Predator

I have two dogs. The first is a Beagle bitch and the latecomer is a Beagle x Cavalier King Charles Spaniel dog (aka Beaglier). In the Beaglier, each breed shows itself in the expected ways; like a beagle he loves the great outdoors, but he'll come in to lounge in his armchair long before the beagle will even consider calling the hunt to a halt (whether it be of mice, butterflies, birds, caterpillars etc).

Initially both were city dogs, but the bitch was largely brought up on a farm while the Beaglier...well let's just say you can take the boy out of the city but never the city out of the boy. Picture this: He has just undergone an endurance pat and as I signal the pat has finished (leaning back in my chair) he spots a bug on the floor a few metres away. Ears forward he goes to investigate. He lowers his nose and starts sniffing - its a cockroach and it runs towards him. He spins around, does a huge leap onto his armchair and watches wide-eyed as the cockroach runs beneath it.

For the next 3-4 minutes, he looks around the edges of his chair; he sniffs around the cushions (just in case it happened to jump up beneath one of them I guess), and does a general search of his chair. Once satisfied the cockroach hasn't managed to stow away, he perches his front feet over the edge, bum in the air, and begins to sniff near the bottom of the armchair.

The entire performance reminded me of the stereotypical housewife that saw a mouse. It was the finest 5-7 minutes entertainment I had since I saw the comedian Ross Noble.