Both have had a monthly swim session from a very early age. They’re both very comfortable in the water so we’re starting to introduce some little tricks and drills to keep it interesting and to really work their muscles in all directions. Today we practiced some of our basic heelwork to music moves in the water (just spinning left, right and swimming around me in both directions) and next time the hydrotherapist is going to see about getting some weave poles in the water!

We have a little gym at home and we both find that gym balls are great for building core stability. We figured if it’s good for us that the dogs would probably benefit. I was very surprised at how quickly and easily they jumped up onto the ball. They make it look easy but if you look closely you can see their muscles quivering with effort. I’m not sure what we’re going to do with them now they’ve learned to get up there but I guess we’ll just see how it goes.

And I’ve just had great news from Sue Rose. The next lure coursing event has finally been organised for Sunday 31st January. Anyone interested in going can get full details from Sue and Kevin’s blog:

http://lure-coursing.blogspot.com/

They’re both taking part in the flyball demo at “Paws in the Park” at Rouken Glen Park on Saturday 22nd August (hosted by Glasgow Dog Training Club). And they might be going down to Yorkshire at the end of the month to team up with a couple of dogs from another team to do their first full ‘starters’ competition!

As they worked so hard last night we decided to forego today’s evening walk in favour of a leisurely swimming session at Allers Farm Kennels. It was a good call. It gave them a chance to really chill out and rest their joints whilst stretching out and gently working their muscles in the pool.

And finally here’s the now obligatory “Biggles looks crazy when he’s shaking the water off” shot:

A great time was had by all! We had a lovely birthday cake, party bags and Cuillen and Jamie even got into the spirit of the party by wearing bathing caps and snorkels! All the dogs in our little group enjoy swimming but it’s also a great chance for them to hang out with a bunch of other nice dogs and brush up on their socialisation skills.

I don’t think Val planned on having old lady Sky in the water, but at the last minute she decided it might be good for her. It was lovely to see. She was apparantly quite a swimmer in her day, and it really seemed to give her a little boost. She swam really well and she was looking very perky after her swim.

There isn’t much footage of Tess, Clara, Tara, Beanie and Biggles as they were in the pool first and the camera was fogged up with all the steam.

It’s the Biggly Boy’s birthday next month – we’ll need to think up something special for his party!

Sunday’s fun agility session at the racing put both Beanie and I back in the mood for a practice session. It was too short notice to hire the agility barn, but as today’s course plan shows, you can actually fit quite a good course into our tiny, postage stamp garden!

It was a tricky course in places are there were two points where there were different possible routes. I had to make it clear to Beanie with my body language what way I wanted her to go (something I’ve not had much success with so far), and she had to pay attention.

• After the first time over the long jump she had to go through the tunnel (4), but the second time she was to go over the jump (10)
• After the first time through the tunnel she was to go through the weaves (5), but the second time over the jump (11)

Anyway, enough rambling. Here’s the video of Beanie in action and as you will see we didn’t do too badly :

We’re still not doing much jumping with Biggles. We’ll hold off on that until he’s a year old. However, we do give him the occasional little go, and we do quite a bit of work on commands and directional controls. Until recently it was hard work – he got so excited he simply couldn’t pay attention. But he’s doing really well now – in many ways he’s easier to work with than Beanie as he doesn’t have her strong independent streak. When he does start agility properly he’ll make fast progress!

It wasn’t just in agility that we made progress. After a very energetic walk in the park we decided to go down to the river to cool down. Louise (Tess, Clara and Tara’s owner) had suggested that we try throwing Beanie and Biggles favorite dried fish snacks into the river to encourage them in for a swim (although Beanie is an excellent swimmer she likes the pool heated to at least 29 degrees and tends to avoid rivers). As you can see it was a big success (Thanks for the tip Louise – now we can wash the mud off BEFORE we go home !):

This might look like a kiss at first glance, but in actual fact Biggles has found a leaf and Beanie wants it!

We came across this in the middle of the park:

There didn’t seem to be anyone around so I’ve no idea what it was all about. But I thought it was quite funny.

We were only booked for a 30 minute swim, but the hydrotherapy centre had a visit from the local vet and we were asked if we’d mind staying on a bit longer so he could watch Beanie and Biggles swim. Beanie ended up in the pool for about 45 minutes and she swam non-stop just as you see in the video – and STILL we had trouble gettting her out when it was time to go home.

Beanie’s confidence in the water is really growing fast! Biggles is a little slower to get started, but when he does he swims like a little torpedo.

I think you can just about see his Biggles’ sunburnt lip in the video – that happened at the Beach on Tuesday. He’s now got his own special lipstick to wear when he goes out in the sun….and true to form our little boy is more than happy about that! A boy has to look his best at all times.

The next planned swim session is on the 30th May with Glasgow Dog Training Club buddies Cullin, Jamie, Tess, Clara and Tara. Beagle twins Tara and Clara will be celebrating their 1st birthday on the day. Clara and Tara came to Beanie’s first birthday party back in October so I think we’ll be having their birthday party at the pool – a ‘real’ pool party!

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be. We’ve had a lot of new dogs joining the club recently and whilst there is some real talent some are still a little unruly. Little Beanie has born the brunt of a few ‘fouls’ in recent weeks. She’s still very young, and also very small compared to the other dogs. So we felt that it wasn’t in her best interests to race again until things settle down.

Beanie and Biggles took the news in their stride – trophies and titles mean nothing to Beagles. They just enjoy the thrill of the chase. But poor mum and dad didn’t take it quite as well. Fortunately we had a great weekend to make up for the disappointment.

On Saturday morning we headed to the park as usual. Within moments of letting Beanie and Biggles off lead the familiar “aaaarf, aaaarf, aaaarf” started up – in stereo. This could only mean one thing – both Beanie and Biggles were hot on the tail of a fast dog. And sure enough when we looked around we saw Beanie disappearing over the horizon, hot on the heels of a lurcher. And bringing up the rear (not that far behind either) was Biggles. The lurcher was really shifting, but Beanie managed to keep her in her sights. After what must have been a mile or two of sprinting around the meadow Beanie finally wore down the lurcher and moved in for the kill (well, a sniff and a play):

Later in the day we headed off to Allers Farm Hydrotherapy for a swim session with buddies Cullin and Jamie. I’ve never seen Beanie or Biggles swim so well! Beanie was in the pool for a good 40 minutes playing fetch with a sausage loaded tennis ball. I had difficulty getting her out when it was time to go home. Biggles didn’t stay in for as long, but he too is getting very confident – and he’s a cracking little swimmer now!

Today we went to flyball. And as luck would have it our teacher, Sarah, had decided to do time trials. Paul took all of his cameras along and we managed to get excellent footage of the dogs. Here’s our two little hooligans in action:

Beanie managed a very respectable 5.98 seconds and Biggles set a new Lomond Flyball Beagle boy record with a whopping 8.23 seconds!

I’m amazed at how quickly Beanie has learned to do this. She’s only had a few classes.

Biggles doesn’t yet do flyball properly – he’s too young. Mainly we work on teaching him to retrieve the ball. But he gets a couple of goes at running the course over low jumps in classes. Until now it’s been very slow and puppy-like. But he surprised us today with a couple of glimpses of real athleticism.

Although most of the time he was busy trying to figure out why daddy (his usual handler) was standing on the other side of a fence with a camera and how he was going to take the ball back to him so he could get his treat.

Here are some more shots – first some of Beanie & Biggles’ classmates:

And finally a couple of pics of the advanced class in action:

Beanie certainly wasn’t tired after yesterday’s flyball and racing – we couldn’t keep her out of the pool…

Biggles needed cuddles at first:

But soon started to find his sea legs:

He was soon just as eager to swim as Beanie:

To round up the session Biggles finished up by knocking Murphy off the gurning podium. What a champ!

Biggles is doing great! It really paid off introducing him to the water from a very young age.

No photos I’m afraid as Paul & I both go in the pool with Beanie & Biggles. I’ll try and get someone else to get a few snaps next time.