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 

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!