We got a few pics of our new pup Biggles in the post this morning, and then Michelle Kingsland – owner of the dad, Sheriff, who’s looking after the litter just now – kindly sent us even more by email. Here they are:

The whole litter together (Biggles in top/right position)

Our little fella out for the count

Biggles on his back, shamelessly showing all he’s got!

And here’s mum Lottie, getting some well-deserved downtime

Beanie has what we suspect is a bad cold. We’ve noticed her being a bit sniffly over the last few days, but yesterday morning she was really off color. Her nose was running pretty constantly, she stayed slumped in bed and showed no interest in her breakfast. As the day progressed she was sick several times, and not only refused to take food and water, but actually shied away from it. Just putting a bowl near her was enough to make her shuffle away to another corner of the bed. Needless to say it was time for the vet.

Ordinarily when we get to the vet, Beanie perks up to the extent that we almost feel foolish for taking her there. This time however she just sagged in my arms and could’t even manage a tail wag. We braced ourselves for the inevitable: another course of antibiotics that would wreck all our recent efforts to get her gut back to a healthy, resilient state. Fortunately, we got the senior vet at the practice, Carol, who understands our reticence towards antibiotics. She suggested an alternative herbal remedy, Echinacea, which has apparently been shown to have an anti-viral action. Since Beanie was so resistant to food or water, Carol gave us a syringe so that we could squirt a little water/echinacea mixture into Beanie’s mouth.

Back home, we gave the syringe a try several times but Beanie would not let anything near her mouth, and became more distressed with each attempt. She seemed to be having discomfort when swallowing, and all the while her nose kept on dripping. We became concerned about dehydration, and got another appointment at the vet. We were now ready to cave in to antibiotics, anything to make our pup well! Carol however was ready with another suggestion: a painkiller to soothe any discomfort Beanie was experiencing in her throat and mouth, and a few subcutaneous injections of fluids to rehydrate her. We headed back home with Beanie, who now had several moist, unappealing lumps around her bum.

The painkiller was morphine-based and has two common side-effects: drowsiness (no surprise there) and panting. I didn’t know about that last one, so when I left her briefly to get a coffee and returned to find her panting for Scotland, well let’s just say it wasn’t one of my calmer moments. A call to the vet reassured me that it was all completely normal, so I changed my underwear and got ready for a long, long night.

At around three in the morning Beanie was a little perkier, and had a few spoonfuls of chicken soup, and a little trip out to the garden for a pee. Feeling that our little pup had turned the corner, we finally allowed ourselves a few hours’ sleep.

I’m happy to report that Beanie is now definitely on the mend. She’s got a gentler pain killer from the vet to soothe her throat and she’s showing much more interest in food. Susan cleared her dripping nose by turning our bathroom into a steam room. She shut the door and the windows, ran a really hot bath and put a few drops of eucalyptus oil in for good measure. After a minutes in there (lying on the floor beside the bath, not in it obviously!) Beanie seemed much less glum and had a big drink of water.

Poor little soul though. A blocked nose for a Beagle is probably like being struck deaf and blind for the rest of us. But now we have to be on our guard and keep the sympathy in check. If Beanie stays true to form, she’ll milk this illness for all she’s worth!

Beanie had her usual good romp in the park this morning.

She also helped introduce a newcomer to the pack: Tyson, a 17 week old German Shepherd.

This was Tyson’s very first time off-lead – in fact his training class discourages any off-lead walks until the dog is a year old. That sounded pretty crazy to us after all we’ve read about the importance of socialization, and our own experience in letting Beanie off lead early. Tyson’s owner was naturally a little nervous at first, but he clearly loved the new experience. He met a few of the regulars – Kirby, Zack, Amber and Stella – and though they were mostly absorbed in their own games, he seemed to get on well.

It’s obvious he’s going to be a very big boy though – he’s nearly as big as 7 month old Kirby already, and just look at the size of his paws!

If all goes well there’ll be another new pup in the park in a couple of months time, and he’ll be ours. Yep, we’re getting another Beagle, a boy this time, to give Beanie a permanent playmate. We’re home with her all day but still it’s just not the same as having another four legged pal to play with.

Until recently the plan had been to get a boy when Beanie was older, around 18 months (she’s just coming up to 1 year old now) but a few things convinced us to bring things forward. Recently Beanie’s sister Bella has been coming to the park and it’s simply wonderful to see the two of them playing together. She has so much fun that we have to practically drag her back to the car when the walk’s over, no matter how much energy she’s burned up! Also, the timing would be great for next year. Biggles – we’ve had a name for him for some time already – will be past the 6 month stage by next Spring, and will be better able to participate in outings with Beanie. And, last but not least, we’ve had a death in the family – the third in 18 months, and we know from our experiences with Beanie that there’s nothing better to blow away the feeling of death and decay than a lively new puppy.

Biggles is currently about four weeks old, and lives way down in the South of England. He has the same dad as Beanie – Sheriff, aka Redcap Renaissance:

That’s not by chance! We particularly wanted a boy sired by Sheriff, as we think Beanie gets some of her looks and athletic ability from his side of the family.

Biggles’ Mum is Valsacre Concerto of Shercroft:

Interestingly there’s a fair chunk of Australian Beagle in her ancestry, but there’s also some Newlin in there, which we’re very happy about. In fact it was Beanie’s breeder Liz that told us about Biggles’ litter.

We don’t have any photos of the little fella just yet, but that should change soon. It’s a very exciting time, but it’s also made us acutely aware of aspects of Beanie’s behavior that we’d like to discourage through training. We don’t want Biggles picking up naughty habits from his big sister. After all, as a Beagle he’ll likely develop his own distinctive brand of naughtiness, and we wouldn’t have it any other way!