If you stick a potato into the ground and leave it long enough, you’ll get more potatoes from it. I know this for a fact, because I’ve seen it happen in our garden. Beagles however are substantially different from potatoes, so Poppy doing this:

should not normally result in this:

That however is exactly what’s happened. Poppy did a face plant in a tub, there was a new litter of pups, and now she’s got a little brother coming. We will – hopefully for some considerable time – soon be a four Beagle family!

Getting yet another Beagle may be the craziest thing we’ve ever done. Poppy has only recently discovered that pees and poos can be deposited in places outside of the kitchen. She’s still getting used to humping her squeaky duck, still learning how to woof from our resident masters of noise pollution, and still nibbling anything that’s nibblable along with some things that aren’t.

Perhaps the fact that Poppy has propagated a brother from her face planting indicates that she’s not a real Beagle, but actually an alien impersonating a Beagle. Come to think of it I do keep joking that’s she’s a Nibblosian from the planet Nibble. Maybe I’m right.

Nevertheless in just a few weeks we’ll have another little bundle of chaos. Are Beanie & Biggles prepared to deal with another new arrival? Are we?

Actually I think it could go surprisingly smoothly. Beanie & Biggles are already used to the changes in routine that coincided with Poppy; the new pup shouldn’t introduce any further changes for them. Poppy will gain a little playmate and they’ll be able to burn off some of their excess energy together. We’ll be run off our feet coping with the demands of an extra pup, but at least the little guy should be faster to house-train given that he’ll have a similarly aged peer to learn from.

Whether it goes smoothly or not, I’d much rather have my head filled with the kind of crazy that comes from having four Beagles than with the kind of crazy that’s sweeping the globe right now.

Poppy has acquired a number of special new powers over the last couple of weeks. She’s managed to jump onto the sofa, she’s humped a well-stuffed squeaky duck, and she’s demonstrated an uncanny ability to mimic Robert Plant. The last one happened one morning when we were engrossed in DIY, laying a new laminate floor in the lounge. An old Led Zeppelin track was playing on the radio at just the same time as Poppy decided she’d been in her crate a little too long, and as Mr Plant started to wail at the top of his voice, so did Poppy. It was remarkably difficult to tell them apart, I couldn’t help wondering if the next copyright lawsuit to be brought against Led Zeppelin could be filed by a Beagle.

In between exploring her new found powers, Poppy’s been learning commands (she’s now got sit, down, wait, leave and giving a paw) and enjoying her walks with Beanie & Biggles. Both members of the A-Team have grown used to having Poppy with them on walks now, and the three of them are really looking like a pack. Poppy often ends up trotting along between them, and sometimes I think she has an extra swagger to her, like the child of a mafia boss flanked with two gun toting heavies.

Prior to getting Poppy we assumed that most friction would occur with Beanie, as two females in a pack often seems to be the trickier combo. As things have turned out, a bond seems to be growing between Beanie & Poppy, and it’s Biggles who’s having the hardest time accepting the youngster. He’s fine with her on walks and in the garden, but we still have to be very careful if she’s loose in the house. That said, Poppy has joined The Bigglet on a couple of important woofing missions recently (sorting out the neighbors’ dogs through the fence, rebuking delivery guys) and he seemed to enjoy having the backup, so I think there’s scope for improvement in the near future.

We’re still amazed by how affectionate Poppy is; Beanie & Biggles were never such cuddle monsters!

Welcome to the nibble zone. Poppy loves to settle down on a humie lap, but if said humie wants to avoid puncture wounds, said humie had better have a toy or a hoof to keep those needle-sharp teeth occupied. At least humies get much gentler treatment than squeaky chickens. If any squeaky chickens are reading this, spread the word that Poppy is to be avoided at all costs.

A week after her second round of vaccinations Poppy was given the green light for walks in the big wide world. I’d already got her a cheap puppy harness for lead training in the garden, but you know what they say: buy cheap, buy twice; as soon as we went on a “real” walk we realized that it was rubbing under her arms. We retired it from active duty and ended up with this instead:

It has a little bow tie and looks very cute on the Popster, but honestly that’s not why we got it; it was the only one in Pets-at-Home that (1) was a good fit and (2) had a double D-ring fastener across the obligatory plastic clip.

I’ve never been able trust plastic clips on their own; one of Beanie’s siblings died as little pup when the clip on her harness broke by a road. With the bow tie harness the clip becomes redundant as soon as the lead has hooked through both D rings. I’ve gone the same way with collars too: Ezydog double-up collars all round for our Beaglets!

Poppy gets some solo walks to work on her training, but of course she also gets to stride out with Beanie & Biggles. I feel that each group walk has a strong bonding effect, helping the two Bs to accept the little upstart we’ve injected into their lives, and allowing Poppy to feel like she’s a member of the pack. We’re still working hard to prevent Poppy from pestering the seniors – especially in the house – but they are gradually coming closer together; there have been times when Poppy has napped on a senior’s bottom.

As an aside, I must stop referring to Beanie & Biggles as “the seniors” or the “older pups”. At Susan’s suggestion, they’re now to be called “The A-Team”, with Poppy being the current sole member of “The B Team”, even though her name doesn’t begin with the letter “B”. In fact “The P team” or perhaps “The Pee Team” would be more appropriate for Poppy, since her toilet training – though much improved – still leaves a lot to be desired; on rainy days especially she much prefers the unofficial indoor toilet (kitchen floor) to the outside loo. We’ll get through this eventually, but until then I’ll need to buy more socks to compensate for the large number of pee-soaked ones that are still in the wash.

Yeah Dad, I know you told me to “go be a clean girl” but it’s not necessary because I already did one in the kitchen. You just haven’t stood in it yet.

Sticking with the subject of “accidents”, we had a beauty in the en suite bathroom just recently. I’ve been in the habit of taking Poppy in there with me to keep her out of mischief when I’m brushing my teeth and getting dressed on a morning. The floor is tiled so I figured that any little puddles would be easy to clean up. The room also has a free standing bath that is positioned very close to a wall; close enough to make cleaning difficult, but with just enough gap for a little Beagle girl to squeeze into. It’s about the worst place in the house for someone to leave a deposit, so of course that’s exactly what Poppy did. Now she stays in her crate until I’m properly up and dressed.

Yep I pooped behind the bath, but at least your socks didn’t get wet this time!

Both Beanie & Biggles had phobias about things when they were little pups. Beanie feared rustling bin bags, while Biggles more sensibly had a fear of smoke and fast running water. Until very recently Poppy had a fear of puddles, which is ironic given that she makes so many of them. Fast-flowing rivers and energetic waves were just fine but a still, clear and not very deep puddle was a total no-go for The Popster. I got her to face down the puddle demon on a trip to the beach, and since then, she’s just a little wary of them rather than outright fearful.

If you’re name is Poppy, puddles can be scary. Unless they’re yellow and smelly that is.

Another trigger for Poppy is having a barrier that prevents her from getting to her humies. She’s happy to spend time away from us in her crate, but if I’m on the other side of a gate or fence to Poppy there will be wailing and beginner-level arroooing, and if the barrier has enough space for a little girl to squeeze through then it’s guaranteed she will.

This little breakout occurred while I was using our woodchipper. Fortunately a wire panel and growth have now closed this escape route permanently.

She’s also very much a little Beagle now, rather a than generic pup in a Beagle outfit. She knows the sound of kibble hitting a metal bowl, and shoots in from the garden whenever she hears it. We’ve reduced her initial four small meals a day to three larger servings, but she’s still desperate to get into the kitchen to check her bowl bang on four o’clock – the time when that fourth meal used to be served. Like the A-Team members, she’s learned that all the dog food and treats are stored in the utility room and she’s developed some of Beanie’s ninja skills for getting in there. When she succeeds, she’s a lot harder to catch than the two B’s because those little feet of hers move impossibly fast. She’s also acquired Beanie & Biggles’ strawberry picking habits, and often goes mountaineering on the pots to get better access to the last of the alpine strawberry plants.

All the signs are that Poppy’s going to be a very cuddly, mischievous little character. All we need now is for Beanie & Biggles to get more used to her, and for the in-house pee habit to diminish. Either that, or we’ll have to boost our supply of clean, dry socks somehow.