Fast Progress!

Posted on February 15, 2009 by Susan

Here’s another little clip of Beanie showing off her new found skill with the weave poles. She’s now chaining on other bits of equipment and will happily tackle the poles without me beside her – which is great news for an out-of-shape old handler (me) trying to keep up with a super-fast little doggie!

And yes, once again that is the Biggley Boy in the background complaining about being left out of the fun. We do play with him too….although listening to the fuss he makes when it’s someone elses turn you wouldn’t think so!

There’s balls in them there hills!

Posted on February 10, 2009 by Paul

Just when you think the snow is on its way out, it returns full force. Bad news for cars and people who prefer not to fall on their bottoms, great news for dogs.

Beanie just loves her new ball-on-a-rope

Anyone for a game of conkers?

As you can see Beanie got to play with her latest toy – a ball-on-a-rope from Auntie Sheila – and thoroughly enjoyed it. I swapped it for her tennis ball after a few minutes though, because Beanie has a nasty habit of losing her toys in the snow.

Predictably, she didn’t hold onto the tennis ball for long. It was saved, briefly, from a white, powdery grave when Lola (I think!) dug it up and started a chase..

.. but a few minutes later Beanie managed to lose it more thoroughly. Fortunately she didn’t miss it, because little Maya was well up for a play session.

They had a great time together, although Beanie soured it slightly by telling Maya off for some reason. Happily, it was all waggy tails again seconds later.

Soon it was time for Biggles’ off-lead session, and boy was he ready for it. He was so wild with excitement he lost his Air Kong ball within the first couple of minutes, but again it didn’t matter too much because he soon found some new friends to play with!

When you’ve lost your ball, you just have to work with what you can find

The prelude to a chase…

And they’re off!

His playmate had good straight-line speed, so Biggles had to draw on the skills he’d learned from his sister Beanie:

Sprint hard..

turn sharp and..

..break away on your own!

He did well, but then he seemed to forget that you’ve got to keep doing those sharp turns if you’re going to out run a bigger dog!

Still, he’s relatively new to this chase game. I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it soon. After the running was over our little boy seemed keen to show off his howling ability to another of the Eurasiers.

I’m not sure what he was howling about or why, but it didn’t seem to have the desired effect. Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

He had a great time though and afterwards we took the long way back to the car, allowing our two pups to pack in some more sniffs and us to see some pretty unusual sights. Believe it or not, this is the “Pond” – the park’s lake, totally frozen over and covered with snow.

Beanie and Biggles weren’t too impressed by the view though, and we weren’t too impressed with Biggles’ idea of walking to heel.

At least he doesn’t share his sister’s worrying fascination with walking on ice!

As we left the park, I made a mental note to restock my pockets with balls for tomorrow. That’s three of our balls lost in the snow in the last week or so, and who knows how many lost by the scores of other dogs who frequent the park. When the snow finally clears it’s going to be Christmas all over again for some lucky pups!

Who Says Beagles are Slow Learners?

Posted on February 9, 2009 by Susan

As you know, Princess Beanie has taken a liking to agility and is proving to be quite good at it.

The most difficult bit of equipment for a dog to learn is the weave poles as it’s nothing like anything that a dog would do naturally. I’ve included weave poles in our practice sessions at the barn, but I’ve got Beanie through them by holding a lump of sausage in front of her nose. It’s not really much use, as although she negotiates the poles she’s oblivious to them. All she see’s is sausage. She needs to learn to tackle the weave poles on her own without my help. Our teacher, Carol, introduced us to the weave poles last Saturday, and Beanie’s Dad made us some out of pvc piping on Tuesday night so we could practice at home. Here’s a little clip of Beanie after just five days practice….

What a little star! I think that by the end of the week she’ll be flying through them on her own. Those Collies think they’re smart, but they won’t be a match for our little Beagle!

And yes, that’s the Biggley Boy you can hear in the background. He doesn’t like to be left out of anything!

p.s. Excuse the floor – we had a washing machine leak in November and the floor has been up since then. Still waiting for the insurance to get sorted out!