Just when you think the snow is on its way out, it returns full force. Bad news for cars and people who prefer not to fall on their bottoms, great news for dogs.

Beanie just loves her new ball-on-a-rope

Anyone for a game of conkers?

As you can see Beanie got to play with her latest toy – a ball-on-a-rope from Auntie Sheila – and thoroughly enjoyed it. I swapped it for her tennis ball after a few minutes though, because Beanie has a nasty habit of losing her toys in the snow.

Predictably, she didn’t hold onto the tennis ball for long. It was saved, briefly, from a white, powdery grave when Lola (I think!) dug it up and started a chase..

.. but a few minutes later Beanie managed to lose it more thoroughly. Fortunately she didn’t miss it, because little Maya was well up for a play session.

They had a great time together, although Beanie soured it slightly by telling Maya off for some reason. Happily, it was all waggy tails again seconds later.

Soon it was time for Biggles’ off-lead session, and boy was he ready for it. He was so wild with excitement he lost his Air Kong ball within the first couple of minutes, but again it didn’t matter too much because he soon found some new friends to play with!

When you’ve lost your ball, you just have to work with what you can find

The prelude to a chase…

And they’re off!

His playmate had good straight-line speed, so Biggles had to draw on the skills he’d learned from his sister Beanie:

Sprint hard..

turn sharp and..

..break away on your own!

He did well, but then he seemed to forget that you’ve got to keep doing those sharp turns if you’re going to out run a bigger dog!

Still, he’s relatively new to this chase game. I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it soon. After the running was over our little boy seemed keen to show off his howling ability to another of the Eurasiers.

I’m not sure what he was howling about or why, but it didn’t seem to have the desired effect. Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

He had a great time though and afterwards we took the long way back to the car, allowing our two pups to pack in some more sniffs and us to see some pretty unusual sights. Believe it or not, this is the “Pond” – the park’s lake, totally frozen over and covered with snow.

Beanie and Biggles weren’t too impressed by the view though, and we weren’t too impressed with Biggles’ idea of walking to heel.

At least he doesn’t share his sister’s worrying fascination with walking on ice!

As we left the park, I made a mental note to restock my pockets with balls for tomorrow. That’s three of our balls lost in the snow in the last week or so, and who knows how many lost by the scores of other dogs who frequent the park. When the snow finally clears it’s going to be Christmas all over again for some lucky pups!

It’s now two weeks since we started walking Beanie & Biggles separately at the park, so we decided to give them a session together to see if their desire to run off as a pack had been tamed at all. It seemed promising – they had some great chases with other dogs and each other but stayed in the field. They lost their own balls, found or “borrowed” others and generally had a great time.

It’s not really my ball, but it’ll do…

Rather than pushing our luck, we put them both back on lead just as the other dogs were leaving and headed up to the “Pond” cafe for hot drinks. While there, we met another new Beagle – a handsome, happy and friendly young boy called Patrick. It sounds like his owners may bring him to the puppy field for a run around in the near future. If all the Beagles we’ve met in the park turned up at the same time I think there’d be more than 20. Beagle popularity is definitely on the up!

On the way back I suggested going back through the field and giving our two pups one more brief session off-lead. Not one of my smartest ideas, but it’s the kind of thing that pops into my head after a sugar-filled hot chocolate.

Once released the two of them shot away, raced each other round the field at break-neck speed, and promptly disappeared into the trees. Although we couldn’t see them we could keep track of them with our ears, because our noisy little boy was baying his head off as he tried to catch his sister. The desperate “Aaarf! Aaaarf” circled round to our right, then grew faint. We sighed, and Susan started off towards the trees while I held stayed put in case they returned to our last known position. Susan had only got a few feet away when the baying grew louder. A lot louder! I looked towards the sound and saw Beanie bounding over the hill straight towards me, with Biggles bringing up the rear as only a Biggles can. They both sat for treats and we re-leaded them easily. So, they did run off a bit, but it was an improvement over the disappearing act they pulled a couple of weeks ago. The separate walks really do seem to be helping to fix the problem as well as manage it.

Back at the car, we found a lovely present waiting for us from Sheila (Kirby’s Mum) – a ball on a rope. It’s now in my coat pocket, ready to be unleashed during Beanie’s off-lead session tomorrow (assuming the snow doesn’t make the roads impassable). Beanie says a big “Thank You” to Kirby & Sheila!

Finally here’s a shot I took of Biggles yesterday. After meeting up with Ben & Co for another great play session while Beanie was having her agility class, he snook into the putting green for a solo treasure hunt. It proved quite successful! Indiana Biggles came back with a burst tennis ball, a couple of empty crisp packets and – his largest find to date – a punctured and heavily weathered football.

Yep, it’s grit we’re talking about. It’s a necessary evil given all the ice and snow we’ve had recently, but our spoilt little Beanie does not like it at all. Our first major run-in occurred earlier in the week on our way to the puppy field. I noticed Beanie lifting her paw and trying to chew it, so I picked her up for an examination. I couldn’t find anything wrong so I just rubbed her paw and put her back down on the ground. That did the trick and she was back to trotting along happily, but it set a precedent. We went through the same patch of grit again after the walk and got  a repeat performance, this time with a different paw.  Without thinking I again picked her up and rubbed her paw. The pattern was set.

Now whenever she gets grit between her toes she stops dead, lifts the affected paw, puts on her most pathetic look and patiently waits for her roadside service. On this morning’s walk she had to negotiate a big patch of the stuff, and looked like she was doing a weird Beagle version of the game Twister as she tried to keep her paws from touching any of it. Susan picked her up and carried her over it, so maybe the service routine now includes carrying as well as paw rubbing. To be fair, Beanie’s not the only dog that has a dislike for grit, but her reaction to it does nothing for her street cred. At least Biggles isn’t copying her on this one – he’s still happy to trudge over anything.

Fortunately all this is forgotten when we actually get to the field. The highlight of this morning’s walk for Beanie was the discovery of an exciting new toy – a ball on a rope:

This particular toy belongs to her friend Penny, but as often happens Beanie managed to.. er.. “borrow” it for a while.

Penny has it, but not for long…

Penny got her toy back in due course, forcing Beanie to slum it with her own, treat-filled tennis ball.

So what’s better – a big stick or a tennis ball with treats in it?

Speaking of tennis balls, I’ve given up buying them from regular shops. The over-priced dog tooth-friendly ones from pet shops last hardly any time at all, and the cheap tennis balls in supermarkets don’t fare much better. As an experiment I bought a bunch of used higher-quality tennis balls on eBay. These are lasting much, much longer – they hold their shape even after several play sessions, don’t cost much and seem to have a lower profile, less abrasive finish on them. So we’ve got Beanie’s ball requirements sorted, but Biggles still insists on Air Kong squeaky balls – even though he can now de-squeak them in less than two minutes (he seems to roll them round in his mouth until he locates the squeaker, and then his fangs finish the job). Still, he loves them just as much whether they squeak or not. Unfortunately his older pal Chewy seems to like them too…

Someone help! He’s got my ball!

Give it back or you’ll get a serious woofing!

Dad! He’s still got it!

Biggles did get his ball back. In fact Chewy dropped it on command more than once to let Biggles retrieve it. The problem is our excitable little boy isn’t too good at remembering to hold on to it when there are lots of fun distractions around him. Like this little fella for example:

This is Obi (dunno about the spelling, but I’m assuming a Star Wars link). He’s three years old but still runs around like a crazy pup, and he and Biggles had an absolutely brilliant time together.

As is often the case nowadays, Biggles got to lead most of the chases. I think he’s getting a taste for being out in front!