Both Susan and I were in need of an uplifting couple of hours with Beanie at the park this morning, but as we entered the so-called “puppy field” at the lower end, it looked deserted. Then we caught sight of the infamous Labradoodle duo Zack and Amber. Beanie gets along brilliantly with Amber – she’s playful and very fast, so I figured Beanie would at least get plenty of good quality chases. I wasn’t wrong!

Before long another Doodle called Lola charged onto the scene and immediately joined in the fun:

And it just kept getting better and better. Tess and her pups Tara and Clara arrived, quickly followed by Beanie’s sister Bella.

Clara, Tara and Bella

I was amazed at how much the pups had grown in the two weeks since I’d last seen them. Their confidence had grown too – they were totally at home with the other, much bigger dogs and even gave Beanie a chase!

And as for Tess, well just take a look! I’ve never seen her so full of energy!

Bella also seemed much happier and more playful than last time. She made a beeline for Beanie when she arrived and the two set off on a mad dash round the field:

Beanie and Bella

Beanie is still a lot faster than her sister but Bella is catching up. With any luck she’ll put in an appearance at the Beagle Racing. It’d be quite something to see the two of them chasing the lure down the track! There’d be a lot of pressure on Beanie to win of course. In fact I think Beanie already feels a little threatened by her new, high speed, high energy sister. What makes me think that? Well, how about a few attempted humpings for a start:

A perfect demonstration of lateral head-humping. And she keeps hold of the ball too!

Robbie the retriever – now fully recovered from his previous exposure to the Beanie Chase Workout – also joined in the fun:

He seems fitter and faster too, but not quite fast enough to bite Beanie’s bum:

In a brief moment of non-chasing, the two sisters spotted another Beagle heading their way: Baxter.

Baxter’s a very handsome, well behaved boy. He knows that you don’t get a treat unless you sit patiently. I just wish Beanie would follow his lead:

How to do it (Baxter), and how not to do it (Beanie)

So, that was six Beagles together in the park. Almost enough for a small hunting pack!

The retriever community was quite well represented too, though:

You splash me..

I’ll splash you right back!

But as Tess’s mum Louise said, with so many Beagles romping up and down the field, maybe they should call it Beagle Hill!

[NOTE: I’ve put these photos and few others up on Flickr – just click here to see the full set!]

I felt the need for some RT this week so I upgraded my camera. I’m not up to speed with it yet (it’s got more bells and whistles than a pet shop) but I gave it a try on my favorite subject. The image quality is way better than on the previous camera – click each photo to see a larger version. You can see the dew on the grass and even the water droplets thrown up by Beanie as she’s running in some of them!

Is it teatime yet?

Tennis balls. Could you put one in your mouth without chewing it?

Good sniffage!

Beagle begging skills 101

Don’t be alarmed golfers – we stopped her before she made the hole any bigger!

I’ve mentioned in earlier posts that Beanie isn’t like her siblings. In fact, she isn’t really like any Beagles that we meet. Either in looks or in the way she moves. It had been suggested to us that Beanie was a throwback to a English pack Beagle, so we decided to research her pedigree and try and trace right back to her pack Beagle roots.

I’ve started to put together her pedigree in pictures and it was quite astonishing when you see it – she is NOTHING like any of her recent relatives. I’ve got quite a few pictures dating back a few generations and none resemble Beanie in any way.

Beanie with her parents and grandparents

In the picture above she appears to look like her dad (Redcap Renaissance), but when you look at a bigger picture of him you see that the build really is very different. Or is it….? He’s definately much chunkier, but if Beanie had her back legs back a bit like her dad then maybe the shape is the same? (There’s no chance of us getting Beanie to pose like her dad – the picture we’ve got took about half an hour. She only stays still for treats, but the minute you pull out a treat she parks her bum on the floor and refuses to stand :) ). But if she takes after her dad where on earth did she get her super slender frame from? I haven’t managed to get a photo of his dad, Raimax Cracker…does anyone know what he looks like?

Beanie’s dad – Redcap Renaissance

She isn’t like her siblings either. This is a picture of her playing with her sister Bella a few weeks ago.

Beanie and her litter sister Bella (aged 9 months)

Most people think Beanie is tiny, but her looks are deceiving. She is in fact 16 inches at the shoulder, so the maximum height that a Beagle should be. Bella is perhaps a little over 16 inches but a whole 4 KG heavier! (Beanie’s currently 10.2 kg).

Now look how similar she is to these English pack Beagles. The similarity is quite astonishing! She sticks out like a sore thumb amongst a group of show/pet beagles, but she’d look as if she belonged to these packs!

Beanie and some English pack Beagles

We plan to keep researching her pedigree right back to the pack hounds, and perhaps try and arrange a visit to one or two of the hunting Beagle packs to see just how like these dogs Beanie really is.

But I guess this explains where our special little Beagle gets her physical prowess from!