A day at the races

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Paul

Since her return to full-on physical activity, Beanie’s frequently impressed us with her speed and agility when playing chases with other dogs. She routinely exhausts labradors and can even outrun her older, male Beagle buddy Tanner. So, when we heard that there was a weekly Beagle racing club not too far away, we just had to go.

The races are held at Inch Farm, Kincardine on Sunday. The race track is a straight, flat piece of fenced land and the lure is a bundle of tape pulled by a cable. The track is shared with a friendly group of whippet enthusiasts. When the whippets race, they’re released from proper racing cages. These are far too narrow for well-fed Beagle bottoms though, so the Beagles are just held at the start line and released by hand. They do still get to wear proper colored racing jackets though:

At the start line

When we got there we figured Beanie would only get to run on her own due to her young age, but after some discussion it was decided that our pup would be allowed to run in a proper race. After all, she runs far more than that when she’s playing in the park! So Beanie’s name went into the draw and before long she was lined up against two adult Beagles, straining at her collar and baying excitedly.

Both Susan and I were playing it cool, but we had high hopes for our little houndlet. On the journey in we’d joked that Beanie would not only outrun the other overweight and under-exercised Beagles, but catch and chew up the lure as well. As I stood waiting at the finish line – with my camera all ready to shoot – I couldn’t stop the theme from Chariots of Fire from playing in my head. Oh yes, the sweet scent of victory was in the air! Suddenly the signal was given, and the race was on:

Keep watching the clip, because Beanie’s not the first dog to cross the line. Or the second. Nope, she’s the little rascal in the red jacket that would only jog down the track if Susan came with her. Apparently, she did start running at the start of the race, but then like a good girl she thought better of leaving her Mum at the start line, and headed back to make sure that everything was OK. Happily, she got another try later on, and with both Susan and I down at the finish line she did actually complete the race, although she was completely outpaced by the older Beagles. My mental jukebox switched from “Chariots of Fire” to “Shattered Dreams”, another 80’s classic.

After the races an informal dog show was held for both Beagles and Whippets. Beanie was awarded a rosette by way of consolation, but it tasted just as good to her as a hard-won “1st in show”. She was a bit upset when I extracted from her mouth though.

And finally, you may be familiar with the cute little Labrador puppy that fronts the commercials for Andrex toilet tissue. Here’s the Beagle version:

Now how you gonna wipe yer arse?

Back with a vengeance!

Posted on April 28, 2008 by Paul

After ten days’ convalescense to recover from her spaying op, Beanie was finally allowed to return to the park and have a proper off-lead run. I think we were looking forward to it even more than Beanie. We’ve missed the walks, but even more than that we’ve missed the blissfully quiet afternoons that follow an energetic play session with other pups.

It hasn’t been at all easy to keep Beanie from popping her stitches. A few days after the op she felt fine, didn’t seem to need her pain meds, and would have been bounding round the garden like always if we hadn’t been there to stop her. But somehow we managed it, and as I write Beanie’s sleeping peacefully after a good old fashioned romp with her park buddies.

The other dogs were keen on splashing about in a stream – something that normally doesn’t appeal to Beanie. She’s much more keen on covering herself in mud and disgusting pongs than washing it all off in an impromptu bath. Still, she’d gone so long without a play session that she jumped in and joined in the fun.

She doesn’t know it yet, but she’ll be getting swimming lessons in a couple of weeks – our training club is holding a “pool party” at the Pets A & E in Glasgow. I guess they have a pool for therapy purposes – the ideal place for dogs to learn to swim in safety. Given that the club has a couple of crazy labradoodles in its ranks, I think I’ll be wearing waterproofs for that one!

All dressed up and nowhere to go

Posted on April 20, 2008 by Paul

Last Friday we took Beanie to the vet to be spayed or “dressed” as it’s often called. I’d been counting down the days to the op, convinced that she’d go into season just before it, forcing us to cancel, reschedule and endure all the hassles that come with a having a bitch on heat. Every attempted humping put me on red alert, but when the day of the op finally arrived I was nervous rather than relieved.

The operation is of course very common, and generally doesn’t require an overnight stay, but still it’s a pretty major undertaking. If you’d like to know the gory details you can click here, but I wouldn’t advise it if you’re squeamish or about to take your own dog to be spayed. I deliberately avoided any doggy Googling in the lead up to the op – trust me, ignorance is the best approach if you’re besotted with your pup!

The plan was that we’d drop Beanie off at the vets first thing in the morning, and collect her in the afternoon. Being pretty anal types we arrived early – before the practice had opened its doors – so we got to sit in the car park drumming our fingers for a few minutes. Once inside, we went through the pre-op checklist:

No food after nine PM the previous night? (Er, does nibbling at a bit of poo I failed to scoop from the garden count as feeding? No? OK, “Check”)
Been to the loo immediately prior to coming here? (Yep. Oh, you mean Beanie? Yep, her too. “Check”)

Then I signed the consent form, and we handed little Beanie over to the friendly lady vet. I was a little concerned that my nerves might have rubbed off on our pup, but no, she merrily trotted off with the vet without a single backward glance. Ungrateful, disloyal little git! We’re standing there fighting the fear that we’ll never see our treasure again and she couldn’t care less!

I filled the remainder of the morning with a visit to the gym. It was more about keeping my mind clear of worry than improving fitness, but it worked because by the time I’d got back, cleaned up and had lunch it was time to collect Beanie.

Back at the vets, we were told that Beanie had behaved herself very well – she hadn’t squirmed once – and that the op had gone very smoothly. The convalescence period would be ten days, during which only the gentlest exercise would be permitted. Also to prevent Beanie from interfering with her stitches, she’d have to wear the classic “lampshade” collar when unsupervised.

The first day there was no problem holding to the exercise restrictions. Beanie was feeling rather delicate after her operation, and was happy to be carried and pampered. The next day, she became a little bolder, especially after a little dose of her pain medication. Today though, she’s trouble! As far as she’s concerned, she’s fully recovered and has already launched herself onto the kitchen table. We’re trying to redirect her energy into chewing and to that end I spent a ridiculous amount at the pet shop on assorted hide chews, pigs ears and bones. So far, the only thing that’s holding her attention for a decent length of time is the “Piggy Rope“. I’d had high hopes for pigs ears – they’re certainly expensive enough – but Beanie can down one in less than five minutes. Plus, there’s something disconcerting about seeing an otherwise cute little pup devouring a real pig’s ear…

And you probably won’t be surprised to hear that the “lampshade” isn’t too popular with our houndlet either. We quickly learned that her collar needs to be extra tight to stop her pulling the whole thing off her head and chewing it to bits. Maybe the vet should have given us two collars – one to wear and one to chew.