Just a short post to celebrate Biggles’ latest achievement. No, for once it doesn’t involve him finding a way into locked cupboards or nabbing items from hitherto unreachable shelves. This time he’s managed to do something desirable: he’s learned to weave properly! For a while now he’s been able to get through the poles if I guide him through, either by using a lead on him or by walking very close by him at just the right pace, but now none of that is necessary. As proof, I give you Professor Biggles of the International Weaving Advancement Group (IWAG):

OK, it doesn’t look like much, and there are only 6 poles, but trust me it’s a huge breakthrough for my little boy. I’ve still got to get him up to 12 poles before his next lesson, but I don’t think that’ll be hard.

Finally, here are a few shots from the last week’s shenanigans:

The wasps are back and Beanie’s standing guard by their hiding place in our door vents

A surprise attack on her brother..

And an extended play fight on the bed..

Biggles can now add weaving to his impressive list of talents (though farting will always be his primary skill)

Beanie and Biggles don’t get to show off their agility skills at competitions because they’re far too norky to be trusted off lead in a strange place with lots of distractions! So, from time to time I like to take a little video of their lessons just to show the world that they are actually getting very good at agility!

This little video really doesn’t do Biggles justice. He did lots of wonderful rounds but daft mum kept bungling the filming. His weaves are coming along great and he’s getting very reliable with 12 poles. Last night his entries weren’t so good but Paul and he practiced today and it’s looking great now! Next time we’ll make sure we show Biggles at his biggley best!

So I’m in our gym room doing an exercise to help fix all those years of being huddled over a keyboard. It involves lying face down with my arms stretched out to the side and held just a few inches off the ground for 90 secs. The Bigglet is doing his own version of the exercise and is lying down alongside me, keeping his chin just an inch off the ground by resting it on his front paws. Suddenly I feel something furry brush past my feet, then along my leg and my side. I try to sneak a glance at the stopwatch to see how much time is left, but my view is blocked by a Beanie head. She’s all excited and waggy, and I know what’s coming next. She carefully straddles my right arm, curls her front paws round it and launches into a vigorous humping.

Yep things are totally back to normal in our house. Chases..

Tail pulling…

And of course sock theft..

To help our pups cope with the heat of all these activities, we’ve got them a couple of Ruffwear “swamp cooler” jackets. They have a great reputation for keeping dogs cool even in really hot conditions, but I couldn’t help wondering how Beanie and Biggles would take to wearing permanently wet jackets. As it turned out they didn’t seem to mind one bit.

Agility trainer Carol suggested we try putting a lead on Biggles to help him find the right path through the weaves. It works great, but occasionally things do go wrong!