The hills are alive (with the sound of Biggles)

Posted on March 22, 2009 by Paul

Hoping to take advantage of the sunny weather before the rain returned, we headed for Callander on Saturday to walk up Ben Ledi. Neither of us felt ready for a really hard slog, and Biggles is still a youngster, so we wanted a picturesque, relatively unchallenging walk. According to the brilliant little “Walks with your dog” site, Ben Ledi was just about perfect, and only an hour or so away by car. The weather forecasts all warned of heavy clouds around lunchtime, so we got off to an early start. For me, this meant going really light on sleep; the night before I’d been kept awake by Biggles’ snoring (honestly if they made Breathe Right strips for Beagles I’d be first in the queue). Nevertheless I got us to Callander without sleeping at the wheel or passing out due to Biggles and Beanie’s noxious bottom burps which on this occasion smelled like moldy Turkey stuffing. We reached the little Stank Bridge (good name, that) car park just in time to take the last official place, and a few minutes later we’d fitted our new fleece-lined canicross-style harnesses to Beanie and Biggles and were on our way!

Biggles’ big adventure begins..

Almost as soon as we got on the trail, Biggles became excited, and as I’ve said before, an excited Biggles is invariably a noisy Biggles. According to some sources, Beagles have three vocal styles: barking, baying, and of course howling. Biggles has these three in plentiful supply, but it doesn’t stop there. His repertoire also includes:

whimpering
whining
warbling
grunting
squealing
and, peculiarly, oink-oink noises like a piglet (hence we call him Bigglet)

Let me tell you he was broadcasting the full set as we headed through the trees. I saw some people up ahead of us, and I figured he was just desperate to catch up with them for some reason (maybe they had smelly sandwiches). They were moving slowly, so in due course we did catch them but Biggles didn’t even stop to say hello, he just kept pulling straight past. And he didn’t quieten down one bit. As we headed out of the trees, he was still going at full volume.

Biggles can sniff and bay at the same time

As we emerged from the trees into bright sunlight, Biggles went quiet. “Ah, he’s calming down” I thought. Not so. The surrounding hills were causing his cries to echo, and for a moment, that confused him. He let out another “aarrooo” and the invisible, distant Beagle answered him again.

AARRROOO … Aarrrooo … aarrrooo…

After a few more exchanges, he evidently decided that this other Beagle wasn’t worth listening to, and returned to his normal “song”. Fortunately Beanie felt no need to provide backing vocals so we only had one noisy Beagle, but trust me, one was enough.

Each time we approached a plateau I wondered if we’d finally see what all the commotion was about. Maybe we’d find a sheep there, or perhaps another dog, but no – there was nothing of note, and the Biggles one man dog band kept on playing.

Aaarff! Oink! Grunt! Arr-Arr-Arrroo!

We’re way in front of Beanie and ma boy’s still going full volume!

After a while I pinned my hopes for peace and quiet on the summit. Last year when we’d taken Beanie to Ben Lomond she’d been really excited and desperate to get to the top, but a little calmer on the way back down. Surely our little boy would be the same? As we got closer to the top, it became apparent that we’d not set off early enough to avoid the heavy clouds. By the time we encountered a little patch of snow, the blue sky had tuned a misty grey and visibility was way down.

Finally we made it to the summit, and as we broke out the sandwiches, treats and drinks, Biggles started to quieten down.

So.. this it? Not even a sheep?

Yeah Biggles, this is it.

It was cold and windy and the view was… well there wasn’t one, so we started back almost straight away. And as soon as we got on the move, the Biggly Boy’s unfinished symphony started up again! As we made our way back down, we ran into quite a few people going in the other direction. The resulting conversations typically went something like this: “Are they Beagles? Aww they look gorgeous! And that must be what we heard on the way up”. One fellow even claimed he could hear Biggles from the car park! And still our noisy little boy kept on being a noisy little boy. Before long the mist started to clear and we finally got to see some of the beautiful views we’d been denied at the summit.

If you look carefully you’ll see a guy in the foreground of the next shot. Look even more carefully (or click the photo then choose “All Sizes”) and you’ll notice he’s actually carrying a bike up the mountain, with the intention of riding it back down. If he’s still alive as I write this, it’ll be a bloody miracle. I didn’t feel too safe on foot with a baying Beagle tied to my belt. How he thought he was going to make it down safely on a bike beats me.

Anyway, back to the scenery..

In due course we made it back to the wooded trail above the car park, and at long last Biggles snapped out of his excited state. Peace was restored! We loaded our pups back in the car, gave them another round of refreshments and headed back home. Biggles fell into a deep sleep on the journey, but he didn’t snore this time, and it was warm enough to wind down the windows to flush out the latest release of Beagle gas, which this time smelled like rotten cabbage.

Two New Hobbies for Beanie and Biggles

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Susan

Heelwork to Music

Last night Beanie and I went to a ‘Heelwork to Music’ workshop that was organised by the Glasgow Dog Training Club. This is something I typically wouldn’t touch with a barge pole as I have two left feet and absolutely no sense of rhythm. However, our obedience teacher Val assured us that it wasn’t about dancing but more about clicker training and teaching tricks.

It turned out to be perfect for Beanie as it’s so fast paced. The handler doesn’t have to dance – it’s more like getting the dog to do tricks around you. We’re starting classes in the next week or two. So watch this space – you might just see a video clip of Beanie and her gawky mum doing a rendition of the Sugar Plum Fairy ! Not sure what music we’ll get Biggles dancing to – the theme tune to Roobarb and Custard suits him well.

Cani-Cross

Paul wrote about our trip to Muirshiels Park at the weekend and Biggles and Beanie’s determination to pull us at break-neck speed accross the countryside.

At the time, we talked about finding a hobby for them that satisfied this urge for cross-country running. We thought perhaps tracking, but Paul has reservations as he feels that if they learn what their noses are really for it might be a bit like opening Pandora’s Box.

We think we’ve discovered the perfect sport for them (and us!). Paul and I have always been fitness fanatics until the last couple of years when family bereavements and injuries took their toll. We hope to get back to full fitness but it’s hard to find time with two active, impossible-to-tire beagles to amuse. Cani-cross sounds like the perfect activity for us. In simple terms it’s just cross country running with your dog. However, the difference is that the dog wears a special harness on a bungie lead that attaches to waist belt. The idea is to gain extra speed by letting the dog pull you up hills (Which Beanie and Biggles LOVE to do). The sport was invented by husky owners whose dogs needed a good daily workout but could not be let off the lead. Here’s a clip of a recent cani-cross event:

We’ve already ordered the harnesses and leads and some good cross country trainers for us. Paul’s fitness is quite good so he can run with Beanie. I’m still recovering from a hip injury so Biggles and I will make a great team – we can slowly build up running fitness together. By the time he’s a year old and allowed to compete we should both be fit and raring to go!

Hup Hup Oops

Posted on March 14, 2009 by Paul

Beagles! Who’d ‘ave ’em?

Just as we’re making progress with Beanie’s pickpocket habit, she develops a new way to stress us out. Her latest naughty habit is leaving the puppy field at the park to roam the paths that surround it. She’s still a safe distance from any roads but it’s particularly annoying to us because we’ve invested so much time and effort on improving her recall. In fact the more we work on her recall, the more she seems to delight in going off on her own private expeditions.

We’re coming to the conclusion that it’s just another of those phases she goes through every so often and if we just weather it as best we can, maybe in time she’ll calm down a bit. It doesn’t help that she’s lost interest in playing with all but the fastest dogs at the park. She seems to have gone up a gear recently, and while this may mean some wins when Beagle Racing starts up at the end of the month, it now takes a whippet-cross to give her any decent challenge in a chase. They are, sadly, in short supply.

By contrast, Biggles is behaving himself remarkably well. We took him to see the head trainer at his obedience class for a little help with his only significant problem – growling when he’s got hold of a sock – and since then he’s been almost angelic. He’s also incredibly affectionate. Male Beagles are as a rule supposed to be more affectionate than the females, and he never passes up an opportunity for cuddle. This morning when he was allowed in our bed for a bit he snuggled around my head. It was like wearing a big warm fur hat, albeit a fur hat that farts.

Our little boy also showed his sensitive side last week at Beanie’s flyball class. The trainers kindly let us bring him in with us and try some of the easier exercises, like retrieving a tennis ball from the flyball box and bringing it back to the start line. He was on lead and doing really well, and spurred on by the flyball chant “hup hup” we started walking the course a little faster. Too fast for me as it turned out, as my well worn trainers slipped on the vinyl floor in the hall and I went flying. My well padded bum saved me from physical damage, but the fall scared Biggles. He wasn’t at all keen on approaching the box after that, and refused to pick up any tennis balls.

To help Biggles get over his shock and to hone Beanie’s flyball skills, I’ve spent much of my free time this week constructing our own flyball box.

Hup Hup! Bring the ball back Dad!

It’s modelled (sort of) on the Canadian style flyball box, and should let us train Beanie to use the more efficient “swimmer’s turn”. There’s no release mechanism for the ball as yet – other than prodding it with a finger (or a paw, as in the above pic) – but it’s good enough for our purposes, and certainly seems to have cured Biggles of his fear!

I don’t know how long it’ll stay in one piece though!

And finally, it looks like Beagle Racing is going transatlantic. I got an email from a US Beagle Owner who’s seen some of the photos and videos from last season and is in the process of organizing his own races. He’s got a blog at http://beagleracing.blogspot.com – I can’t wait to see some pictures!