Pack Puzzler

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Paul

Ever since we got Beanie I’ve always wanted to see an actual pack of working Beagles in action. As it turns out there is such a pack in the North of England that welcomes visitors/spectators, so with any luck my wish could come true sometime this winter.

Obviously Beanie & Biggles wouldn’t be allowed to come watch the hunt with me; together they can easily make as much noise as The Who in their heyday (back when Pete Townsend wasn’t half deaf) and this would no doubt demoralize the quieter and better behaved working Beagles. Still, when they returned from this morning’s walk our pups took a moment to ponder the logistics of running a full pack, and it caused a fair amount of head-scratching.

For starters, consider that a working pack can contain upwards of thirty Beagles. Thirty! Now consider that after a rainy morning walk, all of those Beagles have to be toweled off , wrapped up in their favorite blanky and set down on their own sofa in the living room. That could take quite some time if done properly. I bet some of those poor Beagles would have to wait to be taken care of, and Beanie & Biggles don’t “do” waiting!

Then there’s the issue of space; just how large would the living room have to be to accommodate thirty or more sofas? And let’s say that later in the day when things brighten up, a little sunny spot shows up in the corner of the room. There’s no way all those pack Beagles can share the sunny spot, so what do they do? Ration the indoor sunbathing time? Use some kind of a rota?

And in the kitchen, is the table big enough to allow all the Beagles to camp out on it as they watch for accidental spills and drops when humie food is being prepared?

Do they have one really, really huge bed for all the Beagles, or is there a two-to-a-bed policy, requiring the house to have fifteen or more bedrooms, each furnished with a double bed and a full sock draw (the latter for entertainment purposes of course)?

And what about tummy tickles? Does each pack Beagle have his/her own dedicated tummy tickler, or do they have to share, and if so, presumably there are standards to ensure that no Beagle has to wait more than a minute for the tickle to start?

Susan spent some time Googling on the computer in an attempt to answer these questions, and Beanie & Biggles didn’t like what she found one little bit!

Whaddya mean they all live in a crummy barn with no sofas, no access to a proper bed and no tummy tickles at all??!!! Sod that I’m off back to bed!!

Beagle Cross

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Susan

It was a lovely sunny day today with a nice crisp frost on the ground. The ideal day for a bit of Beagle-cross! What is Beagle-cross I hear you ask?

Enjoying a cross country romp…with a difference

We all know that the ideal sport for a Beagle is drag hunting – a pack of Beagles running across the countryside following an aniseed trail with humans following the hunt on foot. In the old days the pack would have been hot on the tail of a bunny, but that’s illegal now so an aniseed trail laid by a human is the next best thing.

There are two obvious drawbacks for the typical Beagle owner:

Finding a farmer that’s happy to let a pack of Beagles go careering across his land is not easy (Although it has to be said that the farmer next door to us has offered. In fact the fox hunt used to meet at the end of our road!).
How likely are you to get your Beagle back? Are you willing to take the risk that he’ll favour deer or sheep over aniseed?

The next best thing we could think of was to have our Beagles follow the trail whilst on lead. Sounds dull? Well actully it’s superb fun because you run with them! Here’s how it works:

The trail layer runs off dragging an aniseed rag behind them. Their objective is to loose the Beagles.
A little later the Beagles are set off to follow the trail. They’re attached to a runner via a harness, bungee line and belt. The Beagles will go full pelt and stick to the trail like glue. Through streams, mud, woodland, over walls and fences….the level of chaos depends entirely upon the imagination of the trail layer. For the humans it’s the ultimate cross country running experience! The game ends when the Beagles catch the trail layer.

We aim to make it last for about 2 kilometers. Of course a Beagle can run much further, but when attached to a human they’re pulling a heavy load. They won’t let you know they’re tired as they’re driven to hunt so for safety reasons we think it’s best to keep it short and sweet. In addition, you’ll run much faster over a shorter distance and that’s more satisfying for your Beagles!

The more Beagles in the ‘pack’ the better, but in our experience it’s best to let them hunt as a pack. That means everyone runs at pretty much the same speed. It’s not fair on a little Beagle to be left behind the pack just because he’s attached to a slow hummie. Staying with the pack is very important to a Beagle!

Warming up with a 1k cross country run

Other tips are a good warmup first – we even do a little 1k cross country run before hand to really get their blood pumping. And a nice long cooldown walk afterwards. If you try Beagle Cross with your Beagle please send us a video of the fun!!

The Cobbler

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Susan

The morning started out very misty, but the forecasts assured us that it would burn off during the day leaving blue skies and sunshine. At the unearthly hour of 8am two very disgruntled little Beagles were hauled out of (our) bed and bundled into the car. We were soon on our way to Arrochar to climb Ben Aurthur – more commonly known as the Cobbler.

At the start of the walk we were shrouded in mist and couldn’t really see much at all. However, it didn’t really matter as the first Kilometer of the walk winds up through the forest. As we emerged onto the open hillside the mist seemed to evaporate in an instant leaving some lovely views.

Looking back across the forest to the hills on the other side of the Loch.

Looking ahead to the three summits of the Cobbler

A good, not-too-steep path leads most of the way up the Cobbler.

Of course, Beanie and Biggles manage to complicate even the easiest of routes by one parking her bum exactly where you were about to put your foot whilst the other unexpectedly lunges in the opposite direction:

There is however a very steep climb up to the distinctive, rocky summits.

Beanie and Biggles stop to admire the views just below the little ridge between the Northern and Central summit.

If I look a bit tense in this next picture it’s because I’d just accidentally wandered a little closer to a sheer drop than any sane person would want to be whilst attached to two crazy Beagles!!

The Cobbler has three summits, but only the North and central summits are accessible without climbing skills. We headed up the North summit first. There are some scary sheer cliffs once up there, but the route up isn’t exposed – although it is a bit scrambly and tricky with two inquisitive little Beagles in tow!

We start to make our way up the North summit – you can see the central summit behind us and the infamous ‘eye of the needle’

The North summit – it was a busy little hill today!

The views from the North Summit were amazing!

Beanie and Biggles made lots of new friends:

Nothing like sharing a meal to cement a friendship

Up until this point Beanie and Biggles had been surprisingly good. In fact a lot of people commented on how well behaved they were. But as we started to scramble down the North summit they figured this was the ideal time to go off on a noisy Beagle frenzy. There was much baying, squabbling, lunging and general commotion. We reluctantly concluded that with all things considered the safest way was to shuffle down on our bums! It’s one thing to have to use the “bum” method at all, but it’s quite another to have to do it when your dogs are ensuring that all the other walkers see you. Very embarrassing. But then embarrassment is a way of life with our two mutts

By now the central summit was shrouded in thick mist. There didn’t seem much point in going up if we couldn’t see anything. We hung around for a few minutes to see if it would clear then headed back down saving the delights of the central summit for another day.

The route up the back of Cobbler. You can just make out the ‘eye of the needle’ on the central summit. Our destination for Monday, weather permitting