball in his mouth for a few seconds, then something else caught his eye and he dropped it. Our little boy is strong, handsome and very affectionate, but I don’t think he’s going to win the Beagle version of Mastermind any time soon.

We had a quiet New Year’s Eve at home with the dogs, hoping that they wouldn’t get stressed by the fireworks. Or at least it was meant to be quiet. One of our neighbours popped round just to let us know that they were having a party and to appologize in advance in case it got rowdy. As it turned out, we never heard a sound from the party, but we heard plenty from our two pups. Quite late at night Beanie decided to have a long distance shouting match with another, unseen dog. Little Biggles didn’t really know what it was all about, but he didn’t want to be left out and so provided the backing vocals. When we finally got them back inside they decided it was time for a noisy play fighting session, with Beanie doing her impersonation of a  disgruntled pirate (“Harrrrrr!”) and Biggles sounding like an old cassette tape played at tripple speed.

In the morning, we were woken by the unmistakable sound of Beanie vomiting. I’ve grown to really dread that sound since her swallowing episode, and it looked very much like she been at it again, because she regurgitated a grimy lump of aluminum foil. Not a good start to the New Year, though we subsequently found out that it had belonged to a boy who’d been playing with her in the park yesterday, and had wrapped a chunk of ham. Still not great news, but better than the idea that she’d been swallowing anything and everything on the ground.

Anyway, we put the vomiting session behind us and headed out to the park. I expected hardly anybody to be there, but I was proved very wrong. There was a big turnout, with lots of Beanie’s friends from the past year. Here are some of the better shots:

After some great chasing, Amber is hunted down by Penny and our two Beagles

Apparently she found the whole thing quite invigorating!

Time for more fun – come on Biggles, keep up!

Biggles tries unsuccessfully to gate-crash a play session between rising agility star Murphy and her pal..

..and has no better luck with Amber and Rannoch

No problem! He just starts his own game..

And Tara happily joins in. Success at last!

Beanie does the rounds..

..making sure she doesn’t miss out on any treats

Then while she plays with one half of the Jack Russell team..

Biggles sinks his teeth into the other half..

And joins in a final Beagle/JRT charge!

We first picked up Beanie from Newlin Beagles on 27th Dec 2007. I fell in love with her as soon as I held her in my arms, and she showed how she felt about me by barfing all over my lap and the car seat. Since then, our crazy little girl has packed a lot into her first year with us. So far, she has:

• Out-wrestled a huge St. Bernard pup called Mowgli (though we ran into him again recently, and given his current size I wouldn’t fancy Beanie’s chances in a rematch)
• Been whisked to the vet on several occasions, apparently close to death, only to end up wagging her tail for Scotland as soon as she saw the nurses.
• Conquered her fear of fluffy pink pigs from Tesco
• Rolled in just about every pile of fox poo in a ten mile radius from our house
• Gained promotion to the Intermediate level at her obedience class, then tried her very best to get herself expelled
• Become a racing beagle and won an enviable collection of rosettes
• Learned to swim
• Climbed up Ben Lomond, and eaten the finest sheep poo the Lake District has to offer
• Romped around Irvine beach and harassed picknickers
• Run in Glasgow’s East End 5K for fun with me, and then again in the Big Fun Run with Susan for charity
• Got a mention on US cable TV
• Taken up agility
• Swallowed half of Glasgow, and had it surgically removed
• Worn away half the grass in her favorite parks while playing chases with her best buddies Kirby, Zak &Amber, Sophie, Robbie, Tess, Tara & Clara, Barney and Buster and of course her favorite sister, Bella.
• Gained an incredibly cute, affectionate little brother called Biggles who saves us the trouble of cleaning up her poo by eating it. In fact some mornings he’s so eager for a poo snack that he paces impatiently round Beanie while she’s squatting in the garden. Give him a breath freshening mint though, and he’d easily be the best little Beagle boy in the world. He’s already won an obedience competition against older pups at his training class!

To mark our first year of Beagledom we took them both to Muirshiel Park for a stimulating walk. They were beautifully well behaved at first.

Then there was a mad scramble when a tasty cache of sheep poo was discovered.

They both loved the change of surroundings, but I think Biggles enjoyed it best of all – it was all new territory for him.

When we got them home, they both fell into a peaceful sleep. Well that’s not quite true. They had a little squabble over a chew first, then went for a pee in the garden, then complained about their beds not being quite right, then fell into a peaceful sleep. The very next day it was back out to the park for some more frozen fun.

Dad this puddle is faulty! I can’t drink out of it or roll in it!

They met up with a great pair of JRTs and had some chases, until one of the terriers got a little too excited and was re-leaded.

You just can’t beat a bit of argy-bargy with a pair of Jack Russell Terriers

And as we were about to leave, a new chase started up with a stomach-churning carton of milk.

What do you mean this milk is off? It smells great!

And Biggles isn’t getting any of it!

Biggles did his best to keep up, but eventually he had to admit defeat and retire from the chase. In a few more months though, things may be very different!