Adventures in Training the Beagles

How did I not know my dog? Dulce’s National Beagle Specialty picture

Well, her most dominant marking – her blanket isn’t showing.  Her blanket looks like angle wings and isn’t completely black as this picture is showing.  I had to look closely at her face.  Also I couldn’t tell the size of the beagle from the picture.

But it’s definitely her and I’ve purchased the picture.

Macy's Retirement Pictures

There were others, but these were the best.

I love Summer (both the season and the dog)

Not only do I love Summer, but my husband does too.

I was warned she misbehaved, she was loud, and she didn't like her nails done.  Oh, she climbs on tables.

She does climb on tables, so does Macy and Dulce.  As for behavior, not any more than any other puppy.

She IS loud. We're working on that. 

She is very attached to me and likes my husband.  That means I have to go to upstairs when she goes to bed, but I had to do that for a while with Jamie.  She was vey loud this morning and very loud when I tried to take her to yoga.

Oh, and she is better than Macy at nails.

Macy is retired from agility

She retired from taking classes in July but I knew I wanted to bring her to the NBC National Speciality.

She ran well but slow and I think she enjoyed the trip.She will be 12 in January and she has been to two National Specialities. 

She reminds everyone of Ben and they like her size. She is only 12" tall. 

So why the dog swap?

Well, the biggest reason is Jamie's size And the fact he is a boy. 

In thirty years of beagles, we have had 2 15" beagles and only one boy.  In the last week he has been too heavy to lift, a big problem when you are showing a table breed.  And three different times this weekend he ripped the leash off my arm.  I have a bruised, rope burned arm to prove it.  And a few cuts.

It was frightening enough but the agility harpies had to screech at me.  Something had scared him and nothing I taught him worked.  We went back to the Tiny House and worked on things but the damage was done. I lost all trust in him.  

On the other hand, my breeder has complained about Summer, every time I have been around her. However those are behaviors I am used to and either don't mind or can fix in a hurry.  Monday, I said, if she makes you that crazy why don't we swap dogs.

This morning she came to me and told me we're swapping, and we did it after breed judging.

I was a bit afraid of traveling with a new dog, but off we went.  This is how I like to introduce new dogs away.  Sit the, together for a few hours and introduce them slowly.

And a round of crate games fixed the barking in the crate.

We are going to coolness so we can take turns in showing her in the class we like, me, owner handler, her bred by.

 

 

 

Dulce got the best compliment ever! #DAD

A gentleman came up to our table today and gave Dulce the best compliment ever.  

He said he travels a lot and that she is definitely the real deal. Seems he gets tired of all the fake service and emotional support dogs.

Made my week!

Dulce Progress! Finally getting back to where we were.

I’ve been upset with myself because I made a poor decision regarding Dulce and agility.  I decided both dogs were only getting food off the course.

Well, it completely shut down Dulce to the point she didn’t want to do agility any more.

We didn’t make any progress, even when I put the food back in my pocket at our regular training place. 

A lady I’ve known for years started teaching agility at her home, with a really nice field.  She changed my approach with Dulce and it’s taken months, but yesterday at her Obsession sessions, Dulce was into agility all day.  I lost her every once in a while, but it was in the same places the other dogs got lost.  We never did figure out why.

We ran the Novice/Starter course 3 times, and the Advanced course 2 times.  They were tough courses much harder than we’ll see at the National Beagle Specialty.  Even the Novice/Starter course had lots of backsides.

I’ve learned something important – I have to have a verbal party just about every obstacle.  Which is different because my dogs have always run better when I was as quiet as possible, they wanted me just to call the obstacles.

She doesn’t like to run agility when it’s hot or even sunny.  But maybe we can change that.