Baying Beagles, Bikes and Mud

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Susan

We went up to the Wind Farm again today and this time we took one of the bikes with us. It dwarfed our little car but it coped very well with the extra load.

As we approached the moors a very thick fog descended. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, let alone the windmills! It was really quite eerie – first you’d hear the funny swishing noise then a giant blade would come swooping out of the sky, apparently from nowhere.

We started out with Beanie and Biggles on very long training lines so they could have a good sniff about – we didn’t want them tiring themselves out too much. Paul and Biggles took one route and Beanie and I another – we met up in the middle an hour later and headed back to the car for the bike. Then the fun and ‘aaarfing’ really began. Paul attached Beanie and Biggles to the canni-cross belt and I jumped on the bike. We all headed off at speed with Paul practically flying along behind his warp-drive beagles! I thought I’d need to ride slowly to let them keep up, but no way were Beanie and Biggles letting me lead the pack. Thay “aaaaroooh’d”, “aaarfff’d”, grunted and bayed the whole way and put on an extra spurt of speed and noise every time I tried to take the lead. Poor Paul just huffed and puffed and did his best to stay on his feet.

We finally headed home about 3 hours later with half a ton of mud weighing us down. The pampered little beaglets had a hot bath then crashed out in a nice cozy bed.

Beanie Is 2 Today

Posted on October 12, 2009 by Susan

It’s hard to belive it, but Beanie is two today!

Celebrations started with a lovely sardine birthday cake topped with liver pate icing. The downside was she had to share it with her pesky brother and her flyball buddies:

Next it’s prezzie time! In our house we need to buy two identical versions of everything to avoid squabbles. Birthdays are no exception:

Birthdays are SO tiring!

Two years old and STILL sharing a bed with my pesky little brother!

Now that’s what I call a bargain!

Posted on October 11, 2009 by Susan

Fellow dog owners will know just how expensive it is to keep spoilt little pooches happy. Things to eat, things to chew, things to play with (not to mention the vets bills, repair bills and replacement costs when the pups feel the need to amuse themselves!).

Well, I got a great bargain yesterday. A Tesco’s Finest, Free Range, Ready Cooked Chicken for just £1 out of the “Reduced” section.

First we chopped up all the chicken meat to make training treats to die for. And we were rewarded with some exceptionally good behaviour during this morning’s walk:

And some of the usual Beagle naughtiness:

Our two like something to chew on in the evening (or perhaps more accurately WE like them to have something to keep them quiet in the evening). We don’t like them to have too much rawhide and the little strips we give them each day don’t last long. Bones aren’t really an option as they’re likely to lead to squabbles. Most toys just aren’t tough enough for our power chewers. Nyalabones are the safest and most hardwearing, but they tend not to have much appeal…..UNLESS we flavour them.

So, during the afternoon I boiled up the chicken carcass. After a couple of hours of simmering it was clearly cooked to perfection as Beanie and Biggles began to howl and whine to get in the kitchen. I gathered up all their nylabones, gave them a good wash and popped them in the pan with the chicken stock. Beanie and Biggles camped out in the hall by the kitchen door. By the time evening came I fished out a couple of nylabones, cooled them and presented them to our hounds. We had peace for the whole evening. They were so tasty that Biggles chewed clean through his:

Finally, I fished the bones out of the stock and poured the lovely thick, lumpy stock into ice cube trays and froze it. We now have hundreds of tasty little chicken flavoured ice cubes for our puppies to snack on.

Not bad for £1, eh?