Swimming is just as good for dogs as it is for humans. It exercises muscles in ways that walking and running can’t, and does so without loading the joints. Unfortunately Beagles tend not be keen on entering water - a trait that Beanie shares. She became a little less reticent after the “Pool Party” at the Pets A & E therapy pool, so we decided to give her another, longer swimming session on Tuesday.

She was a little uneasy and splashy at first, but with gentle coaxing from the excellent staff she started to relax. By the end she was confident enough to show an interest in one of the toys.

The session concluded with a quick shower and good rubdown with a towel.

I think some kind of perfumed gel was used for the shower because Beanie smelled unusually fresh as sat in my lap on the way back home. Perhaps that’s the real reason why Beagles aren’t keen on swimming - one session washes away the delicate eau de toilet built up by hours of rolling around in dead frog carcasses and assorted wildlife droppings. Aagh! There’s never a pile of fox poo to hand when you really need it!

The day after her session at the pool I did note that Beanie was quite happy to wade through a stream at her local park, so it seems to have done some good. Maybe another session or two will make her brave enough for a little solo swim in the park’s lake. It would at least enable her to gobble up the bread that the silly two-legged types keep throwing at ducks

It was agility time again at Beanie’s training class this week, and this time I took the camera along:

As you can see, Beanie had to be kept on lead for fear that she’d shoot off after any unguarded treats. Despite that, we are starting to regain some of the ground lost when her sniffer went into overdrive, at least at home. We can now place tempting treats on the ground and successfully recall Beanie without any unplanned snacking. In fact it’s quite amusing to watch. She stares at the various edibles longingly as she waits to be called, yet gives them a wide berth as she runs to us. It’s almost as if she knows she won’t be able to control herself if she gets to close to temptation…

Recall outside the house is starting to improve too. I put this down to an adaptation of a “natural training” exercise we’ve been trying:

• Stalk the dog slowly with a suitable tug-toy ready in one hand, making “Grrrr” noises and trying to make yourself appear bigger as you go
• When the dog starts to react, suddenly turn tail and run away from the dog
• Engage the dog in a game of tug when it gives chase, letting the dog win

The first time we tried this Beanie backed off as we approached, then chased excitedly as soon as we took flight. A few repetitions later she knew what to expect and ran to us even during the initial “Grrrr” phase. Shortly thereafter we found it much easier to hold Beanie’s attention on games with us, and even got her playing fetch outside (not for long admittedly, but still it was a first for Beanie!)

Now we’re using this game as an alternative to conventional recall when we needed to bring her in from the garden, or get her upstairs and into the run by our office. I think this is starting to break the negative associations she has with the “come” command - associations that we created by using it to bring her outside play sessions to an end.

Of course sometimes it all goes a bit wrong and our over-excited little pup grabs hold of the tug toy at the end I’m holding. If she notices she’s caught my hand in her jaw she immediately softens her grip, but if she doesn’t notice, well that’s where the “Aaaargh” part comes in!

As Beanie gets older our once 100% recall is slipping further and further away. She can still do it perfectly when she’s in the mood, but as her nose and tracking ability develop we’re starting to see why so many Beagle owners advise against ever letting a Beagle off lead!!

Fortunately we can still trust her off lead in the park if there’s a suitable playmate for her. She stays on her extending lead until we bump into a dog / dogs that she wants to play with (usually other pups). If the other dog seems just as keen we explain the situation and ask the owner if their dog would be up for a bit of Beagle style rough play. If the owner is in agreement (and they always are!) the pups get a good long run and play session that normally includes a substantial chunk of wrestling - so good all-round exercise! There’s no risk of her following her nose and wandering into danger, and when she’s playing with other dogs Beanie will happily trot back to us when called.

High energy, a love of chasing and a willingness to engage in a bit of rough-housing are the key ingredients for good playmates for Beanie - and there are always plenty of pups that fit the bill!

But ultimately we want to be able to control Beanie off lead in all situations so we’re still working hard on overcoming her strong tracking instincts.

For quite a while now we’ve been interested in learning to nurture and harness Beanie’s natural tracking instinct rather than trying to supress it. At Wednesday night’s obedience class, head trainer Val kindly lent us a DVD explaining how to get a pup started on tracking. It’s been a huge success so far. Beanie is a complete natural!

We now give her all of her meals in the garden. I leave Beanie indoors and lay a track around the back lawn. The DVD called it laying a scrub track - you simply shuffle your feet as you walk to disturb the grass as much as possible. I started out putting little bits of kibble along the track as the DVD advises, but Beanie didn’t need or want this. Her instinct to follow the track even overpowered her love of food! At the end of the track I pop her dinner out of sight behind a bush. I then bring Beanie out on lead and take her to the start of the track. She doesn’t hessitate - she sprints around the garden following the track EXACTLY and finds her dinner with ease every time. We also lay little tracks whenver we’re out on walks (the ‘prize’ on walks is her favorite ball with a piece of ham stuffed in it - so she gets a snack and a game) and we are finding that Beanie is viewing tracking as a group activity rather than something she does without us.

I’m not sure yet where this will lead us, but she’s so good at it that we’re planning on taking her as far as we possibly can with it. Our hope is that in the process we’ll learn how to get her to listen to us when her nose is down.

We’ve ordered a book from Amazon to give us more ideas for nosework games:

Fun Nosework For Dogs 

Beanie’s been growing up fast lately - so fast it’s hard to keep up!

Her sniffing ability has really blossomed, to the extent that it’s getting in the way of training. A little while ago we had the tunnel incident during puppy agility. On the following training night, she was doing quite well until a sausage was used to lure a nearby dog into the down position. From the point that chipolata hit the floor, Beanie became a sausage-seeking missile. After observing the shenannigans, head trainer Val advised us to work extra hard on the “leave” command and include tasty distractions in her day-to-day training. We’re doing this, and hopefully it’ll make a difference in the next session tomorrow.

OK, so that’s the sniffer situation. Now let’s talk about the woofer situation. Beanie has suddenly discovered that she can growl and bark, and is trying out her new skills with.. well let’s say mixed success. The actual sound is fairly convincing - she’s managed to lower her voice a bit so it doesn’t sound quite so obviously like a silly puppy. Unfortunately she doesn’t really pick appropriate times to use it. The ruleset for her vocalizations seems to go something like this:

• Safe on Daddy’s lap in the car? Growl and bark at some unfortunate soul who’s minding their own business across the road. Or possibly target a bull or other large animal in a roadside field, but only if the car’s moving and we could outrun it if it turns nasty.
• Another dog or cat making noise in the street? Growl and bark if (1) the front door is closed and (2) the windows aren’t open wide enough to allow entry
• Some stranger comes to the door? Keep really quiet, look cute. They might have treats.

Then there’s the play fighting. It’s become much more dominance-oriented of late, and it takes a big, confident dog to be able to stand up to Beanie. In fact her most even-sided play session so far occurred with a pitbull cross called Dozer. He’s a really gentle, friendly chap who actually looks quite cute, until that is he opens his jaws and reveals the knife-filled chasm of death that is his mouth!

Play sessions with lesser dogs usually end up like this though:

Takedown - Jack Russell Terrier pup goes belly up

Is that an Alien bursting out of Beanie’s chest? Nope it’s a thoroughly dominated JRT!

Don’t worry - the JRT’s were having every bit as much fun as Beanie!

Sunday’s Beagle racing at Inch Farm, Kincardine went very well for Beanie - she won the consolation race, and then in the show afterwards she won best Beagle and best dog, beating a very fine looking whippet.

However, these tremendous achievements should be put in context. For one thing, the turnout was quite low (probably due to the Bank Holiday the next day). Also, it’s worth noting that the consolation race only had two competitors - Beanie and Daisy. It gets worse though, because as we lined up for the race, I was told to nudge Beanie forwards an extra couple of yards to give her a better chance against her seasoned opponent. I guess it wasn’t playing strictly to the rule book, but I was “only following orders” as they say. In any case, Beanie bet Daisy by more than the head start

As for the show, well I’m not sure the judging was quite as rigorous as one might get at Crufts. For example, I have my suspicions that not all the competitors were actually Beagles:

On our return after the race, Susan decided it was time to make some repairs to our lawn. There were of course a few holes to fill - Beanie seems determined to dig her way to Australia. But an even bigger problem was the lifeless brown patches caused by Beanie’s grass killing power pee.

Our poor lawn, after a few repairs

We only found this out when it was too late, but dog pee - or more commonly bitch pee - can be lethal to grass, especially in dry weather. There are three ways to combat this:

• Don’t let the dog pee on the grass. Not that easy to enforce!
• Hose down the favorite pee spots with water regularly
• Try lawn saving products like Dog Rocks and Greenum

We’re not keen on messing with Beanie’s drinking water or giving her pills just to save the lawn, so we’re left with the other two options. From now on when she goes into the garden, we’ll keep her on lead until she’s emptied her bladder on the graveled areas, and any unplanned pee events will be diluted with lots of water. Hopefully this will give the lawn a chance to recover.

To channel Beanie’s urge to dig, I made her a little sand pit to play in. I have absolutely no carpentry skills but I’ll never turn up an opportunity to wield a circular saw. Must be something to do with all those cheap and nasty horror films I watched when I was younger. Anyway, the sand pit seems to be a success so far - Beanie just can’t get enough of it!