We went to Poppy’s breeder yesterday for a second viewing of the new litter of pups who are now around 6 weeks old.

In Poppy’s case we only got to select from the available pups right on the day of collection, but this time around we had a free pick of the five little boys – something we hadn’t been expecting. There wasn’t much to separate them in terms of markings but two them had apparently been making extra visits to the food cupboard, and it has to be said that of those two, one was a bit of a biffer. In fact we was so much bigger than his siblings that he could cause a roadblock just by standing in the doorway of the puppy residence.

In recent weeks Poppy has kind of become Beanie’s understudy, so we wanted our new little boy to be a good match for Biggles. As we started to describe The Bigglet’s main traits to the breeder, phrases like “differently intelligent”, “a bit slow” and “not the leader type” somehow entered the conversation. As it turned out, those same phrases seemed to be a fit for the more generously proportioned boy. Apparently he wasn’t just bigger than his siblings, he was also Bigglier.

The breeder picked up a pup for Susan to hold, and handed me the candidate mini-Bigglet. I held him with one hand under his bum and one hand across his chest under his front paws. As he sank into my hands he curled those paws round my thumb and forefinger to grip them firmly. In my head it was like he was saying “choose me.” After another round of discussion, that’s exactly what we did. So here’s the not-so-little fellow who’ll be joining us in a couple of weeks, and we’re going to call him Monkey:

If you stick a potato into the ground and leave it long enough, you’ll get more potatoes from it. I know this for a fact, because I’ve seen it happen in our garden. Beagles however are substantially different from potatoes, so Poppy doing this:

should not normally result in this:

That however is exactly what’s happened. Poppy did a face plant in a tub, there was a new litter of pups, and now she’s got a little brother coming. We will – hopefully for some considerable time – soon be a four Beagle family!

Getting yet another Beagle may be the craziest thing we’ve ever done. Poppy has only recently discovered that pees and poos can be deposited in places outside of the kitchen. She’s still getting used to humping her squeaky duck, still learning how to woof from our resident masters of noise pollution, and still nibbling anything that’s nibblable along with some things that aren’t.

Perhaps the fact that Poppy has propagated a brother from her face planting indicates that she’s not a real Beagle, but actually an alien impersonating a Beagle. Come to think of it I do keep joking that’s she’s a Nibblosian from the planet Nibble. Maybe I’m right.

Nevertheless in just a few weeks we’ll have another little bundle of chaos. Are Beanie & Biggles prepared to deal with another new arrival? Are we?

Actually I think it could go surprisingly smoothly. Beanie & Biggles are already used to the changes in routine that coincided with Poppy; the new pup shouldn’t introduce any further changes for them. Poppy will gain a little playmate and they’ll be able to burn off some of their excess energy together. We’ll be run off our feet coping with the demands of an extra pup, but at least the little guy should be faster to house-train given that he’ll have a similarly aged peer to learn from.

Whether it goes smoothly or not, I’d much rather have my head filled with the kind of crazy that comes from having four Beagles than with the kind of crazy that’s sweeping the globe right now.

Poppy has acquired a number of special new powers over the last couple of weeks. She’s managed to jump onto the sofa, she’s humped a well-stuffed squeaky duck, and she’s demonstrated an uncanny ability to mimic Robert Plant. The last one happened one morning when we were engrossed in DIY, laying a new laminate floor in the lounge. An old Led Zeppelin track was playing on the radio at just the same time as Poppy decided she’d been in her crate a little too long, and as Mr Plant started to wail at the top of his voice, so did Poppy. It was remarkably difficult to tell them apart, I couldn’t help wondering if the next copyright lawsuit to be brought against Led Zeppelin could be filed by a Beagle.

In between exploring her new found powers, Poppy’s been learning commands (she’s now got sit, down, wait, leave and giving a paw) and enjoying her walks with Beanie & Biggles. Both members of the A-Team have grown used to having Poppy with them on walks now, and the three of them are really looking like a pack. Poppy often ends up trotting along between them, and sometimes I think she has an extra swagger to her, like the child of a mafia boss flanked with two gun toting heavies.

Prior to getting Poppy we assumed that most friction would occur with Beanie, as two females in a pack often seems to be the trickier combo. As things have turned out, a bond seems to be growing between Beanie & Poppy, and it’s Biggles who’s having the hardest time accepting the youngster. He’s fine with her on walks and in the garden, but we still have to be very careful if she’s loose in the house. That said, Poppy has joined The Bigglet on a couple of important woofing missions recently (sorting out the neighbors’ dogs through the fence, rebuking delivery guys) and he seemed to enjoy having the backup, so I think there’s scope for improvement in the near future.

We’re still amazed by how affectionate Poppy is; Beanie & Biggles were never such cuddle monsters!