The day it didn’t rain (much)

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Paul

Looking at the news it seems like pretty much the lower third of Britain is under water right now. Here in Ayrshire we haven’t had any flooding, but we have had a long run of horrible, wet and stormy weather. Oddly enough when the weather’s really grotty I much prefer running with the pups on the beach to walking with them; I suppose getting drenched by rain is not an issue when you’ve already accepted that you’re going to be soaking in your own sweat. Nevertheless, we’ve had some runs recently that pushed my resilience to the limit; on Thursday I had to pitch forward at 45 degrees just to get purchase against the wind, and Beanie & Biggles kept looking round to see what was tugging on their lines! Today however there was a break in the weather. I can’t say that it didn’t rain, but at least it didn’t rain much, and we used this brief respite to inspect the beach at a more leisurely pace.

Well, it started out leisurely.. but then Beanie caught sight of a group of birds further up the beach, and suddenly everything shifted into top gear.

Biggles glances back over his shoulder as if to say “see you later Dad, we’re off!”

Needless to say the raid on the birds did not result in any captures, and in due course the dynamic duo turned and sprinted back to us for the one kind poultry they could catch: cooked chicken.

We’re back! Get the chicken out!

Once they’d refueled sufficiently they were off again!

We had several more hunt / RTC (Return To Chicken) cycles during the walk; each time the hunting portion grew longer and bolder, and each time the retrieval of the chicken grew more difficult for her Beanieship. The problem she encountered, in a word, was Biggles. He likes chicken as much as the next Beagle, but he likes to tease his sister even more. Whenever she turned to sprint back for a refueling, Biggles playfully tried to block & barge her.

Given that Biggles has already had his bum bitten by his sister on several occasions, you might think that getting between her and a lump of chicken would be.. unwise. Happily for him, Beanie saw the lighter side and rose to his challenge. Using her superior agility she was able to confuse, misdirect & wrong-foot him, always arriving first at the food station otherwise known as Susan.

It was a shame to finally put them back on lead and head home, but I guess you’ve always got to leave some adventures for another day.

Chills & Whizz-Bangs

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Paul

It’s been a long time since our last hill walk. We’ve both been heavily into our training for some time and that’s made us pounce on just about every excuse to avoid missing a gym day: it was too hot for the dogs; the school holidays were on so our favorite locations would be mobbed; the cost of fuel was getting crazy. And then of course summer was over and we were back to frequent and unpredictable downpours, high winds and so on. Eventually we both felt the need for a break from training, and unusually the weather was perfect if chilly, so we set off for Conic Hill.

Conic Hill is a pretty easy walk (in fact I’ve even run up it, after a fashion) but it provides lovely panoramic views of Loch Lomond and its surrounding peaks. It is however quite a popular hangout for sheep so things tend to get noisy, but hey, nothing’s perfect.

Susan’s wrapped up like a Mummy but still feels the cold!

The “Paw of Uncertainty” is raised as Biggles scours the landscape for signs of sheep

There was indeed a bit of aarrffing both on the way up and on the way down, but Biggles – who is the chief noisemaker when sheep are around – was surprisingly quiet and patient whenever we stopped for a few shots with the camera.

Er, like I said, Biggles was *mostly* quiet and patient while I was taking photographs! Aaaarrfff!!

We got back down to Balmaha a little before true sunset, but after the sun had already disappeared behind some hills. I was keen to hang around a bit to see if the sky was going to color-up a bit more, so there was more waiting. Fortunately for me, the little wooden deck we chose to wait on had been built with Beagles in mind; it was in a nice stimulating, sniffy location and the fence around it not only allowed plenty of clearance for heads and ears, but also made a convenient prop for front paws.

The very next evening was Bonfire Night. When we lived in Glasgow, you could count on fireworks going off for weeks before and after the 5Th November, but here in Ayrshire the whizz-bangs tend to be confined to just the one night, which is much easier on the dogs. That’s not to say it still can’t be stressful for those of us with big floppy ears, of course. This time around both Beanie & Biggles got the jitters and became very clingy; they started following me around everywhere I went, and I mean everywhere. I couldn’t even go to the loo without my furry entourage. At the height of the booms Beanie actually got onto my lap and allowed me to kiss and cuddle her in a really soppy, street-cred destroying way. I wondered if this softer, less mercenary side of Beanie might hang around for a day or too, but no. The next morning I tried to get cuddly with her and she immediately wriggled free and tried to hump my leg. I in turn rejected her advances, so she stuck her head in my left pocket, snaffled a poo bag and sprinted off with it down the corridor!

Beanie’s Sixth!

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Paul

Beagles have very good internal clocks – they always seem to know when it’s time for a walk, for breakfast, for tea and so on – but I don’t think their internal calendars are up to much. Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure Beanie knew that something special was happening this weekend due to a series of strange deliveries and even stranger activities. Whether she knew all this was about creating a posh present for her sixth birthday is doubtful, but it certainly piqued her interest..

A box full of this stuff arrives (it’s not even edible BTW)

Susan slaves over a hot sewing machine..

And with four legged critters forbidden entry to the kitchen, all Beanie can do is peer through the door at the proceedings.

Ever since we got her, Beanie has preferred sleeping under a cover. Most afternoons she can be found on the sofa, tightly wrapped in one of her blankets. Sometimes she can wrap herself up – it’s a pretty cool thing to see. She carefully pokes her nose under one edge of the blanket, deftly tosses it over her then winds round and round until it’s nice and tight. Other times, actually most of the time if truth be told, she has to request human assistance: a paw on your arm accompanied by an intense stare right into your eyes or a pitiful whimper. As an aside, a number of recent TV shows about dogs have featured the use of a blanket to assess intelligence; you cover the dog with a blanket, and the speed with which the dog extricates itself indicates its IQ. I wonder what the scientists would make of a dog that not only enjoys having the blanket over her, but even requests a recovering if her bottom is sticking out of one end?

Anyway, we figured Beanie would appreciate a “day bed” that comes with it’s own cover. This of course is exactly what “Cozy Cave” beds are supposed to be, but looking at the beds available in the UK, we couldn’t see anything that would be just right for Beanie. They were all either too small, or the wrong shape, or not practical from a washing point of view. So Susan decided to make one specifically to meet the Beanster’s exacting requirements, as a present for her sixth birthday. The end result is kind of like a big fur-lined sleeping bag/bed, with a removable memory foam mattress.

On first viewing, Beanie found it very comfy to lie on but didn’t realize she could actually get inside it.

Then the penny dropped! The beauty of this design is that you can retreat completely inside if you’re having a Greta Garbo moment..

Or keep watch from the entry if you think there might be some food in the offing..

Or be half-in, half-out if you’re feeling more sociable!

Of course that wasn’t the only good thing about Beanie’s birthday. There was also the obligatory run on the beach, even though my legs were still killing me from a heavy squatting and kettlebell session the previous day:

Incidentally, it’s hard to see from all the camera jiggling but that final onlead running section in the video is actually a stealth attack on some birds further up the beach. Beanie’s idea of “stealth” differs significantly from the military concept of stealth, in that it involves baying loudly and splashing as you approach your prey. In the six years she’s been using this technique to stalk birds, the number of successful captures remains at zero. Still, maybe next time will be different.

After the run we had a joint present opening for Beanie and Biggles, who of course was having his unbirthday at the time. This was a bit of cheat because we just filled some old treat dispensing toys with posh nosh like dried venison pieces and wrapped them up in spare Amazon boxes, but the pups were delighted nonetheless.

The present opening commences..

Biggles gets off to a flying start, ripping his box open in a few seconds…

But then disaster strikes and he ends up going for a blind, bumpy tour of the room with the box stuck on his head.

In fact all we really needed were the Amazon boxes. Both Beanie & Biggles were so utterly engrossed in their destruction that it took them ages to notice the food in their toys, but eventually their noses put them back on track. Beanie set about her toy with great enthusiasm, but unfortunately the treats inside were too large to fall out on their own, so her usual tactic of rolling and throwing the container around didn’t get her very far. Biggles on the other hand immediately power-chewed the whole toy to break everything into nice small pieces. He’d virtually emptied his toy by the time Beanie liberated her first treat!

Eventually I caved in and joined Beanie in her efforts to get food out of that devlish blue cyclinder. We worked as the perfect team; I crushed the treats under my knee and carefully extracted the pieces, and she ate them. It kind of reminded me of how it used to be with my boss when I was employed as a software engineer.

Anyway, once all the treats had been dealt with – MORE treats! or to be precise, some personalised “pupcakes” from The Beagles Bakery:

So I reckon that was a pretty good way for Beanie to celebrate her sixth birthday. I’m just hoping that in the days to come, that new day-bed of hers saves me from having to break my concentration every twenty minutes to go fix her blanket. We shall see..