On Sunday we headed to Muirhouse farm (near Hall of Caldwell) for its charity open day. The attractions included a have-a-go agility course, some show jumping and the intriguingly named “horse and hound” competition.

The agility was held in a poorly lit, sand floored barn so I couldn’t get any pictures, but our two Beaglets loved it. They had about five goes each; the first four were on lead but the last round was running free. That last go obviously was the most exciting, I say “obviously” because about half way round Beanie couldn’t contain herself any more and broke away to do a quick victory lap of the barn before returning to Susan to complete the course.  Apart from that little excursion she did great, and Biggles didn’t let the side down either. There was no victory lap from him, but then he didn’t need one; earlier he’d dug down deep into the floor of the barn and uncovered a substantial lump of horse poo. It’s always nice to find horse poo lying around, but when you uncover it via a bit of adhoc opencast mining, it’s even better.

Outside, the initially dull and wet conditions gave way to sun and blue sky just as the show jumping started. Since the riders were mostly youngsters none of the jumps were at any great height, but still it was lovely to see such fine looking horses doing their thing.

Just when we thought the action had finished and we were about to head off, it started up again. This time however, after completing one round on horseback, the riders hurriedly dismounted and went off on a further round on foot accompanied by a dog. Finally we’d found out what the “horse and hound” competition was all about!

Round one – on horseback

Round two – shanks’ pony plus dog

It’s worth noting that these two things – riders on galloping horses and running dogs – are two things almost guaranteed to start a Beagle bayathon, but today our two hounds stayed remarkably quiet. Maybe this long exposure to horses, running dogs and humies has finally desensitized them a bit, though only time will tell. It certainly tired them out though; when we got home they had their tea, clambered onto our sofas and went comatose for several hours.

Two contented sleepy Beagles, two sand-covered sofas, one quiet afternoon!

We had some fairly heavy rainfall yesterday and the little trickly burn at the bottom of our garden turned into a raging river!

Here’s a photo of our burn taken last month – you can just about make out a little trickling burn by the yellow flowers:

And a video taken yesterday:

I’m glad we decided to put a nice solid fence between our Beaglets and the burn!

I had planned to plant lots of wildflowers along the bank of the burn. I wonder if they’ll survive flooding like this? It doesn’t happen often and the water drains away very quickly when the rain stops. I’ve also got a ton of bulbs to plan at the bottom of the garden inside the fence but I’m wondering how they’ll cope with occasional flooding. Back to the drawing board!

The Biggly Boy is two today!

We had a little celebration, actually kind of an agility party, a couple of days ago when the weather was behaving itself. While we were putting up the balloons and agility equipment, Biggles made himself comfy on a couple of canvas chairs we’d left outside to dry after their thorough soaking at lure coursing on Sunday.

The chairs are kind of wobbly and I didn’t think he’d be keen on them, certainly Beanie wasn’t, but he loved the way the seat bottom molded to his shape. They do have one major design flaw though:

Comfy seat – but I can’t reach my beer!

We had two guests for the party, fellow Beagle Bundy and Ru. They each had a go at the agility course and did very well, albeit with a couple of false starts.

What do ya mean I’m supposed to jump it?

OK, got it!

Just like Beanie & Biggles, Bundy had absolutely no fear of the seesaw

Ru was a natural at the jumps!

Obviously no birthday party would be complete without a cake – a sardine cake in this case!

Of course any time you get three Beagles round a table with a tasty, smelly cake on it you can’t really expect to see good table manners.

It’s impolite to howl when the service is a little slow

One shouldn’t chew with one’s mouth open

I’m sure there are also rules about not resting one’s chin on the table..

..not swallowing one’s food without chewing it at least once

..and not proceeding to consume one’s plate immediately after finishing one’s cake

The noise those three Beagles made was deafening. If I ever get to see a full pack of working Beagles going on a hunt I’m going to need earplugs. And through all this, Ru sat quietly by his owner’s side and didn’t misbehave once.  Non-beagle owners have no idea how easy they’ve got it!

Despite the noise and dodgy table manners, I couldn’t help feeling proud of how Biggles has turned out. He’s come on in leaps, bounds and boings since we got a little help with his possessiveness. Admittedly the life expectancy of teatowels, toilet rolls and dishcloths is still rather short in our house, but Biggles is now far more willing to give things up and follow our directions even when there’s no immediate reward in sight. As far as I’m concerned he’s the best Beagle boy there is!