A Victory for the Humies – or have we been Beanie’d again?

Posted on August 1, 2010 by Susan

I tend to be a bit dizzy when it comes to keeping track of time. Beanie, being quite a stickler for routine had fallen into the role of time keeper. If it’s past tea-time or walk-time or getting-up-time or any-other-time she (and sometimes Biggles) will bark to remind me. It’s worked rather well.

However, our Heelwork to Music teacher, Heather pointed out that whilst this might not be a problem in itself it could well be giving Beanie the idea that it’s her responsibility to give the orders in our house. Whilst Beanie and Biggles have very good recal and are extremely responsive, if we let them off-lead to play they’ll revert to Beaglyness and tend to go out of sight (and earshot). She suggested that Beanie (and Biggles) might be a bit more inclined to keep us in their sights if they feel that we always decide what we do and when we do it.

So I’ve stopped responding to instructions from the Beaglets. So far they’ve given up control without a struggle (and we have seen improvements in attentiveness). However, this morning we had a show down!

I was lying on the sofa watching TV before our morning walk. Beanie started to bark to let me know it was time. I ignored her. The barking got more indignant. She began to whine, then howl. After about 5 minutes she resorted to what can only be described as a tantrum. She howled, barked, whined, bayed and pawed at me to get my attention. I turned my back on her. She grabbed my arm and tried to hump it. I pulled my arm away. She upped the anti a bit more and then seemed quite distressed.

She went quiet for a moment and then jumped up onto me and with body lowered and tail wagging she squeezed herself between me and the back of the sofa all the time giving me little apeasing kisses. Then, with her body pressed up as close as she could get to me she rolled onto her back to expose her tummy. I’ve never known Beanie do this – we can’t even teach her to do a roll over!

I completely melted and she gave me the biggest cuddle ever. She kept kissing me and squeezing up nice and close. I then got up to get ready for the walk. Biggles tailed me as usual as I went from room to room getting ready to go out. But I was aware that Beanie wasn’t there. As I went back to that hall there she was in a perfect little sit waiting for me to tell her what to do. I hadn’t asked her to do this. I gave her a treat, popped her lead on and we all went out.

So, what do you think. Was this a victory or have I been manipulated by the Beanster…..again?

I See a Seesaw

Posted on July 6, 2010 by Susan

Inspired by Luisa and Chief the Beagle’s great performance at the Eglington Agility show at the weekend we decided to get some contact equipment for Beanie and Biggles – a dog walk, A-frame and a seesaw. The seesaw arrived this morning.

Beanie and Biggles were very excited and kindly helped us unpack all the pieces.

It all went together very quickly and we soon had it assembled and located at the bottom of the garden. I went indoors to get some training treats and my clicker and had a think about how to go about teaching Beanie and Biggles. I figured the first step would be to build up their confidence – it’s bound to be scary for a little Beaglet when that seesaw starts to tip….

Then I looked down the garden and saw Beanie and Biggles taking it in turns to sprint over the seesaw at top speed – they didn’t even seem to notice the thing tipping!

That left me at a bit of a loss as to what to do. The dogs I’d seen at competitions all seemed to stop/slow half way along the seesaw so that it tipped slowly. How to get my two dare devils to do that? We played with the seesaw for a couple of minutes then decided to call it a day until I’d found out more about it.

I’m beginning to think that the pups were doing it right without me!

Beanie and Biggles were keen to do more so we did a little bit of weaving. The method I used to teach Beanie to weave doesn’t work with Biggles but I think we’ve now found an approach that will suit him. I break the weave poles into three sets of two poles and stagger them. This allows him to go through a full set of weaves quite easily – he only has to learn to walk between two poles and keep repeating. Gradually we’ll move them closer and closer together until he’s doing it properly.

Beanie is starting to get very good. She’s getting quite fast and reliably enters the weaves correctly from pretty much any angle no matter where I am standing.

In case the worst happens!

Posted on June 25, 2010 by Susan

Just a quickie post.

We’ve had a lot of bad luck and sad times in recent years – we lost my parents and Paul’s mum in quick succession after a series of long and unpleasant illnesses, hospitals, nursing homes and hospices. Each and every time this meant getting Power of Attorney, selling houses and winding up of estates. It was a non-stop onslaught for about 4 years and solicitors caused us no end of unnecessary stress – and we had to pay them for the priviledge!

Towards the end of all this (just before Biggles was born) we found the most amazing solicitor. She was sooo nice, so helpful and it actually felt as if you had your best friend looking out for you. She helped us sort out Paul’s mum’s afairs and held our hands through buying and selling our own house.

The loss of our parents made us realise that nothing is guaranteed in life and we decided to include Beanie and Biggles in our wills to make sure that they have the best of care if anything happened to us. Our lovely solicitor Linda took care of this for us too. I can’t recommend her highly enough – and her prices are extremely reasonable!

So, if anyone is looking for a solicitor her details are:

Linda Monson and she works for McAuley McCarthy & Co in Renfrew.

And just to finish up on a happy note – the bad stuff is all behind us and it’s hard to imagine how life could possibly get any better than it is now! Thanks to our lovely Beaglets. I don’t know what we’d have done without them. Speaking of the Beaglets: