For the 25th and last time, Jan (79) and Jenny (74) van Dijk organized the annual Ot and Sien Beagle walk in Roden on Sunday. About 33 Beagles and their owners participated. A conversation with the couple.
Hi Jan and Jenny, 25 years walking with Beagles! Why are you stopping?
Jenny: “We are getting older by the day. Jan turns eighty at Christmas. It’s been nice for us. Organizing a walk is not that difficult, but you still feel responsible for everyone and all dogs.”
How did you start?
Jenny: “At the time, the Beagle club asked if people wanted to organize walks. Because we ourselves regularly walked through the woods here, we wanted to do that. And since then we have always walked the same route, through the Mensingebos and the Sterrenbos.” Jan: “We’ve been doing this since 1996. It couldn’t go on a few times; twice because of corona, and once because of the foot and mouth disease virus.”
What’s so great about Beagles?
Jan: „We have had Beagles for thirty years. Yes, what’s great about it… The character huh? If you call them while they are sniffing, they won’t just come. They have to work out their trail first. They can hunt for three days in a row.” Jenny: „The Beagle is stubborn. You can teach him a lot if you reward him. Then he wants to do everything. A Beagle never does anything just like that. He always thinks: what is it moving?
During all those walks you will probably experience something.
Jan: “It once happened that dogs ran away after a walk. One has been gone for three days. It wasn’t our dog, it belonged to people who walked with us. That was a long time ago though. Early 2000s maybe? I don’t remember exactly. No, that’s not fun when a dog runs away. He was also difficult to catch. Then we were called: ‘he is sitting there-and-there’. On the bike there, he was already gone! Finally we found him in the parking lot of Theater de Winsinghhof. He just sat there, on his ass.”
Will you never go for a walk with Beagles again?
Jenny: “We don’t know if anyone will take over from us. But if someone else is going to organize it, we will definitely keep walking. Then we just join in again.”