Basket case

Posted on December 21, 2008 by Paul

We stopped off at Pets At Home yesterday and got a couple of sturdy plastic dog baskets in addition to our usual provisions. It seemed like such a good idea: it would make their daytime bedding look neater, and may even encourage them to respect each others’ space.

Initially things went quite well. Biggles was the first to try one out. He seemed to think it was a new chew at first, but then discovered that while it wasn’t very yielding to his teeth, it was kind of comfy to rest in.

Then the trouble started. Beanie went to try her basket, and Biggles decided he wanted that one, so they swapped. Fine. But then it became apparent that somehow, Beanie still had the better of the two identical baskets. Things quickly got out of hand…

… and for the rest of the evening, it was near impossible to get them to stop squabbling. On the rare occasions where we succeeded, we enjoyed less than five minutes of peace before one or both of them decided to chew their cushions, or failing that the door frame. When we intervened, the play fighting soon kicked off again.

By late in the evening they had finally tired themselves out. Beanie went into a deep coma on our bed, while Biggles crashed out in his basket, waking only to grab the odd tummy tickle when one of us passed.

Baskets. Another thing not to get when you’ve got two naughty Beagles.

Roaming in the Gloaming

Posted on December 18, 2008 by Paul

Beanie’s agility classes have stopped until after Christmas and the New Year, so we got a half-hour slot in a barn full of agility equipment to keep the momentum going with her training.

Looking at the videos below, you might be forgiven for thinking that they were filmed in the evening, but in fact it was just after 2pm. As for the horrible noise on each clip, well that’s just the sound of rain on the barn roof. Fortunately the poor lighting and rainfall didn’t distract Beanie one bit:

That was the very first run of the day, and Susan was just making up the sequence as she went along, but Beanie was really paying attention to her commands. I think that’s pretty good going for a Beagle who’s only had six full lessons! Admittedly she’s not too hot on the weave poles as yet, but she certainly has no fear of the apparatus – not even the shrouded tunnel..

The object Susan throws at the end of each round is just a container filled with sausage. It helps to keep Beanie focused, and of course makes her easy to catch afterwards – ‘cos she’s not going anywhere until she’s got her sausage.

Another thing that contributed to Beanie’s solid performance was the walk she’d had earlier in the day. Ever since Beanie and Biggles went on a little unscheduled walk of their own, we’ve been working extra hard on recall with the two of them, and try to spend most of our park time playing hide and seek and puppy ping-pong (rapid-fire recalls between the two of us). It’s not as physically demanding as the usual run-about with other dogs, but it is more mentally stimulating for them and does seem to make them more attentive towards us. And it still gives us a bit of peace in the afternoon!

Two tickets for the Land of Nod please…

New Experiences

Posted on December 13, 2008 by Susan

Meeting Santa wasn’t the only exciting new experience for Biggles this week! Earlier in the week he came along to Beanie’s agility practice session and had a little sniff around the equipment. Today he joined Beanie in the swimming pool.

Biggles won’t start proper swimming lessons until he’s growth spurt finishes at around 6 months old. But right now he is still young enough not to be afraid so we wanted to introduce him to water now. He seemed to instinctively know how to swim! Here’s a little video clip showing his first dip in the pool. Watch his little legs start to swim before they even touch the water :)

He had a second brief dip a few minutes later and swam beautifully!

Clara and Tara (Tess’s babies) had their first swim too at 6 months old. Being older and wiser than Biggles they were pretty apprehensive at first, but did just great once they found their sea legs.

You can see Clara & Tara, Tess and all the other participants of the recent Glasgow Dog Training Club Pool Party on the Glasgow Dog Training Club Blog.