Lure Coursing and The Elusive Mr Biggles

Posted on July 19, 2009 by Paul

A little while back we went to check out a lure coursing session held at Rumbling Bridge – not far from Beagle Racing. Since racing was on we only got to watch a couple of runs and weren’t able to take part. This week however racing was off so a little after 10am we parked up in the large, (mostly) fenced field used for the coursing runs.

The course is rectangular and about 500m long. Dogs mostly race in pairs and though the running order is decided by drawing lots, the organizers take care to match entrants by size. If you particularly want your dogs to run together they’re happy to oblige, and consequently Beanie and Biggles got their first run together:

As you can see, Beanie quickly closed in on the lure (a piece of deer skin – appropriate since the coursing is run primarily for Scottish Deerhounds). As she tried to grab it she took a tumble, letting Biggles grab the lead. She quickly regained her composure, hit the gas and charged past her little brother. It was a terrific first run – they both finished, and we got both of them back on lead without any difficulty. Beanie did win however so she was through to the next round, while poor Biggles was out.

As we waited for Beanie’s next race, we chilled out on the grass and watched the other dogs do their thing.

Nothing passes the time..

..like chewing an empty water bottle

Naturally the Deerhounds were well represented. They’re tall, lanky dogs and their long, graceful strides hide the remarkable speed they can reach at full tilt.

This old fellow’s running days are well behind him, but I think he still enjoyed watching the proceedings

There were plenty of other breeds present though: poodles, lurchers, whippets, bassets and of course Beagles.

A Basset and a Beagle cross (Bella) romp after the lure

Half way round the course the basset ran out of steam, but Bella bravely soldiered on to victory – all the more remarkable given her short little legs!

When Beanie’s second race came around she was up against little Bella. Bella’s owner didn’t feel she was ready for another full lap of the course, so she just ran the home straight. The lack of competition at the start didn’t seem to slow Beanie down at all, and as she turned the final corner she closed in on the lure, grabbed it and did her own little victory parade:

Bella also got a little taste of the lure once Beanie had finished with it, and with another victory behind her our little girl was again through to the next round.

Her next race was against a lurcher who was mostly deerhound and 100% speed demon. Beanie has raced against whippets and lurchers before, but none of them managed to get away from her as quickly as this fellow. Not one to give up without a fight, Beanie took a more “direct” route to the lure (also known as cheating) and this enabled her to finish a more respectable distance behind her adversary.

At this point both our Beagles were out of the contest, but after the final had been run the track was thrown open to anyone who wanted another go. Since Biggles had only raced once we put him forward and he got to run against a trio of whippets. Things started off quite well, but predictably the whippets soon opened up a big lead. The lure was out of sight by now so rather than continue racing he stopped to examine a pulley at one corner of the track.

If we’d have called him right when he stopped, I’m pretty sure he’d have come running to us. However we hesitated, and Biggles made up his own mind about what to do next. He started running again and for a moment it looked like he was going to follow the scent of the whippets and complete the race. Then abruptly he sprinted towards the unfenced entrance to the field and his cheeky little white bottom turned the corner and disappeared from sight. He was too far away for our emergency recall so we gave chase, but by the time we exited the field there was no sign of him.

The coursing field is surrounded by countryside – acres and acres of it, with enough tall grass to hide a little Beagle. Fortunately we’d had the presence of mind to fit Biggles’ Retrieva tracking collar before his race, so I took out my mobile phone and requested his location. Meanwhile, one of the coursing organizers jumped on his motorbike and joined the search for our boy. Two minutes went by without any sighting, then I got the first location back from his collar. It was close – really close – to my location. I headed towards the blue blob that represented Biggles and spotted him already on his way back to us. It turned out his great escape hadn’t been so great after all – he’d gone 100 yards out of the field, turned a couple of corners, had a sniff and started on the return journey. Still, this little upset taught us two things:
– Never let Biggles think for himself. He’s not good at it.
– The tracking collars we got for our two could be very handy some day.

Click here for more photos from today’s lure coursing.

You can find out more about Sue & Kevin Rose’s Lure Coursing events here:
http://www.scottish-deerhound.com/lure-coursing-dates-in-scotland-2009

Will You Help Nollaig?

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Susan

Some of you will know Kathleen and Neil Macdonald and their little Beagle Nollaig.

Nollaig is very poorly and has been battling for her life for some months now. Nollaig’s body isn’t producing red blood cells and the vets are struggling to find a cure. They’ve worked their way through umpteen treatments but so far nothing has worked. There are still a couple of more treatments to try but Nollaig’s blood count is still dropping.

Until a cure is found Nollaig needs fairly regular blood transfusions. Last time she had one the vets struggled to find a suitable donor. They warned that if she needed another transfusion it might be impossible to find a donor.

Kathleen and Neil have been having a terrible time. The bills are mounting up and they are struggling to cope with one disaster after another. One thing that would give them a little bit of peace of mind is knowing that if Nollaig needs another blood transfusions we have lots of volunteers lined up willing to give blood.

I don’t have the full details right now, but in order to help you would need to meet the following criteria:

1. Be willing for your dog to give blood

2. Your dog must be at least 20 – 25kg

3. Your dog must be in good health

4. Your dog must be up to date with all vaccinations.

If I understand things correctly, Greyhounds make particularly good blood doners as 70% of them have a blood type that is compatable with all dogs. But if you have any breed of dog that fits the criteria please, please, please drop us a line letting us know that you might be willing to help if needed. We’ll keep a note of your details and if Nollaig needs another transfusion to save her life and her vets can’t find a suitable donar we’ll pass on your details.

Please pass this on to anyone that you know with a dog – it could save Nollaig’s life.

If you can help drop us a line at beaniethebeagle@googlemail.com

The Hill of Stake and The Knickers of Doom

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Paul

We’ve been to Muirshiel Park a few times now, and to be honest the regular signposted walks have become a little too familiar. That’s why on Saturday we decided to be a bit more adventurous and head up to the Hill of Stake which lies deeper inside the park. Now the last time we went off the beaten path at Muirshiel we ended up with soaking wet feet which kind of dampened my enthusiasm, but with so much hot, dry weather recently I was confident that wouldn’t happen this time.

On arrival at the park Susan went into the visitor center to get directions while I got our dynamic duo into their harnesses and hooked them up to our cani-cross belts. When Susan joined us, she was carrying a map of the park which cost seven quid and dire warnings from the staff about how easy would be to get lost if the weather turned. It reminded me of a sketch in the Fast Show, except there was no mention of an owl. Anyway we didn’t need the map, or a compass or any other kind of orienteering gear because the mobile phone I got for Beanie & Biggles’ Retrieva tracking collars has GPS and a map that covers the whole park.

The first part of the route to the Hill of Stake follows the old mine track. It’s very easy going, but when you reach the site of the mine itself you have to head off the path into fields of heather, moss, reeds and whispy white topped wild flowers that may or may not be called “bog weed”. Susan warned that we should steer clear of the aforementioned bog weed, just in case there were still some marshy bits. We carefully worked our way round the weedy patches.. and promptly received soaking wet brown feet as our shoes submerged into a particularly sodden part of the field. It seems even a prolonged heatwave can’t dry out Muirshiel park.

Marshland doesn’t just attract unwary tourists with non-waterproof footwear, it also attracts insects. At one point we stopped for a drink and were beset by some really annoying little winged beasties. Our little tailed beasties did their level best to eat ’em, but we still got some really itchy bites..

Biggles and Beanie guard each others backs

Beanie makes a valiant attempt to snack on our attackers

She nails a few, but they just keep calling in more reinforcements

Eventually we reached the Hill of Stake itself. Its base is surrounded by prickly thistles but once you’ve got through that, you’ve got a very short, easy climb to the top. Despite it’s modest height, the Hill of Stake has a very grand looking summit marker, and some fantastic views of the countryside. Here are a couple of panorama shots taken right at the summit – click on each one to see a larger version!

And some more shots..

The next day we went for a much shorter, supposedly less hazardous walk in one of our local parks. As we passed one of the areas that had ben turned into a kind of adventure playground for kids, we noticed that Beanie had got hold of something very, very unsavory: a pair of heavily soiled knickers. Just to put you in the picture, I’m not talking about a severe “skid mark” here – this was the whole damned tyre plus half the rear end of the car, so to speak. Presumably the adventure playground had been a bit too much of an adventure for some poor soul. Anyway, our lovely little princess had this disgusting thing in her mouth and we really wanted to get it off her, and so did Biggles, albeit for different reasons. All the “leave” and “drop” training we’d been doing went out of the window. I managed to trap part of it under my foot, while Susan hauled on Beanie’s lead to pull her away. It took a lot of effort, but eventually we succeeded.

So on Saturday we ran the risk of being stuck down a hole, in the fog, in the middle of the night, with an owl, while the next day we played probably the most disgusting tug of war ever seen in Glasgow. Given the choice, I’d say the owl would win every time.