There I am, doing a bit of vacuuming in our “posh” (supposedly less Beagled lounge) and I see that one of our ornaments needs a bit of dusting. The ornament in question is a polished lump of tree that has a number of alabaster eggs in it. As I start the dusting process, I notice something in the tree that isn’t an egg. At first I assume it’s some smelly potpourri thing that Susan’s put in there, but when I pick it up to dust it, I realise that while it is a bit smelly, it’s certainly not a regular potpourri item. It is in fact a small hard dog shit, specifically the kind of dropping that Biggles was producing before we added roughage to his diet.

The fact that Biggles had pooped in the house was not overly surprising; before we added roughage to his meals he would frequently get “caught short” and have to do an emergency trouser drop wherever he happened to be. This however was no accident; this was precision ninja-like pooing at its finest. I’ve seen him do stunt-poops on walks and I know the level of skill and planning that it’s involved. He’s pooped through the gaps in fences, left logs on the tops of surprisingly high tree stumps and on the tops of flowers, and as previously documented, he has successfully taken a dump on Poppy’s head.

In order to produce his little poopourri offering he undoubtedly had to reverse-park his big white bum over the ornament with some precision and then carefully push, all the while resisting the urge to go for a poo shuffle (a technique designed to create a dotted line of poops, which resembles a floppy-eared golfer preparing to putt).

The question that keeps bouncng round my head after making this find is: why did he do it? Was he trying to tell me something? Or was he just having a senior moment? Only Biggles knows, and he’s not telling. Or at least he’s not telling me. I have noticed that Monkey has started to display similar pooing skills on walks, so presumably Biggles has taken the Monkster to one side and passed on his deep knowledge of the anal arts.

It’s hard to believe it, but Poppy’s just had her second birthday!


She took her cake quite politely, preferring to lick off the cream cheese topping while it was still in my hand.


Monkey did likewise

Beanie snatched her slice and speed-swallowed it, nearly taking one of my fingers down with it. The Bigglet grabbed his slice before I could get focus!

Everyone enjoyed a birthday walk on a local nature trail…




In the afternoon Biggles gave Poppy a lesson in agility jumping…

She shared what she’d learned with Monkey

Once he’d managed to tear himself away from nicking our raspberries, that is!

Beagles love to rip through packaging, so we gave the pups a nest of boxes with treats and treat-filled bottles inside. It was messy, but they loved it.

And in the evening, it was Beagle karaoke time!

Happy Birthday Poppy!

Sometimes it feels a bit like I’m running an old folks’ care home. At night:
“Come on Beanie & Biggles it’s time for bed!
No Biggles that’s not your crate – yours is over there, remember?
No that’s still not your crate Biggles, Monkey’s in that one, see? You wouldn’t fit in and it wouldn’t go well at all!
Beanie, you need to get all your bits in the crate or I can’t shut the door! No Beanie, get your tail in! No, your leg’s got to be in too!”

And then in the morning:
“Hold on Biggles I’m trying to get you out into the garden – don’t do your poop yet! No Biggles, not on the deck, go down the steps first. Oh, OK, well I’ll clean that up in a minute.”

Yep, in many ways our golden oldies are harder work than the youngsters. Biggles – who has always been a bit of a vocal boy – is going deaf and senile, so he’s not only woofing more, but more loudly and at a higher pitch. Additionally he’s been having a bit of trouble controlling his poop-shoot. The vet suggested adding more roughage to his diet, cautioning us that it might make matters worse;  a risky venture for sure but it’s working, and it’s also very popular with the other pack members.

Thanks to the extra veg, warnings of an imminent Biggles delivery now come early enough to avert accidents in the house. The deck remains a poop zone, but Poppy’s rather partial to Biggle-droppings and often cleans them up before I can get a bagged hand to them. Note to self: avoid early morning kisses from Poppy.

Sock therapy has proved somewhat helpful in managing Biggles’ other issues. What is sock therapy? Well it’s a short, concentrated game of find-the-sock with biccie payments for each success.

It took a while, but now he’s remembering previous sock locations and searching them systematically. His woofs still come out at a volume that would drown out a live concert by The Who, but he’s having fewer moments of confusion.

He does seem to have trouble grasping the idea that the sock game is only played at a certain time of the day and with a specific set of socks, but that’s just normal Biggles.

Beanie’s had trouble coping with the recent heatwave, probably because of the changes in her fur; over the last year or so it’s become extremely soft and fluffy. It feels wonderful to the touch, but I suspect it’s keeping her far too warm and she doesn’t seem keen to shed it. Biggles’ fur has also gotten much softer of late, but just prior to the heatwave he went through a very thorough shedding process. It blocked the vacuum cleaner several times, but at least he’s now wearing the Beagle eqivalent of shorts and a T-shirt instead of fleece-lined trousers and a Parka jacket. We switcheed the main walk to an earlier slot in the morning to get it done before the heat builds, but still Beanie’s needed to wear her cooling jacket most days.

By contrast it’s been a quiet and relatively uneventful few weeks for the youngsters. Squeaky elelphants hve had a hard time however.

A few more recent shots:

A resourceful Beagle can find a chinrest anywhere

The buttercups are all out in our garden

At times even the youngsters have found it too hot…

The sprinkler helps a bit..

And smarter Beagles know to seek the shade

So that when hottest part of the day has passed, normal activities can quickly resume