Since Biggles was a little 7 week old pup we’ve been battling with his noisy, excited obsession with…..well….pretty much anything really! There was a time when it was extremely difficult to take him for a walk without outbursts of noisy, out of control baying. If any of us (Paul, Beanie or I) got in front of him he’d go into a frenzy; If he picked up a horses scent on the beach he’d go nuts; If an interesting smell blew in on the wind he’d loose all control.

Biggles is now 3 and 3/4 years old and I’m pleased to say he’s slowly out growing his noisy ways!

We’ve had lots of outings this week and for the most part he’s been very good.

Beanie, Biggles and I had a run on the beach. Three horses galloped past us and Biggles didn’t bat an eyelid. Not long ago he’d have gone nuts!

We had a lovely evening run at Turnberry (home of the famous golf course and the lighthouse). Dad photographed the lighthouse while Beanie, Biggles and I went for a run along the golf course and beach. It was dusk, rabbits were hopping around everywhere and Beanie and Biggles didn’t pay the slightest bit of attention to them!

They even settled down on a little cliff edge after their run to watch dad taking photos:

We spent a day running and exploring Culzean and the surrounding area. It was a beautiful day and I don’t think I’ve ever seen our pups so chilled. We started out at the deer enclosure – they had no interest whatsoever in them!

Next I took them for a little run along the coast – they just trotted beside me as good as gold and when we stopped Biggles lay down on the sanding lapping up the sunshine. No ‘aaaarrrrffffing’; No ‘woof, woof, woofing’; No ‘oink, oink, oink” (yup – really he does that!). Beanie just stuck her bum in the air and busied herself digging her way to Australia.

We wandered up to the swan pond and after rolling in lots of stinky things…

…we busied ourselves with searching for scraps of bread in the pond.

We didn’t even blink when birds started dive bombing us!

I was so proud of them both that I shared my egg sandwiches with them before getting back in the car. Now that WAS a mistake …. thanks to the Beagle’s short digestive system we couldn’t have been more than half way home when Biggles started pumping out stinky egg flavoured farts.

And then there was the trip to Arrochar. A fabulous 20k or so low level walking amongst the Arrochar Alps. It was a glorious day. We walked a bit, explored a bit and even had a bit of a run.

Everything was going great until the route opened out into a long section of open hillside….full of sheep!!!!!!

Well, it WAS full of sheep until we arrived!

Biggles instantly gained about two inches in height; his back legs (which are always quite wide spread) widened by a good two inches; his chest stuck out; his tail went bolt upright; a couple of indignant “hhhrmmmph, hhhhrrmmmmppphhhh”….and then all hell broke loose. He bayed, he aaaarrrrfeed, he howled, he grunted, he oinked (yup – really!), he woofed, he screeched. Every sheep within a 2 mile radius took flight which of course led to more indignant outrage from master Biggles and was enough to get Beanie in on the act too. The next four or five kilometers was stressful to say the least. Biggles pulling like a train, lunging this way and that while Beanie skillfully managed to park herself EXACTLY where you were about to put your foot. All to a deafening chorus of ‘Beagle in full cry’ with added sound effects.

And then suddenly it was over. For the rest of the day we had our chilled, well behaved little Beagles back.

It seems we still have a few issues with sheep.