Biggles hits the half-decade!

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Paul

Biggles has just had his fifth birthday! For five long years now he’s been aarrfing, warbling, farting, nicking gobfuls of my lunch, producing and eating poo, peeing on my DVD collection and on his bed, boinging, cheating at lure coursing, getting emergency trips to the vet for consuming half a kilo of grapes and getting his tail pulled by his sister and his tummy tickled by us. How on earth do you reward a little Beagle boy for all that tireless hard work? Well, you can start with a scrambled egg breakfast!

Unlike normal breakfasts, this one came before the morning walk not after, and this radical departure from normal routine threw the Beagle community into chaos. Beanie was the most confused, due to her rigid and wildly mistaken beliefs about how mealtimes work. In her head, bowls of kibble only become accessible to her and her brother if she sits very neatly in exactly the right place in the corridor leading to our bedroom. There’s an invisible kibble release plate there, you see, and the only reason she and Biggles haven’t starved to death already is because she knows to sit on it. But where on earth do you sit to release a scrambled egg breakfast served before the morning walk?

In desperation she took the shotgun approach, parking her bum in various places in the hall in the hope that she’d land on it by chance. Biggles was thrown for a loop as well; the scrambled egg came in his “Woof” bowl. Did that mean he should woof for his breakfast, or that the woof was already provided by the bowl and he should stay quiet? He woofed, then he stayed quiet. He boinged, then he sat still (apart from his tail which couldn’t stop wagging). It was all very, very confusing.

Should I woof? Should I sit? What do I have to do to get this?

Fortunately, and just in the nick of time, Beanie’s bum must have found the scrambled egg release plate because the “Take it” command was given!

Yes! A new world record for speed eating is about to be set!

After an appropriate pause for digestion and supplementary napping, the morning walk provided a welcome return to routine. Then the world got turned on its head again by some special bone-shaped biscuits from The Beagles Bakery. Beanie & Biggles have had personalized biccies from there before, but this time they were much, much bigger and covered in dog-friendly chocolate!

I’d intended to get some shots of our two sitting neatly as the biccies were served up, but all I got was this:

The truth is that as soon as they got a whiff of those biscuits, Beanie & Biggles went beserk. It was a much stronger reaction than we got for the scrambled egg, stronger even than we’ve ever had for fresh cooked chicken. We managed to get control for maybe half a second then Biggles lunged at the box and by sheer luck grabbed the biscuit with his name on it. There was nothing to do but let Beanie have hers as well. I suppose it’s only fair that the rules get relaxed a little when it’s your birthday (or unbirthday, as in Beanie’s case).

Next came the presents. Even though they weren’t edible they were received very enthusiastically – so enthusiastically that Biggles fumbled and knocked his onto the floor!

Noooo! My pressie! Must chase after it!

Both Beanie and Biggles tore open their packages but then completely ignored the actual presents, preferring instead to run off with the packaging and tear it up some more (Beanie) and mop up any remaining biscuit crumbs (Biggles).

Once those important duties had been completed the presents finally received some attention. We’ve often described our two Beagles as cheeky monkeys, so I’d bought them a pair of cheeky monkeys of their own. Beanie’s monkey is a tug toy with a single squeaker in its head, whereas Biggles’ is more of a cuddly toy with eight – yes, EIGHT!!!- squeakers inside. Biggles loves squeaky toys but for some reason the squeakers always stop working within a couple of minutes. I figured that with eight of them on-board, his monkey might just last a bit longer.

Biggles gently picked up his toy and took it onto the sofa for an in-depth examination.

It squeaks when I bite it here Dad!

And here!

Here too!

Beanie put her toy to use as well. First there was tugging, then squeaking, then ripping. In a minute or so, there was a gaping hole in her monkey’s head and I was retrieving the broken squeaker from her mouth.

Bereft of life it rests in pieces. It is an ex-squeaker. It has ceased to be.

Even though it would never squeak again Beanie was still very happy with her toy and joyfully paraded it around the garden.

Biggles chose to stay on the sofa with his monkey. All eight squeakers were still functional, and the monkey’s head made a very comfortable chin rest.

Later in the day when Beanie’s monkey was in a drawer with a sickening head wound and a severe case of PTSD, Biggles’ monkey was still intact and able to squeak. My little boy likes destroying boxes, toilet rolls and crisp packets as much as any doggy, but now he’s a little older he seems to be surprisingly gentle with his toys. Happy 5th Mr Biggles!

Coolwave

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Paul

The heatwave is well behind us now and we’re in the grip of a “coolwave”; it feels like we’re well into Autumn and yet it’s only part of the way through August! This may not be a popular view but I actually prefer this weather to the unrelenting, energy-sapping heat we’ve had this summer, and Beanie & Biggles seem to feel the same way. They’ve been much perkier (and peskier) on walks, and when I took them for a run on the beach this morning the chilling wind ensured we pretty much had the whole thing to ourselves.

Trips to the enclosure have seen a vigorous return of the “hunt the Beanie” game, where Biggles tries, and usually fails, to chase down his sneaky sister.

Of course the jungle-like foliage doesn’t help

Yep, she’s doubled-back and lost him again!

Now it’s cooler the Beanster’s been putting more energy into keeping the local squirrel population in check.

Got him!

A harsh interrogation ensues…

…And Mr Squirrel agrees to show Beanie where he’s begun hoarding his supply of nuts. Go get ’em beanie!

Mr Fox got a good “doing” as well. He needed some stitching therapy after this encounter!

The cool weather has also prompted us to get our agility gear out for the first time this year. With such a long break since our last session we figured Beanie & Biggles might have forgotten how it all works, but we needn’t have worried. Even as Susan dragged the collapsed tunnel down to the flatter part of our garden, an eager little Beagle somehow made her way inside it. Jumps were likewise no problem for our team of flying Beagles!

Biggles’ Great Bed Expedition of 2013

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Paul

Say the word “expedition” and you probably think of legendary explorers such as Magellan, Marco Polo, Edmund Hilary, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong. Now you have to add Biggles to that illustrious list, because he’s just come back from an adventure of Beagle proportions in our local Pets At Home store. He didn’t bring back potatoes, or tobacco, or set foot on a new world, but he did return with a pair of exceptionally comfy beds for himself and his sister.

Although he really likes his crate in our bedroom, he hasn’t been at all happy with the bed inside it. Originally he had a big super-comfy paw-shaped bed just like Beanie, but recently we had to throw that out after it got a bit wet. Well, a lot wet actually. I don’t want to start a rumor that Biggles – who’s going to be 5 years old later this month – still wets his bed but.. well it’s like this. If you send him out into the garden to “do his business” you’d better hope he doesn’t get distracted by anything before said business is completed, because there can be.. repercussions. After one too many goes in the washing machine his old bed was finished, so I bought him a new one from Amazon. I got the best reviewed and most economical replacement I could find, but you know what they say: buy cheap, buy twice. It doesn’t fit his crate too well and the stuffing has already lost a lot of its spring, and his lordship was stiff and uncomfortable when he got up this morning. Time to get something better!

We decided to take him on a solo outing to Pets At Home to try out a few of their beds. It was far from his first time in the store, but it was his first time in there without his pesky sister. The bedding section was towards the rear, and I have to say it took a while to get there. For some reason, we experienced quite a few delays in the cat aisle..

Cats have loads of cool stuff that dogs don’t.

I mean look at this! You can get your head right in it!

And here’s another one in a different color!

Progress was slow in the food section too. Ever helpful, Biggles wanted to make sure that none of the big bags of kibble had split and spilled their contents at the back of the shelves. I mean, if the staff had missed such a spillage they could soon have a mouse problem on their hands, and no-one wants that, right?

No, nothing here…

Or here. Bugger.

Aha! Now you’re talking. No need to worry the staff about this, I’ll take care of it.

I don’t know what’s in there, but I’d like to be right in there with it..

At long last we did make it to the bedding section. A lot of the beds were like the one I’d bought; filled with low quality stuffing that wouldn’t provide any decent support. I found one by Wainwright that was better, and although not cheap it did come with a detachable bone-shaped pillow. Biggles seemed to think that it was OK, but nothing to write home about.

Then Susan spotted a good deal on Pets At Home’s own brand memory foam mattress. It seemed much more substantial than any of the other bedding. The price included a cover of our choice, and we could also get a waterproof liner to keep the mattress safe from any, er, wetness. The only downside was that it was apparently filled with “crumbs”, and Biggles had already demonstrated how he deals with crumbs in the food aisle.

Despite that slight concern we decided to give it a go. It was easily the best bedding in the store, and quite reasonably priced. Of course we couldn’t get a brand new uber-comfy bed for Biggles and not get one for Beanie too, so we loaded up with two of everything and headed straight for the tills before we could be tempted by anything else.

Back at home, we made up the beds and plonked them on the sofas for testing. Biggles immediately took to his and within barely two minutes of getting on it, he was on his way to the Land of Nod.

From awake..

To snoozing.. in barely 120 seconds! Can’t be bad!

Beanie took a little longer to nod off, but soon she too succumbed.

For the rest of the afternoon it was as if both of them had been drugged. No bouts of restlessness, no noisy bed telling-off incidents. Obviously only time will tell if these new beds are all they’re cracked up to be (and don’t get nibbled for the crumbs they contain) but I have to say they’re off to a good start.