Author: Paul

Beagle on the beach

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Yesterday afternoon we met up with Kathleen MacDonald in the park. She didn’t have any of her Beagles with her, but she had the next best thing: Dillon. Beanie and Dillon had a thoroughly good romp around the park for a couple of hours while we chatted.

Afternoons are normally Beanie’s nap time (actually any time that doesn’t involve eating or running around like a maniac is nap time) and I have to say there were moments when Dillon seemed to have exhausted her batteries.

But still, they had a great time together!

While the dogs were playing the conversation naturally wandered onto good places for dog walks. The beaches at Irvine and Troon were mentioned, and this morning we decided to give Irvine a try.

We had taken Beanie to Irvine once before. Unfortunately that visit had been at the weekend, and it was way too busy to risk letting Beanie off lead. This morning however the beach was almost deserted – even though the weather was superb – so we unclipped her lead almost immediately.

She quickly found a friend to play with, and although Beanie’s no slouch when it comes to running, she had trouble keeping up with this long legged athlete.

We must have walked for miles along the beach, just enjoying the sun, sea, and silly puppy antics.

On the way back we ran into a fun loving pointer called Tor…

… and a gentle labrador-staffie cross whose name unfortunately we didn’t get.

We may not have got the dog’s name, but Beanie certainly got a bite of his or her bottom!

Hmmm lip-licking tasty!

If the beach is always so quiet on a weekday morning – and the lab-cross owner indicated that it usually is – you can bet we’ll be going back there pretty soon!

Ballistic Swimming

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Beanie has had her first “real” swim at the park! It’s not the best of photos (heavy tree cover) but here’s the moment she took the plunge:

It’s a landmark moment for our pup, and proof that those swimming lessons have done some good. Admittedly the fact that it was a really hot morning probably helped too – she waded right into the cool water and swam without any prompting from us. We’ve booked another lesson for her next week to keep up the momentum, and I’m very hopeful that she’ll become a regular swimmer in the pond and streams at the park.

So it looks like we’re well on the way to conquering our Beagle’s inherent dislike for water. The other Beagle-ism I’ve been trying to break is her total disinterest in playing fetch. For a long time she would run after the ball/stick/frisbee/whatever only in response to competition from other dogs. I have perservered though, trying short fetch games in the garden whenever she seemed receptive.

Dog walkers in one of our local parks seem to have an addiction to those ballistic ball throwing thingies. Being naturally stubborn (I’m from Yorkshire) , I’ve been determined to resist this flexible plastic virus, but I have noted that lately Beanie has shown much more interest in balls whenever they’re in use. Well, last night we succumbed:

Damn you Tesco, damn you and your cheap pet products!

It only cost £1 from our local Tesco. It came with a poor quality orange tennis ball, and as I picked it off the shelf I said to Susan “that’ll last five minutes”. I was wrong, because in fact it lasted just 3 minutes.

Our little Olympian chewer Beanie was the first to puncture it’s delicate orange epidermis.

Hmm, I’m sure that ball was spherical a moment ago

It was all downhill from there, of course.

Penny and Sophie finish it off with a tug of war

Still, it does enable you to throw much faster and further, and I think it could help us to break the Beagle Fetch Taboo. It’ll get another outing this afternoon, albeit with a more robust ball!

Beagle Racing – More New Recruits!

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Last week Beanie’s park pal Sophie joined her at the race track. This week she had the company of more friends from the park, in the form of Dillon – a cuddly Tibetan terrier she loves playing with, and Nollaig (Irish for Christmas) – a beautiful Beagle who’s only recently had pups. Nollaig’s owners Kathleen and Neil also brought along two of the pups to spectate, and three more of their nine (yes, NINE!) Beagles to participate in the racing.

The Beagle newbies all finished their races and had a great time doing it. That’s a good start, and should make for some interesting races later in the season when they really find their feet. The final was dominated by the regulars however, and this time it was Milo that took 1st place.


Milo wins the race and Murphy’s face says it all!

Beanie’s playmate Dillon got to run in his own race against Titch and a Jack Russell terrier.


Titch in the lead, Dillon in second place just before it all went wrong!

They were all doing well and clearly having a ball, but unfortunately the lure lost its appeal before they reached the finish line. Race protocol was cast aside as Dillon decided he’d rather have a playful runabout at the halfway point, while Titch embarked on her own new race back to the Start line.

The day concluded with an all-in final race. I have to say this is always my favorite. No vests, no recorded results, just a big bunch of dogs tearing down the track and having fun.

With so many dogs running, both Susan and I were down at the finish line to help out with the post-race catching. We fully expected that Beanie would forget all about the lure and go play with Dillon, but to our complete amazement she actually won! Apparently she got a little bit of an early start, but barefaced cheating has always been allowed in the Beagle rule book :)


Murphy’s last second Superman impersonation is not enough to beat Beanie!


Beanie deploys her ears as an air-break while Nollaig secures an impressive 3rd place

Guided by his Beagle chums, Dillon finally makes it past the finish line!

There appears to be some controversy over the second photo of the final, erm “Fun” race. Here it is, in its full uncropped glory – click the link to see it.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2003/2701447941_37a9c6d14c_b.jpg

Did Beanie win? Did Murphy win? And if the Apollo moon landings really happened, how come there are two light sources in the photos :)