(Super) Sonic Pocket Rocket

Posted on September 17, 2009 by Paul

On Sunday we headed up to Sue & Kevin Rose’s monthly lure coursing session. This time we had the company of friends from the park and the Glasgow Dog Training club: Tess and her two pups Tara & Clara, and Jamie and Cuillin.

As before we put Beanie & Biggles in together for the first round, and also as before Beanie cruised to victory over the Bigglet, but both of them had a great time.

Beanie closes in on the lure…

But she fumbles her chance to catch it…

Biggles does his level best to keep up

A rare sight – the Bigglet at full stretch!

But it’s not enough, and Beanie romps down the home straight to win

We’d been warned that the excitement of lure coursing could undo some of the hard work we’ve put in to controlling our two off lead. I don’t think that was the case with Beanie, but it was for Biggles. He proved tricky to get back on lead after his run, though we had some help:

You’re nicked Biggles!

Biggles now got a long rest while Beanie progressed quite far through the other rounds. She won against Tara in the second round, and also out-ran a lovely little terrier called (I think?) Rosie in the third:

Beanie bays her head off to take the lead…

goes to full stretch to maintain it…

…and wins the round convincingly!

Rosie (I think) without her Hannibal Lecter muzzle

The fourth round put Beanie up against a lurcher nicknamed “the pocket rocket” that had previously been clocked at 38 mph! Beanie ran her heart out, but it was like watching a cute little Mini racing a sleek Ferrari. She resorted to cutting corners to stay in the race, but still it wasn’t enough to catch her turbo-charged opponent.

After all the rounds were done the course was thrown open to all dogs to have another go, so Biggles got to run again. In our previous coursing session we let him have his second race against whippets. Inevitably he fell far behind and he went on his own little sight-seeing tour outside the field. This time we just had him race against Beanie again, and it worked – she still won but he had a closer race and completed the course. However when it came time re-attach his lead, he evaded capture and went on a high-speed sniffathon.

Biggles sets off on another solo adventure, though this time he doesn’t get very far

Eventually he ended up at the exit point of the field, but this time his way was barred by a heavy gate installed after (and probably as a result of) his previous naughtiness. After a while he saw the futility of further running and I got my cheeky little boy back on lead.

And that’s what he thought about having his off-lead excursion cut short!

So much for Beanie and her naughty brother, but what about their chums?

Well Cuillin had a spot of bad luck in the draw – his first ever race pitted him against a dog called “Sonic”. We’d never seen Sonic before, so for a while I held out hope that his name was the result of sarcasm and he was in reality a couch potato. Sadly this was not the case; Sonic was a very fit looking whippet who quickly left Cuillin behind (and Cuiliin is no slouch!). Like Biggles, once Cuillin lost sight of the lure he lost interest in the chase. Kevin very kindly gave him another couple of solo tries after the “official” races but they too weren’t entirely successful. I’m sure he’ll catch on soon though.

Cuillin started strongly every time…

but didn’t sustain it for the the full lap

Tess, Tara and Clara also got off to a good start but kind of lost focus as the race progressed, though Tara came very close to catching the lure at one point!

A few more shots from the day:

More shots are available here.

MTB or Die, Part II

Posted on September 14, 2009 by Paul

Success! I am now able to ride my bike. The breakthrough came yesterday when I did what I should have done when we first got our bikes; I embarked on a major Googling session. I found a US site with an instructional video (cheap but not free otherwise I’d reproduce it here) which spelled out the most crucial bit of advice every non-bicycle-riding adult needs, and it’s not advice you’ll get from someone who learned to ride as a child because the whole process is too instinctual for them.

The advice is simply this: when the bike starts to lean, correct it by temporarily turning the front wheel in the same direction as the lean. That’s it. Once you’ve got that idea loaded into your head, progress comes fast. I spent a little time in a deserted car park last night just practicing the balancing side of things, and ten minutes later I was pedaling. This morning we went for another practice session on a bike trail and by the end of it I was getting bursts of 1-2 mins without any mishaps. I haven’t collected any new injuries either, though my arse is sore thanks to that medieval instrument of torture which is laughingly called a bike seat. Anyway, anybody reading this who also managed to survive childhood without ever learning to ride a bike will find the following link very useful:

http://www.hembrow.eu/personal/howtorideabike.html

I’ve still got a ton of photos from yesterday’s lure coursing to sort through and process before my next post, but for now here are a few snaps from a flyball demo we attended (but did not participate in this time) at James Lindsay Park, Baillieston. The demo was given by the Lomond Flyball Club, and here are a few shots:

Click here for the full set of photos

MTB or Die, Part I

Posted on September 11, 2009 by Paul

As noted in a previous post we have dreams of becoming hardy mountain bikers, going out on exciting rides with our loyal and well behaved little Beagles. Until today, two main obstacles stood in the way of those dreams becoming a reality:

We don’t have any mountain bikes
I have never, ever ridden a bike of any kind. That expression “it’s just like riding a bike” means nothing to me

This morning the first obstacle was removed as our prebuilt bikes arrived in unfeasibly large cardboard boxes. We went out tonight to fix obstacle #2. The session didn’t quite go as planned, as this photo of my wounded shin attests:

It’s surprisingly difficult to take a picture of your own shin. Try it and see!

It’s only the fact that I am such a hardy mountain biker that enabled me to take the pain of such a grievous injury without losing consciousness. The worst of it is that this mishap didn’t occur on a mountain as such; it was more a smooth bit of tarmac really (though I swear it had a treacherous camber to it).

The pain and blood loss will be worth it when I can cruise through woodland tracks with my little boy running at my side. I still can’t ride yet, but I’m getting there. I think it may be quite some time before my first with-Beagle ride though. Susan of course is way ahead of me – after a couple of false starts she was cycling away quite happily, proving the adage about never forgetting that particular skill.