When we first got Beanie, she walked well on a loose lead without any training. The only problem we had was that when she heard a new noise or came across a new smell, she would stop for a moment and we’d have to encourage her forward. Lately however her confidence and sniffing ability have increased, with the result that she now pulls on the lead for the biggest part of the walk and always on the return home.

We’ve been trying all the standard techniques to rectify this: stopping dead and waiting until the lead goes slack, suddenly reversing direction, and giving treats to hold her attention and to reward every couple of good steps. Unfortunately none of these methods have been particularly successful so far.

• The first one – stopping dead – makes even the shortest walk take forever, and Beanie’s quite happy to sit each time we stop, before launching into a forward thrust the second we start to move again.
• The quick 180 method doesn’t seem to work with our beagle either. As soon as we turn, she happily starts pulling in the new direction. It’s her developing nose that makes her want to pull, and I guess she’s perfectly happy to perform multiple sniffings of the same spot.
• The treat dispenser approach is very difficult to do – you’ve got to deliver the treats at the right time and keep ’em coming, and all the while your lower back is screaming at you to stand up straight.

Eventually Susan stumbled on an easier solution: a long handled wooden spoon coated with Kong Stuff or cream cheese.

This works great as you can see – we can walk upright and Beanie stays almost glued to the spoon. Every step is a good one! It’s virtually a self-dispensing treat. If you coat both sides of the spoon you can just swivel it around as the first side is licked clean, doubling the distance you can go before a “reload”. Over time, Beanie will hopefully get so used to walking smartly that it’ll be second nature. Of course there is still a drawback – you get some funny looks from passers by, and the urge to explain yourself is almost overpowering. If you care about street cred, this approach is probably not for you.

Finally, some sad news. One of Beanie’s sisters, Ruby, has been hit and killed by a car. Apparently she was wearing a harness with a plastic fastening. The fastening broke open and the poor little pup ran out into the road. I can only imagine how her owners must feel. The news has certainly made us even more determined to work hard on Beanie’s recall and obedience, and we certainly won’t be going near any collars or harnesses that rely on plastic.

Weary Parent: “There are starving kids in Africa who’d love to get that for their dinner”
Kid with fussy appetite: “Give it them then, ‘cos I’m not eating that muck!”

Beanie’s recent stomach bug – or more accurately our reaction to it – turned her into a very fussy eater. During her illness, we became so desperate to see her fill her belly that we kept trying different foods until we found something she’d eat. This was usually hand cooked chicken and rice. The illness cleared up quickly, but her taste for quality food remained, and she showed absolutely no interest in dog food. We spent a small fortune buying different brands of wet and dry food, but she reacted to each of them as though we were offering her a bowl full of smelly poop. Actually that’s not true – I suspect she could well have been tempted to nibble at poop, but she definitely wasn’t going to lower herself by eating expensive dog food. When we mixed chicken with the dry food, she carefully picked out the chicken and left the rest; when we poured gravy over it, she licked off the gravy and spat out any rogue kibbles that made it into her mouth.

Virtually all the online advice for dealing with this kind of thing goes something like this:

• Put the food down for a limited time (say 10 mins), then take it up regardless of whether it’s been eaten or not
• Offer only the dog food as treats
• When the dog gets hungry enough, it’ll eat

That’s all very well with an adult dog, but it didn’t sound like a good idea to try it with a young puppy that needs fuel for its rapid growth. We were giving serious consideration to going for an entirely home-cooked diet (there are plenty of guides online) when a visit to the vet brought us back to our senses. The vet assured us that no harm would come to Beanie even if she abstained from food for four days, and in all likelihood she’d cave in and eat whatever we put down within three days. We’d just have to harden our hearts to the emotional blackmail that beagles do so well!

It was a pretty tense time, but the vet was right. Beanie abandoned her hunger strike some 40 hrs after her last home cooked chicken and rice meal. During the fast, we changed her dog food twice more. Originally she’d been on Pedigree Chum dry puppy food which is cheap and readily available, but does seem to contain a lot of filler. To assuage our guilt at starving our pup we bought a bag of IAMS. Selling for nearly twice the price of Pedigree, we assumed that this would be a much better quality food, but a short Google session revealed that even this contained a disturbing amount of filler and additives. Finally we came across the Burns brand. This is basically a well balanced home-cooked diet in kibble form. It seems to be well regarded in all the reviews we found, and although it isn’t sold in supermarkets, we discovered a local pet shop that stocks it.

Of course, doggie mealtimes still aren’t quite what they could be. Being a superstitious type, I’m now doomed forever to repeat the procedure that first got our pup to eat, for fear that the hunger strike will suddenly resume:

• Attempt to stir up some excitement about the meal by raising the pitch of my voice and behaving in a manner that would cause acute embarrassment if anyone, even my partner Susan, happened to see it.
• Put a handful of kibble in one of our breakfast bowls (not the dog food bowl, which Beanie knows never contains anything edible)
• Pour in a little water, then heat in a microwave for a few seconds. After draining off the water, you’re left with a handful of slightly warm kibble that’s moist on the outside, crunchy on the inside and smells a little more than it does in its dry form.
• Whip up even more excitement as the bowl is presented, and stand ready to overcome pauses in consumption by hand feeding.
• Praise lavishly as each mouthful is consumed
• When the bowl is finally empty, repeat the whole process again

What’s more, Beanie’s 40 hours of extreme hunger inspired her to new levels of naughtiness. She now dives into the dishwasher the second it opens to lick the dirty plates, clambers onto the kitchen table even when all the chairs are pushed in tight (it’s just not possible I tell ya!), and uses her toys to disguise chewing attacks on the furniture (“Just playing with my toy, move along, nothing to see here… Oops I think my teeth just slipped onto the chair leg…”) In short, I think she’s really starting to get in touch with her inner beagle.

A few weeks back I sent off the Kennel Club form to register Beanie as our dog, and as well as paying the fee I opted to get a formal 5-generation pedigree certificate. It arrived this morning, and although it wasn’t cheap I reckon it was worth getting:

As you can see, Beanie’s formal KC name is Newlin Zamantha. This name was chosen by the breeders, Liz Calikes and David Bradley at Newlin Beagles. They work through the alphabet, giving each new litter of pups names beginning with a particular letter. With Beanie and her siblings all having names beginning with “Z” that must be a lot of pups over the years!

The red entries on the pedigree denote champions, and as you can see Beanie’s got quite a few of them in her bloodline. Her mum was lovely Newlin Kelsey who we’ve met:

and her dad was Redcap Renaissance, shown at here at Crufts:

Quite apart from the snob value of having such a pedigree pup, I’ve come to realize how valuable it is to get your dog from a really experienced breeder. In our case, Liz and David of Newlin have been a great source of advice to us since getting Beanie. When we told them Beanie was unwell, they called and emailed us to check on her progress. They really care about their dogs and puppies!