We have been so lucky with the weather this season… I mean, we are at the end of June and we haven’t had a *freezing* morning yet (touch wood). It was lovely, sunny and warm.

We had about 35 beagles, I guess… so not as many as the last few weeks. Still, we had a few new people.

The morning went off without anything particularly noteworthy happening. Other than Marmalade doing her disappearing trick after a line. Oscar has also met a new partner in crime, in little Denver! They are attached by Oscar’s tail to Denver’s nose! They came running back to us after they completed a line… only to SPEED off together, to do the line AGAIN – all by themselves! And they did the same thing on the next line!!
I don’t know about Denver, but Oscar is STILL recovering from yesterday

After the very last line A LOT of dogs went back on the line to try and find us… so when we got to the end, we had to head out to look for them. It felt like a loooooong search! The grass was also really long in this area, so it was quite tricky. But everyone was found and went home filthy and exhausted!

It was another fun morning out on the highveld!

Sign up for the next hunt on 5 July here. Lets hope the weather keeps on like this!

Remember that Beagles.co.za is now selling Frontline Tick & Flea control at discounted rates… click here for more info & prices

Until next time!
-Happy Beagling,
Tanya

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Oscar

It is getting colder every week and waking up is getting more difficult every time! Some of us have more trouble with the early mornings than others. While most of us arrived on time and properly dressed… Poor Roti seemed to have had a very tough time leaving the comforts of his basket at home, and he arrived in his Pyjamas! Can you believe it
Trevor kept trying to convince us that Roti was actually wearing his “Racing Silks” but we know better! – I mean, seriously – that face has “EMBARRASSED” written all over it! hee hee!

Roti looking all embarrassed in his PJs

Every week seems to set a new record with the number of beagles! Again, we had between 45 and 50 beagles! Some new faces again, which is always nice… especially when the new faces are in the form of a super cute 8 week old puppy called Zoe

8 week old Zoe

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Another new face, was this one… although we weren’t too sure how he fitted into the mix at the “BEAGLE Hunt” … oh well

I hope no one notices I'm not a Beagle!

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The hunt went well… with some long tough lines. The new dogs who have joined us this season are continuing to do rather well. The beagles did much better with the terrain than we did – their legs are so much shorter than ours, but they have so much more energy than we do – running and running and running through the veld!
Look how exhausted Charlie looks

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Afterwards the guys braaied wors for all of us, and we tried our best to keep all the greedy beagles out of our food! I also did a few sales of T-shirts, stickers, flasks and badges from the BeagleShop (remember a portion of proceeds is donated to charity!)

Thanks to Jane for organising the meat, rolls, plates etc. Everyone seemed to have a good time!

It was the last time we’ll be seeing Leanda for a while – she is due to have her baby girl in 3 weeks! We wish her and Gary all the very best! Can’t wait to meet the little girl! (or at least see some photos!)

Our next hunt is on Sunday 21 June at 8am… sign up here

Quite a few people got there nice and early, luckily it’s still nice and warm… we should enjoy the weather while we can.

There were loads of new faces and it was great to meet all the new beagles, as well as catch up on news from our friends from last year. We got to meet little Matthew (Bruce and Wendy’s little one) who seemed to enjoy his first hunt, before he decided he needed some breakfast! Congratulations to Leanda and Gary who are expecting their second little girl. Between two kids and a horde of Beagles, I wish them GOOD LUCK and much strength!!

Back to the Beagles though…

I’d just like to give a quick welcome Ahhhrrooooooooooo to the new people who joined us:

Bailey, Sasha, Denver (cute little Denver got his dad to bring along his monster camera!), Basil, Snoopy (who also joined us last year, but is now old enough to compete), Boogaloo, Keerah, Vince (Harry and Oscar’s gorgeous brother… ok, I am biased!),  Bart & Ralph (who joined us last year, but are now old enough to compete), Ruby & Nooga (who also joined us last year, but are now old enough to compete), Ace (who did very well for a first timer), Loni, Nelson & Aimee (who were also puppies with us last season), Dexter, Dee Dee, Chuck & Norris (insert giggle here), Ozzy, Gypsy, Benji, Gina, Coco,  Baxter and Maggie. If I have left any one out, I do apologise!

It was quite chaotic trying to organise everyone and distribute bibs to all the dogs and collect the annual fees from everyone… but I think everything went relatively smoothly.

Shaw gave us all a run down of how the hunts work and then we started the morning with a long walk out to the valley where we would hunt.

All the dogs were scented… and the Huntmaster and the rest of the people who walk upfront were on their way. The grass is REALLY LONG at the moment! All the beagles were pretty excited, new and old – whether they knew what was going on or not! Only a few dogs finished the line… I think the beagles are quite out of practice, and maybe a little bit unfit! … I won’t get into the fitness of us humans… I felt myself puffing and panting more than I’d like to admit!!

We only ran 3 lines in total, as this was more of a practice for the “oldies” and an introduction to the “new guys”.  A few dogs went wondering off on their own mission, but they were all found pretty quickly by our “search party”.

I hope all the new people had a fun morning and will be back next time. It does take a while for the Beagles to get the idea and follow the trail all the way to the end… But it will happen. The feeling you get when your dog finishes his first line is amazing…! You think you will burst with pride!!

Anyway, the morning was a success… my dogs slept ALL of Sunday!

I hope to see you all next time (19 April).  Click HERE to book

Until then, Happy Beagling!

-Tanya

Please if it is your 1st hunt, take the time to read through them carefully. They are available for you to read off the site here and also in PDF format for you to print and read at your leisure. Download Rules here

For the regular Beaglers please refresh yourself on the rules so that we are all aware of what is expected of us. If everyone (New and Old) is familiar with the rules this will help the morning run smoother.

-Peter