Adventures in Training the Beagles

NAJ - All first places

Looked at Macy's first Q ribbons and as I suspected, all blues!  Very cool

Fabulous agility weekend

Yesterday looked good but no Q's.

For some reason, I kept pushing or pulling Macy off of the jumps in jumpers.  I think I did it three or four times.  Not sure what I was doing, but got refusals.

Standard was the best we'd done in a LONG time.  She did every obstacle but did a huge leap off the dog run.

TODAY was FABULOUS!

Two Q's, two first places.

Jumpers was clean with 4 time faults.  That was ALL in the weaves.  We're doing Open next week so I'll get to see how 12 poles looks.  I'm thinking she doesn't know how to do six poles. 

That means she has completed her NAJ title and is now Tesoro's Heald Square NAJ.

Standard had two refusals.  That happened either in the weaves or at the teeter or dog chute.  Not sure which but she ducked way from both the teeter and the chute but got her on the obstacles quick, so it was a judges call.  Also had time faults, so we squeaked into the Q with an 85.

I've requested that she be moved to Jumpers for our next trial.  I also need to contact the other trial secretaries.

Rally Class

Macy likes Rally and seems to be teaching herself the necessary skills.  I would like a class the focuses more on practicing the individual skills, this seems more like a fun match, but that's okay too.

We need to learn the following better to be successful (a reminder for myself):

• heeling on left turns -- she tends to forge
• fronts
• left finish
• right finish
• sits
• downs -- especially when mother is walking around her.

We're training at Dog City Training Center in Dallas (off of BeltLine), and it's a great place to train.  Tell them I sent you.

Facility Rental at Dog City Training Center

I just recently turned my Facebook notification for Dog City Training Center to SMS so I get their updates on my phone as text messages (unlimited text).

Sunday, I was on my way to do some light shopping and got a text message that the first person to reply would get a facility rental at 5:00 pm, so after a brief moments of thought, decided to reply.

I snagged it and it was GREAT!  It's $8.00 for students,more for non students (if you sign up tell them I sent you).

Paula changed most of the jump heights for me and volunteered to move equipment.  It gave me a chance to try some of the weave entries that EE showed us in class Wednesday night -- basically positioning at the second pole and that REALLY helps Macy.

We also did some table work, some teeter work and played with pieces of our Wednesday night in sections.

It was really good for both of us and I think I'll do some more.

Macy is very different - rally fun match

Sometimes she is almost like a border collie. She has always been able to learn by watching other dogs which is not always good. she learned almost all of marcie's tricks by watching marcie doing them. i dont want her learning much of maggie's stuff

i took her to a rally fun match last friday but have been too busy to post much about it. we got there real early so i hung out and watched and visited with the trainers.

i ended up doing open and did a reasonable approximation which wasnt bad since we had trained for it. we also did a better approximation of the novice course.

hers the wild part. she loves rally. i think she likes any opportunity for positive reinfocement.

marcie hated it and especially learning to heel. anything that had to be repeated bothered her but not macy. she'll do it over and over.

so i might have a rally dog.

Private Lesson at Dog City Training Center

I've been intrigued by "Crate Games" ever since the DVD came out.  I've watched it, but there is a lot I don't get, and having someone else's eye is also good.  Especially someone who has successfully implemented it.

Thus, I went to a "Crate Games" class put on by Paula Weir when Dog City first opening.  She's awesome.  Willing to adapt to physical needs -- I have a very short dog and bending is hard on my knees.  She put a small crate on top of a table for Macy and I to work with.  It worked great.

I've been working on it from time to time since then,and have made some progress, but wanted some more feedback, so I scheduled a private lesson with Paula last week.  By the way, the class was practically private lesson as it was, but having her undivided attention was nice.

We're making a lot of progress, and I'm insisting on the behavior in the crate in the car, and most of the time in the house. 

If you get an opportunity to see the DVD, or better yet, take a class with Paula, DO SO, it's quite interesting.

By the way, the purpose of Crate Games is to teach the dog to stay in the crate on his own.  I'm not 100% sold on the purpose, but I don't think it hurts anything that is already being trained and it might help.