Biggles Turns Three!

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Paul

The Bigglet is now 3 years old! By way of celebration our birthday boy’s first act was to deposit a particularly smelly barf on our bedroom carpet, before climbing into bed with us for a cuddle. To be fair I had spotted him consuming a rather sloppy poo the previous night, but rather than interrupting him I took the lazy option and let him get on with it. Bad move.

With such a poor start to the day things surely had to improve, and indeed they did. I took both our pups out to the beach for a run, but to give them a treat I ditched their canicross bungee lines and used their extenders instead. It was harder work for me (our two Bs are officially the world’s best lead tanglers), but they loved it! Biggles made good use of his extra freedom by repeatedly shoulder-charging his sister, while Beanie tried to snatch a putrid chunk of dead bird that the tide had washed up. Runs on the beach don’t get much better than this!

Later in the day they got a play session in the garden, but to mark Biggles’ birthday I broke out the special Air Kong squeaky tennis balls.

There’s a strict Beagle protocol to be observed when a squeaky ball makes an appearance. Beanie uses her superior speed to seize the ball first, and cavorts round the garden squeaking away merrily. About a minute later she gets bored and forgets to guard her ball, allowing Biggles to nick it, whereupon he goads her into a chase..

When the chase peters out, we have a rendition of the famous Beagle aria “I’ve got a squeaky ball and you haven’t”

Shortly after this, Biggles takes the ball down to a quiet corner of the garden for some quality chew time. It’s at this point that I normally intervene to rescue the ball while it’s still in one piece, but this time I just let him get his chewing gear to work on it. If you can’t kill a squeaky ball on your birthday then there’s no justice in the world!

This ball is done squeakin’

Teatime came early for our pups, and hand cooked chicken and rice was on the menu. It took mere seconds for tea to be consumed, but the subsequent bowl-licking took more than ten minutes – a sure indication that it was well received. So no expensive toys this time, but I think my little boy thoroughly enjoyed his birthday nonetheless!

Happy third birthday Mr Biggles!

Canicross Adventures

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Paul

Recently we got together with other fans of canicross (cross country running with dogs) and set up a website to promote this fun but still little known sport. The new website – Canicross-Adventures.co.uk – is already doing well, and last weekend we got invited to a doggy fun day at the Veterinary Physiotherapy Clinic in Dunlop.

We set up a stall and a short have-a-go run, but with competition from agility, flyball and a giant green bouncy alien, we wondered if we’d be able to attract much attention.

I wouldn’t park too close to that thing if I were you. It looks hungry..

Fortunately if there’s one thing Beagles are good at, it’s attracting attention! We harnessed up Beanie, Biggles and Bundy and gave them a few demo runs on our little course, and the noise they generated helped bring a steady stream of people our way. They probably also helped burst a few eardrums, but there’s always a downside to getting three Beagles together.

Brian and Susan do a demo run with the three musketeers

The course was less than a 100m in length, but that was still enough to put a smile on the face of just about everyone who tried it. Burns Pet Food had been kind enough to supply us with a generous quantity of goody bags, so everyone who ran also got to take home some tasty, healthy treats for their pooch.

At one point I got a little break from photographing all the have-a-goers and purchased a rather tasty chicken sandwich. I got to take a couple of bites out of it before I was called back to duty, so I carefully placed my sarnie back in its packaging and popped it on top of Beanie & Biggles crates behind our stall. In retrospect I realise this was not a good idea, but the packaging was the stout, snap-shut plastic kind and I figured it would be safe for the minute or so it would take me to snap a couple of photos and return. Not for the first time, I was wrong. Beanie’s dextrous tongue had somehow managed to roll the package over to a more accessible spot and prise it open, and she was now nibbling away at my precious nosh. Much as I love beanie I didn’t really want to share her germs (I’ve seen and smelled all the other stuff she eats) so I gracefully accepted the loss of my snack and shared the remainder of it between the Beanster and her Biggly brother.

By the end of the day we’d seen dogs of all shapes, sizes and breeds take their owners on a madcap sprint down our track. And I really do mean ALL shapes, sizes and breeds!

This was the first canicross demo any of us had ever done but it went very well indeed. Apart from that little incident with the sandwich, that is…

Team photo. Check out the paw prints on Stewart & Brian’s shirts!

Glen Trool Assault Course

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Paul

Last weekend we had another Canicross camping trip, this time at Glen Trool. As before we’d lined up a hill walk (up The Merrick of course) and a good long cross country run round the Water of Minnoch for the group’s activities. The latter isn’t one of the conventional, marked trails around Glen Trool so I was keen to sort out any navigational difficulties ahead of the run. To that end, I planned to harness up the pups and walk the route after we’d set up the caravan, and before everyone else arrived.

First though, there was lunch. Susan cooked up some toasties, and we sat down hoping to eat them in a civilized way, which is never easy with two Beagles in such a confined space. It was relatively easy to convince Biggles to settle down next to me, but as usual Beanie was a much tougher nut to crack. When she eventually gave up hope of stealing the toastie off Susan’s plate, she tried for mine, failed, then immediately focused on raiding the still red-hot electric grill on the worktop. I still had my toastie in one hand but I managed to grab Beanie’s collar with my free hand just before she could burn herself. I was very pleased at not only having protected my toastie from Beanie, but also having protected my Beanie from being toasted, and just as I started to say “that was a close one” I heard a decisive “crunch”. Yep, you guessed it, my toastie hand had strayed into Biggles’s strike range and he had taken full advantage. So for me, lunch was short.

After finishing the remaining half of my toastie unmolested, I successfully walked the 7 mile route in the rain, guided by the route description, two Beagle noses and the gps app on my phone. I was now confident that navigation would not be a problem during the run. Other things like bogs, fallen trees and steep hills could still be a problem, and indeed at one point – even at walking pace – I did end up doing a bit of bottom surfing in the mud, but I figured somehow we’d all muddle through on the day.

The first group activity wasn’t the run though, it was a walk up the Merrick. Despite gloomy forecasts we actually got pretty decent weather, but the summit was shrouded in mist. That’s three times we’ve climbed the Merrick, and we still haven’t properly seen the views from the top!

A panorama from just beyond the first hump, twenty minutes or so from the top.

The final day of the trip was reserved for the run, and again the weather gave us surprisingly good conditions: a very light drizzle – just enough to keep us all cool, without getting us soaked. As I’d feared, the hazards on the first part of the trail claimed a few victims; nearly everybody ended up in a ditch at some point, but the group coped admirably with the hills. By the time we all arrived back at the Glen Trool visitor centre we were liberally decorated with mud splats, grazes and insect bites, but everybody seemed to be happy so I’d have to call the venture a success.

I think Beanie & Biggles truly feel at home in our caravan now. Both of them really stretch out when they sleep, and Biggles is becoming a little more tolerant of people wandering close to the caravan, unless they’re wearing a particularly provocative hat!

A muddy tummy is a happy tummy