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!

The Glasgow Dog Training Club, where we take Beanie for obedience training, breaks up for a month for the summer holidays next week. So last week we had a professional photographer in for end of term photos.

We’re delighted with Beanie’s pictures:

She’s such a little poser!!!! During the class, each of the dogs was taken out in turn for a little private photo-shoot.  As is normal for Beanie nowadays, she was being the naughtiest pup in the class. But the moment she was in front of the camera she was as good as gold. Even the photographer said she was the most well behaved dog they’d seen that night!

Beagle Racing was back on today after a three week lay-off, but this morning we actually considered giving it a miss due to bad weather. Fortunately I caught a more promising forecast on the radio as I drove back from the gym, so we bundled Beanie into the car and headed off towards Kincardine Bridge.

I had reason to hope that Beanie would do well this time. Earlier in the week we bumped into her friend Tessa in the park. Tessa is a Collie cross, but it looks like she’s got some Greyhound in her mix (does that make her a Lurcher?) She’s fast, and could easily outrun Beanie the first time they met. However, this time around Beanie had closed the gap noticeably - despite already being tired from a heavy play session with other dogs.

My hopes proved well founded. She finished second in her first race, then managed second again in the final, losing to Jan Bell’s lovely Abbey.

 
Beanie (in blue) chases hard…

…but it’s not enough to deny Abbey’s victory

This result is particularly remarkable because:

• it was achieved without any of the dodgy practices that often creep into Beagle racing, such as giving Beanie a head start because she’s a midget, or disqualifying the true winner on the grounds that Beanie’s cuter
• we only had a few pieces of Burns Kelties to give her at the finish of each race. I mean come on, no cheese?
• this was the Beagle Bitch Championship of 2008, not just an ordinary race

Admittedly there were only 5 Beagles in the whole competition (it would have been 6 if astute officials hadn’t spotted that late entrant “Samantha” had some dangly bits that don’t belong on a girl), but still we’re really proud of our little sprinter.

Just for fun an extra race was held between three of the Beagles (Abbey, Beanie and Sam, now cured of his earlier “confusion”) and a whippet, to see just how much faster those sleek speed demons really are. The Beagles were given a sizeable head start, but it wasn’t nearly enough:

OK, so whippets *are* quite fast then

Abbey and her owner Jan were presented with their fine looking trophy,

then the traditional post racing show was held (again won by Beanie, thanks to some expert handling by youngster Holly!) just before the heavens opened.

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For any Beagle owners interested in having a fun day at the races, the location is Inch Farm, Kincardine - close to Longannet Power Station (FK10 4AA). Racing is held on Sundays around 3pm - for more details head over to the Caledonian Thistle Pedigree Whippet Racing Club forums.

We had to fly down south earlier this week for family matters, and that left us with no choice but to put Beanie in kennels for a couple of days. There are a lots of kennels close to us, but we choose quality over convenience every time where Beanie’s concerned. Fortunately one came recommended by friends and even our vet, so earlier in the month we took Beanie along to check it out.

The kennels was in a farm building - a good thing for a Beagle with a very active nose. Another thing in its favor was that it only had places for ten dogs - I think small has to be better for something like this. Half of the cages had both an indoor and outdoor area, giving the occupants just that bit more freedom and stimulation, and one such cage was available for Beanie over the dates we needed. Everything looked modern, clean and secure. Unfortunately though Beanie’s first reaction to the cages and their current residents was not good - her tail went right between her legs and she was looking overwhelmed. Still, the owner assured us that the dogs always settled in after their first walk, and we really didn’t have any other option, so we made the booking.

When the day of Beanie’s incarceration came I took her out for a long, vigorous walk and runabout to tire her out while Susan packed up her crate, some long lasting chews and dug out her vaccination records (a kennel cough vac is always recommended - and sometimes required by kennels, at least 10 days prior to entry). We then drove over to the kennels - doing our best to act as if nothing unusual was happening - and took Beanie over to see her cage. Happily, her reaction this time was completely different. She had some nice, gentle looking neighbors and her tail kept wagging while I set up her crate in the indoor section. She entered her cage quite happily, and watched us while we did all the paperwork and handed over tubs of food and treats. I tried to keep a smile on my face, but I felt terrible seeing my little pup behind bars. When it was time to leave, I saw her clawing at the cage in an attempt to follow. The chances are she wasn’t the least bit concerned about us leaving her though. Given that it was after five o’clock I suspect the only thing on her mind was “Hey, you do know it’s teatime, right?”

On Wednesday morning we were back to collect her, and though she was happy enough to see us, she wasn’t able to give us her full attention because there was a stick of tripe that needed eating. It seems that while posh hotels put a little chocolate on your pillow, posh kennels give you a tripe stick.

We packed her up and took her home, where she spent the first 20 minutes performing a thorough nasal inspection of all rooms and the garden, to make sure nothing had changed. Once satisfied, she got straight down to her usual naughtiness - in this case a bit of unscheduled pruning.

Anticipation…

…makes the chewing even more enjoyable

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