Lazy Bank holiday

We have had a very lazy Monday so far :O) Hubbys alarm went off at 7am and woke Bellaroo up but thankfully after a quick wee she came up to bed with me and we all fell back asleep until 1130!! I even woke up to find the cat on hubby and bella on my back! They only tollerate each other if there is food to share or they want to go to sleep?

Ive just cooked us a lovely fry up and Bella has just eaten a large breakfast so in an hour or so we are off for a walk down the river Wey and stop at the pub on the river front for a nice cool drink and slowly wander home. Loverly :O) I am working tonight though so Im enjoying it whilst I can and then its back to boring work tomorrow morning. *Sigh*

Last night I took the camera to go look for the fox and there s/he was and I walked very slowly towards it and tried (and failed) to get a shot of it whilst it kept dipping its head below the tall grass. Just as I got nearish Bella howled and it spotted me and shot off into the hedge
but not before I took these 2 snaps :D
So here is our local foxy.















Right Bells is getting boisterous so walkies here we come.....thats one thing with a beagle if they want something its now or never!! lol! xx S

The fox and the hound

This is something that happened a few weeks ago but will stay with me for sometime Im sure.

Hubby had gone out for a meal with friends and I took Bella out on our usual walk alone this evening around 8pm. We walk this field several times a week and more often than not as 1 of our walks a day-I try and mix up bellas walks so they dont become boring and we are lucky to live surrounded by different places to take her right on our door step.

So there we were, walking round this large field, which is part of the Loseley Estate land, minding our own business when all of a sudden I hear rustling in the hedge next to me and just 4 maybe 5 FT in front of me up pops this fox's head!!! Thankfully Bella only howled and the fox darted off towards a ditch in the hedge line which is when I noticed the 2 fox cubs playing outside their den!!! We had stumbled across a vixen and her cubs lol. I was momentarily frozen to the spot and then fear panicked me thinking what if the mum attacks Bella-Id read online not a few days before hand of dogs being attacked in their own garndens by foxes and here I was right ontop of her den. So I walked away quickly but calmly and we went to the other end of the field.

The following morning I took hubby back to the field and we walked quietly towards the same spot (without bella this time BTW) and crouched down and watched the 2 cubs playing for some minutes before they darted down the den hole. We were able to take a couple of photos before they vanished.


Over the next week we saw them running about whilst we took bella on her walk although we kept our distance and resorted to watching through binoculars. Sadly and worryingly one day on our way out in the car along the main road we saw an adult fox dead after being hit by a car right at the enterence to the field along the road side. :O( It was about 2 more weeks before we saw a fox near the den and we feared the worse. But last weekend we were all out on our usual walk in the evening and there as bold as brass sat a fox enjoying the late evening sunshine and playing about in the grass. I havent taken any pics of him/her but I will take my camera out in the hope of a shot. We also saw said fox have a territory dispute? with another fox right in frontc of us chasing each other across the length of the field in less than 10 seconds! They can run when they need to!

So there you are a real fox and the hound moment and im pleased to say instinct didnt kick in for Bella :O) Yes she howled and barked but stuck right next to my leg.

Its not the first time we have realised just how much nature and wildlife we have on our door step. We had 2 pairs (at least) of buzzards nest in this field and the field opposite and often heard them and saw them soaring across the sky or perched in the tree or on the phone poles. We have occasional kestrals come over. The same field (Fox field as we now call it) often has a lone deer in. We hear cuckoo's and live at the foot of the Surrey Hills, so we have access to some wonderful walks.

This has meant that me and the husband have become quite interested in photography and taking photos whilst out on our walks has seen us to increase our equipment and so we have been able to catch some great pictures over the past 6 months or so.

I may devote a whole seperate post to pictures we have taken as im still working my way round this all :O) Sarah & Bella x

The rain has returned!

After several weeks of dry weather and infact 4/5 days of scorching temps (29c) we are back to dull, dark, wet and windy :(

Poor Bella wasnt impressed when she looked out the patio doors this miserable morning and promptly turned and howled at me as if to say 'what you want me to go out....in that! '

I must add here that Bella seems to of grasped the concept of time and days of the week as this morning she did not stir until 10am and thats only because the post man had a parcel for me to take that I got up at that time. Now I know this sounds normal to many but when you are used to walking up at 7am and working weekends and having children/puppies means a lay in becomes a distant dream or something you often hear people talk about! But last night (Friday) my son was sleeping over his nans as he has gone away for a weeks holiday to the coast, hubby had gone out for birthday drinks so me and the Bug spent a lovely evening snoozing and browsing channels on sky snuggled up together in my dressing gown. Husband returned home around 1230 and after we finished the poor excuse for a film, Haunted! we went up to bed and were very rudely awoken at 3am by a lost pizza delivery guy hammering on our door!!! Terrified as to who was rattling the letter box at that time of night we peeped out the window, which was slighlty ajar and we heard him ring up who ever he was meant to be delivering to only to hear the penny drop across the front garden when he realised he was on the wrong side of town!! So as you can imagine a late night led to a late morning but Bella didnt moan,howl or groan she was just very excited to see me stumble down the stairs to reach the door before the postman walked off as they normally do within 2 seconds of ringing the bell!!

So anyways today we took Bell out for a walk in the pouring rain and suprise suprise we were the only walkers out with their dogs-the amount of fair weather walkers here shocks me. Bella is walked what ever the weather/time/day. She was excellent today and spent the whole walk once in the fields and woods with just the long line trailing so free to roam but never strayed far until we get to this one part of the field where since the first day we went there she has enjoyed running round in large circles in this one section! Its as if she remembers this is zoomie field and so off she runs full pelt, ears flowing backwards tongue lolling out the side of her mouth round in huge circles and then straight back to our sides and looks up at us with a big smile as if to say ok lets go home now im tired. :) But there was very little pulling on todays walk, until we passed a carrier bag in the grass whic hbella just HAD to go and sniff so she tried to pull and sat down and sulked when I said no!! Beagles are stubborn creatures but oh so comical with it. Talking of such fooling around, today Bella had one of her funniest little moments yet.

Eeewwww Slug!!

Bella has a tennis ball bone-its a tennis ball shaped like a bone and quite large but she loves it. Today she brought it to me and I threw it and it bounced out the patio door, Bella hates her indoor toys going outside lol so she trotted out to bring it back in but began howling and I mean full on head back nose to the sky howling! She then got the bone as far as the patio door and began whining at us. I thought for some reason she couldnt get it back in the partially closed door but nope she could do. She kept on howling at this bone and looking at us so I really encourgaed her to show me what shes got and she picked it up very delicatly and brought it over and dropped it at my feet and proceeded to whine and howl and paw at me to look at this bone! At first I thought it has got a leaf stuck to it or worse a bit of poo!! but nope its a little slug!!!
ALL that fuss for a slug. >_< now I know lung worm is every where this year, she has all her regular worming and flea treatments which cover lungworm amongst everything else and I have drummed it into her to leave them alone but not to this extent!! After disposing of said slug she carried on throwing her bone around as happy as larry!

She is due a walk now so I best leave it here for today but will add on some more pics of my Bella bug <3 night S xx

Enjoying the sun last week

Watching a line of ants cross the patio with amusment/confusion/awe on her face!

Adjusting to puppyhood

Bringing Bella home was an exciting car journey. Not only due to having a teeny little big eyed puppy in the back but also our son had no idea we were bringing her home that weekend :) She was very good and as long as I kept my fingers inside the crate for her to lick and nuzzle into she was good. However there is only so long I could bend my arm round the seat to do this so inbetween licking and napping she would do the cutest little howl/bark. We also found out she quite liked Kings Of Leon so we knew she would settle in well with us! After a quick loo break (for all of us) and lots of cuddles we headed on the final leg of our journey.


Her first evening she slotted straight in as if she had been here all her life. Our son was blown away with excitment when he came back from nannys and Bella fell totally in love and they have been inseperable ever since.As you can see she took to him straight away <3


She looked so small on my old dogs large bed and would lay there flat on her back with her legs in the air, and a teddy was given by our son for her to snuggle up with and she was the same size as him (although now he is tiny in comparison, or should I say was as he is now no longer with us after being de-stuffed by bella during a playful day!)

The first few nights

The first couple of nights, understandably were hard. She needed a wee several times a night and got a little lonely downstairs in the kitchen but after moving her cage into the living room she slept soundly from 11pm-6am and by 10 weeks was sleeping from 10pm through until 7am without needing a loo trip in the night :) way to go Bella. I do remember one night, I think day 3/4 with us she whined a few times in the night and I ended up sleeping on the sofa with her snuggled up under my chin and although I was shattered just being snuggled by that little pup who had the beautiful "puppy smell" about her was a wonderful feeling.

Now I cant really recall many moments since then as its been 6 months which is why I wanted to start this sooner than now as I knew I would forget but I'll try and remember.

From 11 weeks she was vaccinated and able to venture outside on walkies and the fun really began. We joined a local dog training class and Bella did really really well and I found it invaluable and recommend every new owner finds a local class. The socialisation for puppy and the tips you pick up became life lines and we found bella loves all dogs regardless of size! From the huge 16 week old great dane to the chiuahua on the same course lol! She just had no fear.

Sadly we didnt finish the course as Bella caught Kennel cough and so needed to be in isolation from other dogs and bless her it was a horrible cough she had. My top tip from the vet warm some honey and a little lemon in warm water and let her lap at it to soothe her throat and it really seemed to work (although honey seemed to give her a sugar rush lol!)

Back out in the world again we had many a joyous walk and plenty of training thrown in daily which meant by 12 weeks Bella would sit, stay, wait, lie down, leave a piece of chicken on her paw without touching, and we began using a long line and a harness to practise recall. Recall had always been a scary thought as beagles are known for having zero yet constant training meant from 16/17 weeks old I could let the long line trail behind her without holding it and she could run about and we would stand 20/30 ft aoart from one another and get her to recall to one of us then command her to go to the other. We can now say on a walk "find daddy..find mummy...find jordy" and she will know who to return to :D

Teething kicked in around 15/17 weeks ( i think ) and it was SO funny when she had one pop out. She would bark and paw at the tooth on the floor and look at us and howl as if to say " what on earth is this mum??" Ive now got 8 in a little box put away as mementos. Looking at her adult teeth I cant believe how teeny they are!

During the teething stage she would chew and chew and my poor sofa took a bit of a bashing but thankfully frozen carrots became more tempting and the sofa got left alone. By 21 weeks or so the teeth had all come through, well all except one baby tooth which is still there and next to the adult tooth it was meant to move out the way for but during her spaying op the tooth will be removed.

As bella has got older her colourings have changed quite dramatically. She came home pretty much black and white with a brown right leg to her sock. Today she is mostly brown and white with a small black section on her back. Her face has also gone from jet black to tan brown. Her ears have also now become in proportion to her face where as for about 6 weeks they looked too big for her body bless her tooo cute!!

She also hit 7 months and became much more relaxed and the loony zoomies as we called them-the mad 30 mins before bedtime started to stop and she is now happiest lying down in front of the fire or recently lazing in the sunshine. She also has a fab routine of waking at 7am, going for a 30-40 min walk and home for breakfast before she goes for a sleep whilst I go to work and I return at lunch time for another walk and then we chill all afternoon until 3pm when my boy comes home and play time begins!! She then has tea about 5pm and sleeps whilst we have tea and then a final walk about 8pm and home to relax/play/train until bed time at 10pm. By doing this she has no seperation anxiety,doesnt howl on leaving alone, hasnt once destroyed anything in her cage whilst inside, and is basically a chilled out pupster. <3

So I want this blog to highlight all a beagle qualities and prove they ARE trainable, they are loveable and to be honest the best breed out there, contrary to most information online/in books which only seem to list their negative traits :(

Introducing Bella

I wanted to start a blog on life with a beagle and Im only just now getting round to it after thinking of it for the last 4 months!!

So I am a beagle owner and just wanted to blog my journey on living with a beagle and the fun and adventures we have together and keep a record of milestones along the way.

My beagle is a tri-colour beagle girl called Bella who is 9 months old on the 1st of June. She was born and bred in Wales Sept 01 2009 and she came home to live with us on the 24th October 2009 aged 8 weeks in Surrey. This picture is of her aged about 5 weeks old.

She has been a breath of fresh air to the household after I sadly lost my border collie X german shepard boy in April 09. The house was far to empty and quiet without a dog and so my quest to find a new family member began in the summer of 09.
My husband had the idea of a beagle and we (I) began researching the breed and looking into breeders. We had agreed on a bitch and already had the name Bella chosen so now the hunt for Bella began. As soon as I saw her photo I knew she was the puppy for us and the rest as they say is history. We visited the puppies in the beginning of October and we both fell totally in love with her and the long count down began until we could travel back to collect her.

I shall leave this here as she is pestering me to play ball with her. I will update later on the next chapter in the story. S xx