Susan took Biggles for his first check-up at the vet today while I stayed home and did my best to clean up Beanie after a rather muddy park visit.

Biggles got his first vaccination jag, which apparently he barely noticed thanks to some strategically placed treats. He was weighed and came in at a whopping 4.2 kilos – that’s pretty hefty considering he’s only seven and a half weeks old. By comparison, Beanie weighed about 3.6 kilos when we got her at just over eleven weeks old! He really is going to be a monster of a Beagle when he grows up.

He’s due to get his second round of vaccinations once he’s over ten weeks old, and shortly thereafter he’ll be able to take his first steps outside our house and garden. In the meantime he’s got the green light to meet other vaccinated dogs, and indeed he bumped into Beanie’s pal Sophie at the vets. Poor Sophie’s had a rough time since her spaying op. She had a reaction to her stitches and now faces another couple of weeks of enforced rest before she can return to her normal, very active life. Truly a nightmare for a Beagle!

Back at home we had some wonderful, peaceful moments like this:

We also had some not so peaceful moments, as you can see and especially hear in the video below.

Surprisingly it’s Beanie making all the racket this time. I think she was a little irked to find Biggles in her play area just outside our office. Biggles is a little rascal though – you can see him having a naughty nibble of Beanie’s ear just before the noise pollution really starts up!

Despite the occasional hiccup I think things are progressing well. The same can be said of Biggles’ house training. A lot of the time he’s actually going to the door to be let into the garden when nature calls – absolutely amazing given that he’s a male, a Beagle, and not even eight weeks old yet! Of course sometimes it goes very wrong. This morning Susan had the not so pleasurable experience of having some fresh puppy poo squelch between her toes when she didn’t quite get him to the garden quick enough after his breakfast.

[Note: depending on your connection, the above videos may not run smoothly until played for a second time]

I am totally knackered, so this will be a short post!

The first night with Beanie & Biggles couldn’t really have gone much better. We kept them in separate crates in our bedroom, but still in sight of one another, and though Biggles tends to be very vocal when he’s awake he made very little noise through the night. We’re giving him regular pee-breaks during the night – about every two-and-a-half to three hours, to avoid any in-crate accidents. He had no choice but to go to the loo in his crate on the way home yesterday, so we’re being really careful to nurture his desire to keep his den clean.

He’s had a couple of short outings today in a purpose-built carry bag lent to us by KathLeen and Neil of Mochuisle Beagles. The first was out to the main road to introduce him to traffic sounds, and the second was a short sponsored walk round Queen’s Park in aid of Canine Concern Scotland. The weather was horrible for the latter, and as I’m still feeling very fragile from yesterday’s dose of Ghandi’s Revenge I was rather envious of Biggle’s cosy little home from home. He protested at first when I carried the bag via the handles, so I ended up holding it in my arms, so that the see-thru side was close to my face. That calmed him down, though he did seem a little frustrated at not being able to get out and explore his surroundings. He loved all the attention he got from the other dog owners though!

As the day progressed, he really seem to be settling into his new home. Yesterday he slept very lightly, but this evening he’s having really good, deep sleeps. Beanie really seems to have taken to him, and plays with him very gently, often letting him roll her over onto her back. We’re limiting their play to just a few minutes at a time, and they’re both spending much more time separately with us than together. Even so, I’d swear he’s already starting to pick up on housetraining by copying Beanie.

Anyway, here are a few photos from today:

A small shoe for the little boy…

And a big shoe for the one-year old girl!

If you take a close look at the third picture, you might think that Biggles’ paws look almost the same size as Beanie’s. If so, you’d be right! And when you hold him, you can’t help but notice that he’s suprisingly heavy for his size, and that his skin is really loose on his body. From what I’ve heard, that probably means he’s going to be a really big boy when he’s fully grown. How long before he’s bigger than Beanie?

Today we drove down to Bolton to pick up our new little boy, Biggles. His breeders live way down in the South of England, but they kindly brought him up to a Beagle show in Bolton in Lancashire, shortening our journey to just over 200 miles. That should have taken us around 3 hours each way, but of course I somehow chose this morning of all mornings to catch a nasty bout of diarhoea, from which I learned three things:

• the Imodium commercials are a pack of lies!
• journeys take a hell of a lot longer when you have to make a pitstop every 20 miles or so
• Welcome Break toilets are all exactly the same. Spooky…

Still none of that managed to spoil the pleasure of getting our second Beagle. And he’s an incredibly cute, cheeky and confident little chap.

Here are some shots of him just before we headed off back home:

He was absolutely brilliant in the car. He cried for a couple of minutes just as we set off, but after that he split his time between sleeping soundly and sniffing Beanie. She was right beside him, but in a separate crate. We felt it would be safer to keep them apart during the journey – neither of us fancied having to concentrate on driving if some little squabble broke out between them.

When we got him home, I took him out for a little exploration of the garden before tea, while Susan took Beanie on a well deserved walk. This was Beanie’s longest ever car journey, and though she was obviously very bored she hadn’t complained once.

Mmm.. Weetabix for tea!

Eventually our two pups met each other properly, and almost immediately began playing. We kept the play time short so that Beanie wouldn’t tire Biggles out, but they still found time to shred up a puppy training pad!

Biggles was really confident throughout and had no qualms about trying out Beanie’s toys and even giving her ears a cheeky nibble. Beanie clearly recognized him as a little pup and gave him a lot of latitude, though she eventually gave him a verbal caution when he made off with her favorite chew one time too many.

Lay off of my (blue suede) chew!

He understood and backed off the chew, then he promptly gave the same warning to the naughty little boy he saw reflected in the glass of our TV stand!

Prior to getting Biggles I’d been concerned about how well they might get on. I’m not worrying about that now, but as our obedience trainer reminded us, that’s only part of the picture. A new pup entering a household with an existing dog may bond more closely to his canine chum than his human owners, losing his independence into the bargain. To avoid that, we’re going to have to make sure that both Biggles and Beanie get plenty of time separately with us as well as time together. It’s going to be hard work, but worth it to make sure that Biggles grows up to be just as confident and outgoing as Beanie.