Adventures in Training the Beagles

The last week has been very hectic

We dropped into a different class last week, and it was good, but no near as good as the Wednesday night, 8:00 pm class -- which is a REALLY good thing since we ended up getting moved into that class, this Monday.

Rally class is going really well -- we are going to a signs class the half hour before for 4 weeks and I am getting better at figuring out the signs.  We're having a periannal problem, stays, but all the moving stuff is going well.

I do focus on a heads up heeling but guess what gets most beagles?  Yep the nose.

We also go to go to a fun match held at the facility where most of our trials are held.  That really boosted our confidence level, as I wasn't stressing over the course.  I also think that I have figured out how to get her nose back -- it got caught several times, which does happen in a dirt horse barn.  I picked her up once and that really bothered her, but walking towards her helps too.  I don't think I want to try to run towards her, but we'll see.  And if the run is all ready an NQ, I will pick her up.

Agility class tonight was good.  I screwed up one course, but since it was a long one, and I just zigged instead of zagged, it wasn't too bad.  Macy is a bit challenged since most of the dogs are competing in Excellent but it did work out okay and if I focus on her, I don't lose her as bad as I could.

Looking forward to DOTC and two chances at getting out of Novice finally.  We only need one leg, which I confirmed on the AKC website today.

Favorite Store for Clicking Training Supplies - Sit Stay

http://www.sitstay.com/dog/supplies/servlet/CategoryDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&categoryId=25402&top=Y - These are their clearance items.

They have a huge range of supplies for clicker training, for clickers, to targets, to training books and videos.

Super fast service, and really nice people.  I've known them as long as I have known anyone on the internet!

Good week of classes

We got to go to a more advanced class -- the dogs were competing in Open and Excellent.  Macy did REALLY well, got distracted where the puppies were trained, but hey, they left cookies in the dirt.

We also went to a new class to us, I've decided to get more serious about Rally, and went to a 1/2 sign familization class, and I think we'll do that for just the next six weeks.  I am even thinking about looking at the Rally schedule and see about when I might want to enter.

She needs to learn how to stay but then she doesn't do that for agility either, and learn some more heeling skills, but she is doing well.  She really seems to like it.

Getting our Heads in the Game

Macy and I have three weeks before our next trial.  I want to work on two things extensively.  The first is my weight.  There is no denying that my weight affects how she runs.  I’ve stayed at the same weight for a over a month, and I need to change that – that was the point of the lap band surgery.

I also need to work on her focus.  Rally is helping that and I also need to work on her stays.  So yes, I’ve been working on all of this all along. 

Our Q rate over the last three weekends was 25%, which is a whole lot better than it was.  We’ve got two more trials this season, and I’d like to be out of Novice.  The good news is that we only need one more leg.  Even better, I’d like to be out of Open, but  that probably isn’t possible.

Macy's Head is either in the Game or Not - Took 2nd in Novice Standard

The sad thing, is that I don't know until she's in the ring.

Today is a good example.  We had a horrible Open JWW run.  Awful, and everyone said her nose was completely down and she definately wasn't listening.

Part of it is the cold.  I am so stiff from the cold I can barely move.  We've had two days of overcasts 40 degrees and that barn just stays cold.  So I understand that she can't be in the game.

However, she had a fabulous Standard run.  And the funny part was that I was just about ready to leave, and kept saying I was going to. 

By the way, here is a major irritation on my part.  Someone decided to check in the Novice dogs and a bunch had decided to leave.  Like there was an 8" dog checked in we couldn't find.  Besides for me, I have a routine.  I watch the course build, walk it in my head, check in, walk the course, go get my dog.  It's part of me putting my own head in the ring.  Having a bunch of dogs checked in who aren't there is irritating because the ring steward has to find them.

Back to the run ... The only difference I can see was that she was really throwing behaviors and asking for food.  Hate that little impatient bark, and usually put up the food as I don't want another criticizer.

However, she was taking everything I was throwing out her, and just a moments hesitation on her problem obstacles, in fact, she threw herself onto the teeter and it just took a moment of concentration to get her in the paint.  Lovely.  Weaves sucked, had to sniff each pole, but that's okay we were well under time according to the peanut gallery.

She took a second place, just seconds behind a Papillion and ran clean.  Very nice!  We need one more Novice Q.

DFWESS Trial

This is our third agility trial in a row.  Or should I say trials, since each trial is officially one day.  The weather is better this week, still cold but a few degrees warmer and much drier.  We had a steady light falling of snow last Sunday.  And I did see some sunshine in Dallas, but not in McKinney.

Open Jumpers came up first.  Vast improvement over last week, all the bars were up when we got done.  However, she got caught by a smell at the beginning of the course, and I think we got two refusals.  I’ll have to look at the scores.   One refusal because she just wasn’t with it, the second probably at the weaves.  She was really distracted there too.  When I finished I felt like I had pulled her over every obstacle and the horn went off for time.  Still much better than last Saturday which was 5 refusals and an E for a bar.  Today was three refusals in Open.

Novice Standard sucked.  She got distracted on the first long line, took the A-Frame instead of the dog walk, took forever to down, and was whistled off before she finished the last four obstacles due to time.  She’s obviously done better.

But I’m pleased to see that she hasn’t knocked any bars. 

Hopefully tomorrow is warmer.

Training this Week

We did our last agility class at Dog City Training Center – probably do some facility rentals from time to time but we don’t really need to do two agility classes a week and I need less to spend the extra money.  Once I get past the spring expenses we’ll see but I might have the second dog by then.

Both our classes went well, but she was still very sniffy.  Got a lot of good work done.

Rally is also going well, but haven’t been making a lot of progress on staying.   That’s so hard for her – and yes, she’s four years old and has an agility title (NAJ).

My Rally instructor tried handling her and got no where, which in a way is gratifying because she does do a reasonable job on it with me.  I still have food in my hand, and I am not going to try Rally until the fall.  It does seem to help with attention in agility though and gives us more stuff to do before we go into the ring.

No Q's but a good trial

Macy competed in Open JWW's for the first time this weekend.  Saturday she had 5 refusals and one crashed jump and Sunday she had 2 refusals and a crashed jump.  In fact, she also crashed a jump in Standard on Saturday and wouldn't down, but I didn't blame her much on the down.   It was cold.

Though the response I've gotten on the crashed jumps were -- Macy, crash a jump?  Yeah, she never does in class, but here's what she was doing:

Head down, sniffing the dirt, but going the same direction.  Hey, there's the jump, whoops took off to late and "crash".  In fact, that's how we got the refusals.

Sunday I figured out that if I talked to her incessantly, she did better and put her head up, which is why jumpers results were better.

Standard was better on Sunday too, I scooped her up and went to the car and didn't bother to check scores, but she did everything and looked good up until and after the teeter.  She went up it, but couldn't bring herself to go all the way.

Both days, afterwards, we went over to Dog City Training Center to fix things.  They do a facility rental for students at $8.00 and I'm taking more and more advantage of that.  They had a fun match on Saturday so they left the course up for me and I used it after.  That was great, and we're doing a lot of work on the table.  At home too.

By the way, there is a nice looking little beagle up in Utah that might make someone a good agility dog, say something in the comments if you want to know more.