Adventures in Training the Beagles

Good Fun Match

Prospering Farms had a fun match last night, it was nice up there, but boy was it hot and when you have beagles who hate to be wet…..

Made a mistake (maybe), with Dulce as I tried her first run without food.  She was NOT very interested though she did a partial run.  Rest of the night, I had it in my hand and used it when she got distracted.  It was a maybe mistake, because it was probably a good test of where she is.

Macy did some really nice distance, got all the contacts, including a couple of teeters.  Forgot the no food rule and had to give her the cookie on the jumpers course but she did really nice weaves and some nice sends.

Looking forward to Fort Worth next weekend.  Dulce is going to go with us to get measured as there is a VMO and she is now 2.  I’ve got her entered in every trial after, but may pull her.  We’ll see.

Weave entries

Tonight's class was all about weave entries. We did well. Finally have Macy weaned off treats. She was really fast tomight especially doing Aframe tunnel.

I also thought bring Dulce helped both dogs.
Posted with BloghuB for Windows Phone 7

Making Progress

As I type, Macy is under my desk (one of her favorite places in my office) and Dulce is hanging out in an cage. 

It’s taken years and lots of stress on my part, and she isn’t perfect yet.  Of course, I need to pick up the trashcan that someone knocked down and put some things away, but the office is always a work in progress.

Last night I ended up staying up much later than I planned because all three beagles were peacefully hanging out in the living room, and I just didn’t want to put her in a cage.  I think I might give her a try in my bedroom since I have new spare CPAP equipment.  Just need to make sure that’s put where she can’t get to it.  Which isn’t easy.

Oh, the stress comes from the fact that while she is only 12” tall, she manages to get things off the kitchen counter, and traditionally dog safe places aren’t.  I call it making bad dog noises.

And boy oh boy is she destructive!  She has torn up headphones (that were placed on the kitchen table, safe from every other dog I’ve owned including a GSD and several border collies).   Also, they weren’t the cheap kind of headphones.

Also, I expect setbacks.  Have had them even with Macy (who is the one who overturned the trash can and took a McCafe cup to chew up.

In an ideal world, I could leave her and Macy in the dog room with the dog run closed and not have to worry about them during the day.  Maggie, however, will always have to be caged when are gone, but we lose her when we’re home.  She’s managed to escape several times when we are here.

Class Last Night and House today

My “dream” of having an agility dog stay in one spot when not running course kind of back fired last night.  I am trying to wean Dulce off of food on the course, so didn’t have any in my hand.  Several times she went back to her mat rather than run the course, thinking that was how to get cookies.

I did give in and have food in hand for last couple of runs, but I think it will get better.  Has with Macy.

Good class with good courses, but boy, she didn’t like having food of the course.  Weird because she had no problems with that during the fun match.

Today has been good, have been upstairs in my hot office and have let her have the run of the house, most of the time she hangs out in her cage in her.  Helps that I occasionally toss a cookie in it.

Macy’s Vet Visit

She weighs 14.1 pounds!  This is the beagle who weighed 17 pounds last year and yes, was fat!  On 3 year vaccinations starting with Rabies, especially since she has been known to have vaccine reactions.

Thanks to @VPI who is reimbursing some of the expense.

Fun Match– Tunnelers

We went to Dog City this morning for a Tunneler’s fun match.  Two reasons, they have a Tunneler’s course at the Texas Chute Out, and Dulce had trouble with zoomies and running out of the ring at the Teacup trial at Dog City.

To do tunneler’s well, you need some distance work.  Tunnel’s are long, and I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I can’t run the outside of a tunnel near as fast as the beagle girl’s can.

Dulce did really well, but did run out of the ring the second run.  Was a bit disappointed the owners decided to block the open exit, so we didn’t get to work it on her third run.  I didn’t notice they did that until after we got in the ring.

Macy did two runs, and they were quite excellent, she went exactly where I wanted her too.  Dulce did well too, and took several of the tunnels from a distance.

Dulce has class tonight.

Fixing Dulce

Still gave two management issues with Dulce

She wont go out to the car on her own.

She cant be trusted loose in the house.

I am using a puppy leash to get her out. I can usually get it on her right It's ligut enough she and I feel she is making the right choice.

She is Getting better in the house but it is still a struggle. some days she just stresses me out as she has to be constantly watched Getting there though.
Posted with BloghuB for Windows Phone 7

“Snooker” class

EE had us do some snooker sequences and we had some fun with them.  Macy got most – the ones she didn’t get were definitely my fault.  EE offered to hold Macy to simulate stays, but since we don’t have stays, I figured it was best to work our way.

Thanks for a great class!

Good Class with Dulce, need to remember to leave the food behind!

We had a good class with Donna last night, but man, it was even hot after the sun went down.  Dulce’s classes seem cursed, one of our class mates left class because she travels too much, another one got hurt and won’t be back for a few months.

Donna said there was rabbit droppings on the field and boy, Dulce sure enjoyed them, especially the first couple of runs.

Once she got her head in the game, she worked really nice.  I forgot to leave food behind until the last fourth of class

Donna even let Cheryl and I sequence with weaves!  Dulce and Macy both need some weave practice this week.

Teacup - July 16

Macy ended up with a 1st place Q and placed in each class we didnt Q.
She tried hard but we missed on time. Sadly there are not many places to do distance.
Dulce participated too and it was her first real trial. She listened and did what I asked and came when called. Her first run was verygood. Second had lots of zoomies.
We have been Having fun, however this is probably the Worst facility for having a trial.
Posted with BloghuB for Windows Phone 7