It’s taken a while, but life in our new home has settled into a comfortable routine. Beanie & Biggles have established new routines too, and a number of them involve poo.
Back in Glasgow, failing to scoop a freshly fallen poop was likely to incur a hefty fine, and because of that our two Beagles’ obsession with consuming and rolling in the brown stuff was relatively easy to manage. Out here in the country things are different; there’s no pressure to pick up poo unless it falls directly on a path or pavement. As a result, nearly every walk ends up being an all-you-can-eat Soylent Brown buffet. Some of the local dogs have a diet which produces poo with a reddish tint, and this seems to be particularly flavorsome to the Beagle palette. Even if you manage to dodge all the doggy doo, there’s still a plentiful supply of horse & cow droppings – it just never ends. It’s a wonder our two still have room for their breakfasts after their morning walk. But of course they do. Still it’s meant to be good for them – friendly gut bacteria and all that, sort of a doggy version of Danone Activia. I can see the adverts now: “Feeling bloated? Sluggish? Just sling a big pile of horse muck down yer throat, that’ll sort you out”
Anyway, the morning routine goes something like this. A little while before we get up, I open up Beanie & Biggles crates so that they can come for a snuggle in our bed. Beanie jumps onto the bed almost straight away and quickly wriggles under the covers. Biggles – who still has a “thing” about not being able to jump onto things – needs more encouragement, but he makes it up there eventually. A little while later he goes out for his first pee of the day. He usually gets into a long-distance name calling session with local farm dog, and of course he’s always ready to defend the garden against horses and cows.
A boy must always be alert and ready to respond to any threats to his territory. Unless those threats are a bit scary, in which case it’s probably better to pretend you haven’t seen them and take the covering off your ball.
More serious threats can simply be monitored from behind the safety screen on the deck. It’s not too far from the kitchen if you feel the need to run inside.
Eventually Beanie joins him for sniff about, and before long it’s time for their first walk of the day. On their return – if they’re lucky – the treat fairy has visited their kennel and left pieces of kibble on and around it.
The kibble could be anywhere..
So a thorough search is required!
Breakfast is next, followed by a good long nap that lets us human types actually get a bit of work done. When they awake, there’s often time for a bit of play.
A ball is good!
But a ball on a rope..
..well that’s just..
..the business!
A carrot may seem like a good thing too
It’s certainly crunchy
But the taste is a big let-down. Nowhere near as good as poo
Lately we’ve been helping Beanie & Biggles to make new friends. They’ve already met a fellow Beagle called Bundy, and now there’s Ruairidh (let’s just call him Ru!)
He’s never tried agility before, but he quickly got the hang of it when he had a little go in our garden.
His impressive debut put a bit of pressure on our two to perform. Beanie responded with her super hero impersonation:
Biggles had a bit of a false start, but then he hit his stride.
Aaargh! Should have gone over the jump, not round it!
Looking better!
That’s it – just keep your eye on it Biggles!