Beanie And The Magic Tunnel

Posted on May 30, 2008 by Paul

Every so often Beanie’s training club holds mini agility sessions, and as it turned out Beanie’s debut in the Intermediate class landed on just such a night. The usual equipment was there – hurdles (nice and low, safe for pups), rings to jump through, some widely spaced poles for weaving and a tunnel.

The first time round the circuit was pretty uneventful. Beanie did well enough, though she had to be kept on lead because the dogs in this class were all new and exciting to her. As Susan and Beanie returned to their seats, another newcomer to the class – a really well built Boxer called Cooper – had his turn. He did well until he reached the tunnel, which he just wasn’t keen on at all. Attempts to coax him through verbally fell flat, so extra snacks were deployed along the length of the tunnel to tempt him in while each of the other dogs had their turn at the rest of the course. Eventually, it came round to Beanie again, only this time she had to try it off lead. So, Beanie was put in a sit and the lead was unhooked from her collar.

Now in retrospect it seems pretty obvious what was about to happen, but still… the sheer speed of it! I think “Shock and Awe” is the term the US military like to use. Anyway while Beanie sat before the first obstacle, looking a little distracted, Susan took position at the other end of the run, ready to call her. As soon as Susan made the call, Beanie darted straight across the course and into the tunnel. A fraction of a second later she emerged from the other side, having hoovered up every single one of Cooper’s treats in one smooth, continuous sweep. Her little face was a picture of joy! She couldn’t have been happier if she’d been the first caveman to hold a barbecue. That tunnel was a blummin’ good thing, that’s for sure.

Well, the dog rota continued, and all the while Cooper remained wary of the tunnel. Treats were again laid out to tempt him, and again when Beanie’s turn came there was a lightning raid on the tunnel. It must have been like magic to our little Beagle, a blue canvas-covered Tunnel of Plenty that would never disappoint.

A few minutes passed and again it was Beanie’s turn. First port of call was the tunnel, naturally, but this time she took didn’t come straight out. The tunnel started shaking a bit, so there was clearly something going on in there. I watched expectantly, but to my surprise it was a human that emerged first. Cooper’s owner had apparently crawled in there in a further attempt to assuage her dog’s fears. She looked kind of harassed, and was holding a treat in her hands. Not for long though. Beanie came charging out of the tunnel and snatched the treat, and possibly a finger or two from her hand. Our pup almost had a relieved look on her face, as though she was thinking “oh thanks – I thought I’d missed that one”.

That was kind of the end of the agility, and poor Cooper still hadn’t conquered his inner demons.

Pole Position And A Pit-Stop

Posted on May 27, 2008 by Paul

Sunday’s Beagle racing at Inch Farm, Kincardine went very well for Beanie – she won the consolation race, and then in the show afterwards she won best Beagle and best dog, beating a very fine looking whippet.

However, these tremendous achievements should be put in context. For one thing, the turnout was quite low (probably due to the Bank Holiday the next day). Also, it’s worth noting that the consolation race only had two competitors – Beanie and Daisy. It gets worse though, because as we lined up for the race, I was told to nudge Beanie forwards an extra couple of yards to give her a better chance against her seasoned opponent. I guess it wasn’t playing strictly to the rule book, but I was “only following orders” as they say. In any case, Beanie bet Daisy by more than the head start :)

As for the show, well I’m not sure the judging was quite as rigorous as one might get at Crufts. For example, I have my suspicions that not all the competitors were actually Beagles:

On our return after the race, Susan decided it was time to make some repairs to our lawn. There were of course a few holes to fill – Beanie seems determined to dig her way to Australia. But an even bigger problem was the lifeless brown patches caused by Beanie’s grass killing power pee.

Our poor lawn, after a few repairs

We only found this out when it was too late, but dog pee – or more commonly bitch pee – can be lethal to grass, especially in dry weather. There are three ways to combat this:

Don’t let the dog pee on the grass. Not that easy to enforce!
Hose down the favorite pee spots with water regularly
Try lawn saving products like Dog Rocks and Greenum

We’re not keen on messing with Beanie’s drinking water or giving her pills just to save the lawn, so we’re left with the other two options. From now on when she goes into the garden, we’ll keep her on lead until she’s emptied her bladder on the graveled areas, and any unplanned pee events will be diluted with lots of water. Hopefully this will give the lawn a chance to recover.

To channel Beanie’s urge to dig, I made her a little sand pit to play in. I have absolutely no carpentry skills but I’ll never turn up an opportunity to wield a circular saw. Must be something to do with all those cheap and nasty horror films I watched when I was younger. Anyway, the sand pit seems to be a success so far – Beanie just can’t get enough of it!

Beanie Does The Lakes Part 2 – Cat Bells & Coniston

Posted on May 22, 2008 by Paul

Today was truly action packed, and as I write this Beanie is fast asleep in her crate, snoring gently.

In the morning, we drove over to Derwent Water and walked up the “Cat Bells“. The walk was listed in the short & sweet category of our guide book, but certain parts turned out to be unexpectedly taxing due to erosion of the path. Taxing for us that is. Beanie powered her way up even the steepest sections with ease. Every time I looked up to wipe the sweat from my brow I saw a small but perfectly formed Beagle bum disappearing over the next rocky ledge.

When we took a break before the final push to the summit, Beanie hurriedly gulped down some water from her bowl then strained at her lead, eager to continue.

At the summit, Beanie engaged in the time honored ritual of lead tangling with a young Spaniel while we took in the truly spectacular views.

You can tell experienced dog handlers by their lead untangling ability

View from the summit of Cat Bells

Beanie had helped pull us up to the summit and now she was just as determined to help pull us back down. This nearly led us to adopt the “feet-hands-arse” descent technique on several occasions, but somehow we made it without any incidents, and went to Coniston for lunch at the dog-friendly Bluebird Cafe. On the way there we ran into a lovely couple of Beagles: Cindy, and Patrick (aka Paddy) who was just about the biggest Beagle I’ve ever seen. His paws looked like they belonged to a Labrador, but his size didn’t phase Beanie and she went straight into a wrestling clinch as we talked to his owners.

Patrick the model Beagle

Apparently Patrick has done some modeling for the Pets at Home chain of pet shops, so we’ll be keeping an eye out for his mugshot next time we’re there!

While at the cafe, we discovered that dogs are allowed on boat rides round Coniston, or as the operators put it: “dogs are welcome, so are well behaved owners”. Dogs get to ride on the boats for just fifty pence – unless they’re flat-coated retrievers, who get to ride for free. Why? Well it turns out the founders of Coniston Launch had three such dogs – Saga, Folly and Epic – who used to be regulars on the boats, and the free-ride rule was set up in their honor. It’s a lovely story, and Beanie certainly enjoyed the experience, not to mention all the attention she got from the other passengers.