Category: Blog

JWW sucked.  I tried to do a blind cross and it just put us at odds with each other.  Then she totally mucked up the weaves, and the more she mucked it up, the  more stressed I got.  Have to stop that.

Novice Standard was a bit of a mess, I think my fault again.  I know what is wrong – not enough sleep and exercise, and I’ll try to have it fixed by May.

We’ve done our Open JWW run and I think she did better.  I lost her right before the weaves, but got her right back.  She missed 4 jumps but she was running with me the whole time.  Hard to say. 

We missed Novice Standard by two behaviors.  She wouldn’t down on the table and she tipped the teeter but jumped right before the yellow contact.  She looked happy and was fast. 

After watching her run out of the ring for a year, happy, fast and with me is good!

It’s an interesting read, and I am not sure I agree with the authors about dog behavior.  However, they don’t address beagles specifically.  The dogs they do discuss are dogs that have been bred to operate independently and beagles hunt as a pack and prefer being with other dogs.

She suggests that people only get a dog if they can be with them during the day, but I find our beagles do perfectly fine crated most of the day, and then are with us in the evening.  I have had beagles I could keep lose in a safe room, but right now I have a thunder sensitive beagle who escapes when there are thunderstorms in the area.

Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals

By the way, I’m reading the Kindle

We have a trial this weekend.  I am hoping to get some sleep tonight (see my other blogs), and I am hoping to get out of Novice.  But then again, we’ll be stuck in Open forever <smile>.

Agility class this week wasn’t good.  She wanted to eat the grub worms or June bugs, or whatever was buried in the grass.  That is somewhat excused because whatever she is eating isn’t distracting the next dog.

I have Rally class tonight, but I am thinking of skipping.  I am also thinking of making an adjustment in the class, and will have to talk to the instructor about it.  Get back to everyone later.

But the best news, is that I really do have a new beagle on order with my breeder.  She promises that there will be loads of puppies to choose from.  My favorite idea is a litter than was born last week that has 3 of Macy’s half sisters.  I love Macy so much, and that would be the closest I could get to cloning her.  The absolute closest would be to have a full sister, but I don’t think that bitch is breeding any more.  Macy is 4 years old, so knowing Mildred, she’d be 6 or 7 or older.

Lola is also in town and will be bred, and there is another Ben breeding in the works.  Plus lots of other dogs I don’t know.  Ben has produced a ton of nice looking beagles. 

I think I want to go down the weekend before exam week and get my girl.  That would be a good time.  Age difference is perfect – Macy was 4 in January.  And I’ve “done” all the beginner type of training with Macy and now we are fixing things and learning to trust each other when it comes to agility training.  I would like to do obedience with either dog, but I’m not sure that Macy is suited.  She liked Rally for a while, but lately would later sniff the floor.

My plan is to do conformation training this summer and start showing as soon as she is 6 months old.  I don’t know if beagles take a maturity break like some breeds do – that’s usually to grow hair, and let’s face it, there isn’t a lot of hair to grow.

I also will do all the normal agility puppy training.

Some of the subject is repetitious, I’m going to take advantage of the RSS feed, and you’ll find a link to the last 5 videos on the website, on the right side bar.  However here’s today’s video.

Since this is an RSS feed, it should be updated with new videos.

More work on Box and Table

Just got conformation for my entry into the DenTex Agility Trial in Fort Worth.  I am going to take Friday off, and get a hotel room.  Haven’t decided exactly where I am going to stay and how many nights, but I think that staying in Fort Worth will probably cut the stress down and at the rate gas prices are going up, staying there might save some money.

Anyone have any good ideas?

Here's another video:

We were working on attention, teeter, weaves and table.

I am playing with some new editing software, so have used a few different techniques here.

Here I am trying to work on Table with a toy, I don’t think it works as well as clicker + food.  And no clicker.