Beanie had a great walk this morning; really nice weather, lots of pals to play with, and lots of squeaky toys – including a pork chop and a cunningly camouflaged small green rugby ball. As a rule the only toys that hold Beanie’s attention in the house are the ones that dispense treats, but outside all that changes. A toy can be a useful tool when you want to get a chase going in the park! The pork chop gave sterling service in that regard, until an extended chewing session robbed it of its squeaky appeal. Beanie wasn’t phased by this setback however – she quickly switched to one of the park’s free alternatives:

Back at home, little Biggles was sleeping very soundly in his crate. I expected him to complain loudly to be let out as soon as I came in, but he just rolled over for a quick look, had a little stretch and went back to sleep. I’ve grown so used to his barking at any disturbance that for a moment I actually entertained the idea that he was unwell. That worry was dismissed as soon as his lunch made an appearance of course – he went from comatose to wired in an instant and set a new personal best for speed eating. Overall I’d say he’s more relaxed today – I think it’s a sign that he’s now settled in his new home, and is gaining confidence that even if we leave the room for a few minutes, we will be back.

I did notice however that he’d sentenced the last of his own squeaky toys to death by chewing. I couldn’t leave our little boy without a squeaker, so I headed back out to Wizard Of Paws to raid their shelves. One particular toy seemed to stand out from the rest, and when I handed it Biggles for a test drive this evening it soon became clear that I’d chosen well!

We’re only letting Biggles play with this when he’s separate from Beanie though – I doubt it would last two minutes if Beanie got hold of it!

I took Beanie to Bellahouston Park this morning for a change of scenery, and we certainly got it:

For the benefit of those who’ve never been to Bellahouston before, that lake is not a normal feature of the park. The same goes for the two swans who presumably flew in for a visit. Somewhere under that water there’s a field and a tarmacced footpath!

The “let the dogs sort out their own differences” approach is continuing to work well for us. Most of the time their play now seems to be about fun rather than settling their positions in the pack hierarchy.

Dominance struggles still occur of course, but they’re usually over quickly. They are however very, very noisy. You can hear a sample of a dominance shouting match in the second video in a previous post. Beanie is by far the worst offender.

When Biggles starts a shouting match..

..she drowns him out with a deafening, high pitched warble.

It’s like a frantic canine version of Mariah Carey fed through amplification used by The Who in their heyday. Get any closer than half a mile from the stage and you’ve got permanent hearing loss, guaranteed.

To further help reduce the frequency of these outbursts we take away all the toys when they’re together. At one point I foolishly tried to have a three-way tug of war with them. It went great while I was still holding the tug rope, but as soon as I let go it became the cause of another (mercifully short!) dominance argument.

Overall though we’re having more and more harmony. We all spent a fair chunk of the afternoon in the sitting room watching and – miracle of miracles – hearing a video I rented on the way back from agility. Nobody needed to go in their crate, and there was only a little bit of a tussle while while I was trying to skip past the seemingly endless stream of trailers.

A few more pics from today: