Our Beagle Escape Artist – Poppy the Little Houdini

Beagles are clever, stubborn and notoriously good at finding their way into places they shouldn't.

Or, in Poppy's case, finding her way out of places she should be!

They really are loveable little rogues, and for a while our Poppy earned herself a new nickname:

Houdini.

Poppy Discovers the Neighbours

Half of our garden is surrounded by a wall, while the other half – the side we share with our neighbours – is fenced.

And naturally, it's the fence that caught Poppy's attention.

Our neighbours had a gorgeous Springer Spaniel called Barney, and Poppy absolutely loved him.

The pair would meet through the slats in the fence, sniffing and licking each other while their tails wagged furiously. They'd race from one end of the fence to the other, desperately trying to play together despite having a rather inconvenient fence between them.

It was very sweet.

Until Poppy decided the fence was no longer going to stand in the way of true friendship.

The Great Escape

One day, Poppy decided she'd had enough of admiring Barney from afar.

She broke through the fence.

Suddenly, there was Poppy in our neighbours' garden having what can only be described as five minutes of complete doggy madness with Barney.

They raced around the garden together, delighted with themselves, until our neighbour eventually brought our little escape artist home.

You'd think that would have been the end of it.

Unfortunately, Poppy had now discovered something very important.

She knew she could get through the fence.

And there was absolutely no stopping her.

Patching the Fence... Again

We'd patch up the fence.

Poppy would pull it apart.

We'd repair another section.

Poppy would find another weakness.

At one point, she was breaking into our neighbours' garden two or three times a day.

My poor neighbours!

As much as they thought Poppy was cute, I'm sure having an unexpected Beagle repeatedly appearing in their garden must have started to wear a little thin.

Hubby reinforced the fence, but Poppy simply treated each repair as a new engineering challenge.

You could practically see her thinking:

Interesting. Let's see what they've done here...

I Know What You're Doing, Poppy

Eventually, letting Poppy into the garden became something of a military operation.

I had to stand at the patio door and watch her.

Interestingly, whenever I was watching, Poppy suddenly had absolutely no interest in the fence whatsoever.

None.

She'd wander casually around the garden.

Sniff the air.

Look at the grass.

Admire the scenery.

Fence? What fence?

She couldn't possibly imagine why I was standing there watching her.

But I knew.

And she knew that I knew.

The second I looked away, she'd make a dash towards the fence.

Yeah, Poppy. I'm onto you.

She Even Started Testing Me

Then Poppy took things to another level.

She'd bark to be let outside.

I'd open the door and stand there watching her.

She'd walk outside, sniff the air and stand around doing absolutely nothing.

No toilet.

No playing.

Just... standing.

Then, when she realised I wasn't going anywhere, she'd come back inside.

Ten minutes later?

Bark.

She wanted to go out again.

And we'd repeat the whole performance.

I'm convinced she was testing me to see whether eventually I'd open the door and forget to stand guard.

Because Poppy knew exactly what she wanted.

Barney.

Then There Were the Kids...

Of course, my carefully organised Beagle security system had one major weakness.

The children.

They'd forget that they weren't supposed to let Poppy outside unattended.

The door would open.

Poppy would see her opportunity.

And she'd be gone.

I'd be happily getting on with the housework, completely oblivious to what had happened, when there would suddenly be a knock at the door.

I'd open it to find my neighbour standing there.

With Poppy.

Again.

At that point, I think I owed them considerably more than a box of chocolates.

Our Loveable Little Rascal

At the time, I hoped Poppy's determination to escape into Barney's garden was simply a puppy phase she'd eventually grow out of.

Meanwhile, Hubby continued reinforcing the fence and Poppy continued inspecting his work for potential weaknesses.

Looking back now, though, it's stories like this that make me smile.

Poppy was mischievous, determined, clever and incredibly stubborn – everything you'd expect from a Beagle and then some.

She certainly kept us on our toes.

And while our neighbours might not have appreciated quite so many surprise visits, Poppy clearly thought there was nothing wrong with popping next door whenever she fancied seeing her best friend.

Our little Houdini. Our loveable rogue. And most definitely a little rascal.