A few days ago I tore down the remaining half of our deck in preparation for the rebuild, so we currently have no access to the garden from the rear of the house. As a consequence every pee request from Team Beagle now requires the donning of shoes, leads, and more often than not a warm coat as we take them round to the garden from our front door. It’s a bit of an inconvenience for us humies, but it’s brilliant fun for Monkey and Daisy. The previously tedious ritual of “final wees” is now an exciting torchlit adventure, often involving mad chases through the darkness and endless rounds of that old but popular game entitled “I bet you can’t get my lead back on before I scarper”.
It’s making me realise that it was unwise not train the two of them to purge their bladders and bowels on command; on campsites Beanie and Biggles would reliably respond to the phrases “go be a clean girl” and “go do your business!”. There’s no such facility with Monkey and Daisy, and Daisy in particular must be given time off-lead if she’s to complete her night-time pee; failure to do so invariably leads to extra washings of her bed, or Monkey’s, and sometimes ours.
At least this new pee protocol is getting them back into the habit of synchronised trips to the outside loo. In recent months that had lapsed, leading to the following scenario:
- Beagle A (usually Daisy) requests to go pee-pee. Beagle B appears to have no such need.
- Beagle A is let into the kitchen, and instantly forgets the need to pee, instead focusing on debris on the floor or items on the worktops.
- After a suitable period of herding, Beagle A is ejected into the garden to go about their business.
- Humie returns to lounge, unpauses whatever was playing on the TV and lowers bottom back onto sofa. At this precise moment, Beagle B has a change of heart and insists that a pee is now urgently required.
- Humie sighs, pauses TV and leads Beagle B to the kitchen. After a suitable period of worktop surfing and attempts to access the kibble box in the adjoining utility room, Beagle B is finally ejected into garden.
- Humie returns to sofa, unpauses TV and at the precise instant arse is about to reacquaint itself with comfy sofa, Beagle A reports loudly that he/she is done and would like to come in. Needless to say Beagle A is on his/her own and Beagle B won’t be ready to come in until Humie has sat down again.
Well that whole run-around is finished now; if one pup wants out, they go out together and come back together. Thems the rules! There’ll be no more instances of naughty Beagles taking the pee, not on our watch. I should note however that in the early days of this new protocol Daisy did get a bit confused and pee our bed, but that’s not taking the pee, that’s just doing a pee inappropriately (and to be fair Monkey’s crate was closed at the time so her usual indoor emergency toilet was unavailable).
To finish, a hotch-potch of recent shots and a short chase video taken in the daytime, rather than at night by torchlight when certain puppy types should sleepy and ready for bed.
Is it the nuts she wants, or the tug toy? Given that this is Daisy we’re talking about, it’s both. Obviously.