Life with Beanie's Beagle Pack

There was no morning walk for Beanie today, and no breakfast either. She hung close to Susan as soon as she rose, but Susan didn’t go down to the kitchen as usual. A little disconcerted, our pup followed me downstairs and watched expectantly as I made coffee, but still the Burns food bag stayed firmly locked away in its cupboard. Beanie didn’t realize it, but this impromptu nil-by-mouth policy was for a good reason: our little pup was about to have her first swimming lesson.

The venue was Glasgow Pets A & E, the time: 9am. The event had been organized by Beanie’s training club, and they’d given us a handout with directions and the “no breakfast” advice. We didn’t need the directions of course; we’d been there before when Beanie had a bad stomach upset. Beanie didn’t seem to have any bad memories of the place though, and trotted in happily for a little play with Judy the labrador, who’d got there just before us.

The swimming sessions were held in the therapy pool. Each dog was kitted out with a lifejacket, and gently introduced into the water by the wet-suited staff. Beanie was the second to go in – she had the advantage of being able to watch Judy as she took the first plunge.

Judy The Labrador
Judy the intrepid labrador – 1st into the pool

When it came to Beanie’s turn, she was initially apprehensive but soon started to get the hang of it:

…and she was quite happy to pose for the cameras between each lap of the pool:

Beagles never miss a photo opportunity
Beanie posing for the camera

Beanie was followed by two other labs, Lucy and Maddie. Maddie was no stranger to swimming: she didn’t need a lifejacket and happily retrieved toys without splashing any of the spectators.

Maddie

Maddie shows us how it’s done

Next up was the dog everybody wanted to see, albeit from a safe distance: Bailey the Great Dane. Bailey was so tall he hardly needed to swim to traverse the pool, but swim he did, and anybody less than a yard from the pool got soaked!

Bailey’s a big boy, but at least he has a calm nature. Herbie the Labradoodle on the other hand is both big and very energetic. As his turn arrived, I backed further away from the pool in anticipation of an unwanted shower. To my surprise though, Herbie was very calm in the water. He swam very well and happily played with toys in between laps.

Herbie in an unusual calm moment

The pool party was a great success, but I think Beanie’s going to need another, longer session to find her sea legs. The A&E allows private pool sessions for a reasonable fee so I think we’ll pop along again in a week or two for some more swimming!

Since her return to full-on physical activity, Beanie’s frequently impressed us with her speed and agility when playing chases with other dogs. She routinely exhausts labradors and can even outrun her older, male Beagle buddy Tanner. So, when we heard that there was a weekly Beagle racing club not too far away, we just had to go.

The races are held at Inch Farm, Kincardine on Sunday. The race track is a straight, flat piece of fenced land and the lure is a bundle of tape pulled by a cable. The track is shared with a friendly group of whippet enthusiasts. When the whippets race, they’re released from proper racing cages. These are far too narrow for well-fed Beagle bottoms though, so the Beagles are just held at the start line and released by hand. They do still get to wear proper colored racing jackets though:

At the start line

When we got there we figured Beanie would only get to run on her own due to her young age, but after some discussion it was decided that our pup would be allowed to run in a proper race. After all, she runs far more than that when she’s playing in the park! So Beanie’s name went into the draw and before long she was lined up against two adult Beagles, straining at her collar and baying excitedly.

Both Susan and I were playing it cool, but we had high hopes for our little houndlet. On the journey in we’d joked that Beanie would not only outrun the other overweight and under-exercised Beagles, but catch and chew up the lure as well. As I stood waiting at the finish line – with my camera all ready to shoot – I couldn’t stop the theme from Chariots of Fire from playing in my head. Oh yes, the sweet scent of victory was in the air! Suddenly the signal was given, and the race was on:

Keep watching the clip, because Beanie’s not the first dog to cross the line. Or the second. Nope, she’s the little rascal in the red jacket that would only jog down the track if Susan came with her. Apparently, she did start running at the start of the race, but then like a good girl she thought better of leaving her Mum at the start line, and headed back to make sure that everything was OK. Happily, she got another try later on, and with both Susan and I down at the finish line she did actually complete the race, although she was completely outpaced by the older Beagles. My mental jukebox switched from “Chariots of Fire” to “Shattered Dreams”, another 80’s classic.

After the races an informal dog show was held for both Beagles and Whippets. Beanie was awarded a rosette by way of consolation, but it tasted just as good to her as a hard-won “1st in show”. She was a bit upset when I extracted from her mouth though.

And finally, you may be familiar with the cute little Labrador puppy that fronts the commercials for Andrex toilet tissue. Here’s the Beagle version:

Now how you gonna wipe yer arse?

Pool Party

A day at the races