The end is in sight

Bella is on day 20 of her season and they say to leave it 24 to be sure she is safe so I cant wait to be able to take her out again at sociable hours and for her to interact with other dogs again. She has missed her friends and the last week has been quite stressfull as she has been very boistrous and playful around 4pm but there are too many other dogs around at that time plus we seem to be in the middle of a heat wave so far too hot too and so Ive been trying to train a little more but she will just walk off and ignore me and go to her lead and howl :( poor girl.

Shes been out at 1030pm but its just not the same and me and hubby have been attacked by mosquitos every evening too. yucky!! We did take her over the park one night and for a drive in the car but we stayed next to the car mostly and if we saw another dog we dived back in the car lol!!

The infection and sickness has gone thankfully and she is on no more painkillers or antibiotics bless her.

I am on the hunt for a pool for bella but I think I will be unsuccessful-plus husband has said its silly "shes only a dog!, she knows when to cool down etc" but I think she would like it and would get her used to swimming as once summer is over I would love to take her to the beach and let her swim about and play. So I am trying to sort out a hose and sprinkler so she can cool off and my grass is dying in the heat so will be good for that too.

Ive just taken a pic of bella on my old dogs bed as when we first got her she couldnt really climb up on to it and she was teeny on it.... but now she is stretched out completely on it and shows just how much she has grown in the last 6 months.

Hot Sausage!

I swear Bella will be the death of me one day! Yesterday we went for a family BBQ at my mums house and Bella decided to help herself to a sausage straight off the BBQ! The sausage didnt even get a chew it went straight down her throat!! So as you can imagine within minutes she was being violently sick and thankfully sausage came up (totally intact) but she spent the next 3 hours being sick and eating grass, so in turn the cycle of sick continued and I was panicking madly that she would be really sick. Also her antibiotic had not long been given to her so chances are last nights wasnt properly ingested *sigh*

Anyhows apart from sick in her cage over night she is much better today after having rice for breakfast-nice and bland and scrambled egg for lunch with her meds and she has kept them both down so all good.

Also touch wood today her bleeding is easing off woooooo. But now her fertile week begins so lets pray she isnt too desperate to go find herself a romeo huh!

Right I best go try and give her the antibiotic-3/4 of a tablet why cant they make it half as trying to break them into 1/4's is mission impossible lol!! and thats before ive even tried to get her to swallow it lol!!

Poorly Bell

My little girl is really struggling with her season at the moment :( She is on day 10 and so her blood loss (sorry for so much gory info lol) should be easing but its just the same as if she was on day 1 and the swelling of her *bits* is unbelievable-you have to see it to believe it but lets just say she is so swollen she cant sit down! We noticed on Sunday just how large she was looking and how uncomfortable she was that I took her to the vets on Monday (yesterday) and she has a infection which has caused odema (fluid swelling) and making it painfull for her to sit down properly. So she is on antibiotics and pain killers to try and reduce the swelling and infection. Vet did suggest I apply an ice pack to her bottom to help ease swelling but can you imagine trying to apply that to a puppys behind!! Exactly so thats not happening lol!!

Its definately put me off considering her for breeding (even though it was really just a distant dream as I havent a clue and money to really follow it through) as I cant put her through another season and although we had planned on spaying her we looked at all pros and cons and decided to spay after her first season-in hindsight I wish I had done it before season now but again we made a decision based on pros and cons and thought we chose the right path.

Anyways at the moment the painkillers kicked in as she is fast asleep next to me and relaxed so thats an improvement on the constant fidgiting she was doing bless her.

In a little while we are off to my mums for a BBQ and she can have a lovely play in mums big garden and with the boys playing football if she is up to it.

Todays pic is one I took the other night. She was behind me on the sofa and we snuggled up and I said say cheese bell and looks like she did just that LOL!! please excuse the crazy husband in the background!!!

All growed up!!

My little Bella is now offically a grown up girl! On Sunday she came into season and so I guess this marks the end of puppy hood and the start of......doggy hood??

Little flower is all clingy and cuddly (which I dont mind) and seems a little uncomfortable- I didnt realise just how similar a season is to a womans time of the month! eeeewwww lol.

So we have the next 24 days or so on limited "off peak" walking to avoid other male dogs and extra training sessions to tire her out mentally, although tbh she is quite sleepy at the moment so its not been too bad. Ive noticed her dreaming more when she is sleeping-I must try and record that as she sounds SO sweet oofffing in her sleep :D

Besides seeing as we have hit the teenage stage all training seems to of gone out of her floppy ears and we are having to go back over all the basics again as if she never learnt in the first place. *sigh* so extra training isnt such a bad thing.

I'll leave it here for now as she is wanting snuggles :)

9 months old.

Yesterday our Bella turned 9 months old
Monday we took her for a lovely walk along the river and stopped at the pub for a quick (soft) drink. She was an angel and very well behaved just observing everyone and enjoying being admired by everyone! She laps up attention! Whilst in the park we had a little training session and we have perfected our crawl command in 3 goes :D very quick at learning new commands. She often on walks will drop down on her belly and crawl along with her bum in the air so whilst asking for a roll over and lie down in the park she started to crawl towards me so I just add the cue word (crawl) as she does the action and after repeating 3 times she can do it on command. Beagles are very quick learners. Here she is mid roll over.













She was so tired after our lovely walk that she came home and jumped straight on the sofa and stayed like this for a few hours! Bliss.
I also wanted to jot down all Bellas commands and tricks she does.

• Lie down
• Sit
• Wait
• Stay
• Paw
• Speak (bark)
• Sing (howl)
• Find Jordy/mummy/daddy
• Fetch ball
• Crawl
• Roll over
• Bedtime (goes to her crate and lies down)
• Wee wee (wee's more or less on command on walks)

Right She's had enough of sunbathing and is now snoring on my lap making this impossible to continue typing one handed!! Think I'll join her for a snooze :D Sarah x

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