It’s now just over a week since our visit to the doggy physio and Beanie is noticeably more stable on her feet and growing in confidence when jumping. She received a pretty thorough back massage and stretch during the session and we’re continuing this at times when Beanie is receptive; basically this means nabbing her after a play session but before she gets settled under a blankie in a way that says: “Do Not Disturb Unless Food Is Involved”. Perhaps more importantly we were also given exercises to help counter any little imbalances / weaknesses that Beanie has developed.

The first of these involves regular slow walks along a course with obstacles that make her lift her feet cleanly. To achieve this I created an adjustable agility “ladder ” using PVC pipes and rope; as long as we get her to walk slowly to heel she does this quite well. The same cannot be said for The Bigglet; I’ve given him a few goes on the ladder so he doesn’t feel left out, but he usually makes a spectacular mess of it then proudly requests a biccie as a reward.

Just now the pipes are on the ground, but in a day or two I’ll raise them up a bit, making it more like the “cavaletti” arrangement used for training horses.

We’re also including short figure-of-eight weaving sessions around our legs. Both Beanie and Biggles are great at this; the challenge is to get them to do it slowly so that all limbs are working fully and no parts of the gait movement are being skipped.

The final prescription is for frequent wading in water. I do this near the end of our regular beach runs, taking the pups into the sea until the water is around Beagle belly height, and walking them slowly through it for a hundred yards or so. I have to say that this is not a popular exercise, especially given the freezing cold weather we’re having right now; Beanie gives me a really hard Clint Eastwood look throughout the session, and Biggles keeps trying to sneak back into shallower water. I keep telling them they should be grateful because they get a biccie once they’re back on dry land. What do I get? Cold wet feet and a big serving of diddly-squat, that’s what.

Although it wasn’t on her list of recommendations I reckon our recent walk up Haylie Brae at Largs would also have met with the physio’s approval; part of the walk involves going up a steep stepped section that really gets the those rear legs driving and lifting, and the walk is easily extended by further grassy inclines.

Sometime cattle can be seen wandering around on Haylie Brae, and that can be a concern for dog walkers. On this occasion there were no cows to be seen, but on our way back down a group of sheep had gathered at the bottom of the steps. It goes without saying that those same sheep were long gone by the time we’d made it down to the bottom.

January is the month when the Beaglemobile has to go for its annual service and MOT, and this is the time when it gets its most through clean – both inside and out. For some reason I never put in the same amount of cleaning effort when it’s just for us, but when I’m sending it in to be checked by anonymous mechanics I suddenly feel motivated  do things properly.

As part of this process, I inevitably end up bringing a bag of assorted junk in from the van: tools, gloves, USB and audio leads, and of course the ever-growing collection of tennis balls that Biggles has rescued from the beach. Out of laziness I just dump this behind the first door I come to, creating the perfect conditions for a Beagle rummaging session. And there certainly has been plenty of rummaging! Over the last couple of days I’ve collected two shredded tennis balls from the corridor by our bedroom, and spent several minutes extracting the rubbery guts of a ball from between Biggles’s teeth. At first I thought he’d grabbed somebody’s discarded chewing gum, but no, he’d been flossing with tennis ball innards.

Rummaging is just so exhausting, but a Beagle boy must do his duty

This time around it’s not just garage bills to be paid, but vet and canine physio bills too, because Beanie has developed a mysterious condition that may or may not be wholly physical. Over the last couple of months she’s become increasingly hesitant about jumping onto things, has occasionally been a bit prone to slipping on our laminate flooring and in the garden, and her rear legs have been shaking more than Elvis Presley’s. This all started around the firework season and just after Biggles fouled her lead twice as she was jumping into the car boot, causing her to fall. We weren’t sure if she’d injured herself in these falls, or become fearful, or if these were symptoms of some kind of neurological issue. We took her to the vet who promptly ruled out a neurological cause but found that she was putting significantly more weight through one of her rear legs. The vet told us to cut down on jumping opportunities and include a bit more rough and hilly terrain in our walks, and I’ve been doing exactly that ever since.

As things stand now Beanie has improved considerably; when she’s running on the beach or playing in the house there’s no sign of anything amiss, but at other times we still see the occasional hint of instability or dented confidence.

Scrambles on country walks are no problem for Beanie

And she still takes the lead on hillwalks and runs

If it wasn’t for the occasional uncharacteristic stumble when jumping onto the sofa or chasing around the garden you’d think there was nothing wrong.

Knowing Beanie, it’s perfectly possible she’s got both reduced confidence and a minor but persistent niggle (I’ve certainly had plenty of  soft tissue niggles myself!) so just to be safe we’re shelling out for a visit to a canine physio. If there’s a rehab or massage exercise we could be doing to help her along, hopefully the physio will be able to point us in the right direction. Fingers and paws crossed for a good outcome!