For all the fun and love she’s brought us, Beanie has also put us through the wringer emotionally on numerous occasions. I thought I’d lost her for good on The Merrick when she somehow managed to break free of her lead; I thought I was going to lose her when she had haemorrhagic gastroenteritis, and for the last year or so we’ve gone through several cycles of “she’s not long for this world, oh wait she’s OK”. Well, right now The Beanster is definitely OK. We still take her royal carriage – which to commoners looks much like a doggy pushchair – with us on longer walks, but it’s weeks since she’s actually needed it.

I think she’s been giving Poppy lessons on how to keep us on our toes however, because Poppy has now hit us with a quality medical drama of her own.

Remember that incident a while back that we assumed was a bee sting? Well it wasn’t a sting, it was an epileptic seizure. She’s since had two more. Canine epilepsy can happen for all kinds of reasons, but in Poppy’s case I strongly suspect it’s hereditary.

Way back when Beanie was a youngster, epilepsy hit a number of Beagles we knew – all fathered by a particular hound. All those dogs ended up being euthanised at an early age as the condition became uncontrollable. It turns out that Poppy shares the same bloodline. It could be coincidence of course, and in any case one would hope that the intervening generations have weakened whatever genetics might make the dogs susceptible to seizures, so we’re hopeful that Poppy won’t suffer the same fate as those dogs from Beanie’s youth.

We’re trying to avoid the traditional medication route for Poppy – potassium bromide and all the rest of it – as the side effects (and the cost) can be pretty rough. Instead, we’ve switched her onto a keto diet (there is some evidence than this can help with epilepsy in both humans and dogs) and we intend to give so-called “golden paste” a try; this turmeric-based mixture is thought to help with a number of conditions in dogs, including epilepsy.

Both of these measures can take a few weeks to have an effect, so only time will tell if they’re going to help keep Poppy’s seizures at bay. Fingers and paws crossed!

Poppy and Monkey love their snuggles; when they can’t cuddle up to a humie then they’ll cuddle up to each other. I keep hoping that when Beanie & Biggles see the pups doing this kind of stuff they might be inspired to do the same, but alas they’re both still crotchety old gits.

The Biggly Boy has just had his fifteenth birthday, but inside I’m sure he still thinks he’s a pup, albeit a pup who’s mostly deaf and losing the few marbles he’s ever had. He seems to be bonding strongly with the youngsters; it’s not uncommon to find him in his crate after we’ve put them to bed and he’ll happily sleep with them on the same sofa, but there’s no cuddling up to them – at least not yet.

A while back I used to think the youngsters found him weird – a bit like a delusional pensioner trying to gate-crash a club 18-30 holiday, but more recently they seem to viewing him as a bit of a role-model. In some ways this is unfortunate as he’s happily teaching them all kinds of naughty. He woofs uncontrollably at mealtimes and Poppy seems to think this is a good thing to imitate; she’s not reaching anything like the volume he puts out and she still sounds a bit like Mickey Mouse, but she’s doing her best.

Monkey has recently completed his Artful Pooing university course under the careful tutelage of The Bigglet, and demonstrates his new skills at every opportunity. If you live in Ayrshire and you’ve found doggy bottom sausages deposited in your garden through even the smallest gap in your fence panels, chances are it was Monkey. Biggles is currently teaching Monkey that it’s a also good idea to strain on his lead to grab discarded fast food wrappers from the gutter, especially if we’re walking by a busy road. In return, Monkey has opened Biggles’ eyes to the merits of dropped paper napkins, and they often compete with each other to get the wettest, most disgusting examples thereof.

Beanie doesn’t seem bothered that Biggles is bonding with the pups, in fact she’s growing closer to them herself; if they’re out in the garden she’s more likely to spend more time outside, happily doing her rounds and making sure that everything is adequately sniffed. Knowing Beanie this could just be a bit of FOMO – her making sure that the pups aren’t getting something she doesn’t know about. Alternatively, there may also be a dodgy romance developing between her and Monkey (that’s worth a post in itself!), but whatever the reason it’s good that she’s not just sleeping her days away.

Getting back to all things Biggly, his lordship celebrated his birthday with a trip to Pets At Home along with Beanie. Their last visit – which happened around Poppy’s birthday – was a very subdued affair; both of them seemed a bit below par and showed little interest even when we did a tour of the food aisle. This time they were back on form, pulling me around, grabbing things from the shelves and generally being very unruly doggy shoppers.

Biggles’ favorite treat in the world is a cereal “Bow-wow” stick and as we went by their display he strained at his lead to help himself to a few. I grabbed a stick and showed it to him, telling him “it’s OK Biggles this one is yours!” but it didn’t register and he kept trying to grab a stick for himself. Only when I tapped him on the head with it a few times did he finally get the message.

As we joined the queue for the checkout Beanie took issue with one of the dogs in front of us, and let out a scolding “Whaaaaaaarrrr!”. Back in the day this would have caused a scene and had us hurrying Beanie out of the shop, but nowadays her outbursts are not taken so seriously. I’m not sure why that is; it could be the fact that Beanie has lost half her teeth, or that if she stands still for any length of time her rear legs get the shakes, or that her voice sounds like an old pissed-off seal with a 40-a-day cigarette habit. Whatever the reason, the dog in question just looked round with an expression that said “Oh right, and what are you going to do about it Grandma?”. That’s the problem with today’s young pups: they just have no respect for their elders. “Whaaaaaaarrrr” indeed!

The drive back from Pets At Home was quite entertaining as everybody wanted to get out of their crate and have a shot at Biggles’ Bow-wow stick. In the end, everybody did get a taste, but the birthday Bigglet got the lion’s share and he proudly and loudly boasted about it to all the neighbours dogs.

Happy 15th Birthday Mr Biggles, maybe we can get you a volume control for your 16th!