Category: Blog

Since we came back from our winter break, Dulce has been horrible at dog agility.

Why?  Well, I finally broke down and stopped carrying food in my pockets when we were training.

Why?  Well, 90% of the time when we go to an agility trial, she runs out of the ring.

So to fix the agility trial problem, I took the food of my pockets and the problem appeared where we train.

I also realized that she wasn’t even sitting – so I have been spending the last few weeks working on our sit.

I was thinking that once I got the sit, I might get my agility dog back but it didn’t quite work out that way. I would get a sit, then she’d back to where the treats were.

To get my agility dog back I discovered I could get her to sit in a cage, then go on the field, and then get our party.

Weird, but it’s working.

I am still not getting consistent sits.  If I’m in the kitchen yes.

If I have food in my hand and I am just starting my day?  Not so much.

In the middle of a training session?  Sure, especially since the food is evident.

Wanting in the house at the door?   Not so much.

Definitely a work in progress.

Now is the time for all men to come to the aid of their country.

I went to class last night – the week before we’d come up with a plan for Dulce and her naughtiness.

I started to follow the plan and my instructor completely changed the plan!

Argh!

And poor Macy – she is suffering from impacted anal glands again, and kept feeling like she needed to poop during the run.  I put her up, but at least that let me focus on Dulce.

Went to the Greater Collin County Kennel Club agility in McKinney – great trial, love GCCKC and their people.

However, Macy ran JWW just like the judge.  Slow.  (Her class was an hour behind schedule, and don’t asked about Dulce’s).

It was an interesting run, she did everything absolutely right, looked happy, didn’t stop everywhere, but I was two jumps ahead of her. And of course, if I slowed down, she did too.  So there was no letting her catch up to me.

Sort of like a certain beagle who was on TV last weekend.

The good news was that I had plenty of time to work on Dulce’s focus.  I would take her in the building, ask her to sit and reward her if I got one.  If I didn’t she went back to the car.  We even had time to try that on the practice jumps.   With the food several feet away.

By the end of the day, I was getting sits everywhere but the ring.

I did surprise both the judge and the rep.  I was a good student and did what my instructor said.  If I didn’t get my sit, I walked out of the ring.

I did excuse us.  I explained to the judge the first time, that I knew if I didn’t get the sit, she’d run out of the ring, and that this was the best option.

The rep was in the ring the second time – and I told her I was preventing the loose dog that runs out of the ring.

I heard from an old friend this week.  The best dog trainer I know.  He is retired from Vietnam, retired from South Lake PD, and retired from the DOD.

He’s been blown up twice, once in Vietnam and once in Iraq.  He and his partner were trying to clear a car.

He wants a standard poodle first, and has a groomer friend who would help.  Bloodhound, golden retriever and Labrador retriever are also on his list.

I liked bloodhound best – but he has always liked standard poodles and so does his medical team.

He needs a dog as a companion first, hopefully later as a medical alert dog.  He has been having trouble with blackouts and fortunately he knows what precedes them. 

I went to visit him today and evaluate his living situation.  He is mobile, lives in a nice, well kept house, and has a fenced in backyard.   He does suffer from some mental confusion which he blames on his medication.

We think a young dog – between one or two years of age would be best with some training.  I think a young retired show dog would be nice.  A dog that grew too short, or some other type of problem that keeps them from showing. 

Contact me in the comments if you know of a good prospect.

I went to Belton, Texas – great trial site, nice people but lousy if you are working on running out of the ring issues.

I was the most comfortable I’ve been at a trial – drove in real early, took a nap.

Macy’s class was up first – Open Fast – had a nice short fun run from her and she was Miss Lazy Butt.  I told the judge she hadn’t had her coffee first. 

Dulce was up next and dashed out of the ring.  Came right back out, but still.

And again for her next run, didn’t even stay for the afternoon run.

Very disappointed as I had spent some time and money to make sure I was at my best.

Get to class Wednesday night, stepped out of the car, the wind hit and my knee immediately started aching.  I was ready to get back in the car and boy oh boy, Dulce didn’t want to play either.  Gritted my teeth and put up with.

The good news, I went to Myers on Friday and Macy ran fast.  She could have been faster – at one point I was two jumps again.

Dulce is still in whatever mood she was in and ran out of the ring.

We try again next Friday.

Updated

I’m trying to fix Dulce’s running out of the ring, and Macy’s lack of motivation by going to small, low key trials.  In that effort, I entered Friday only – Waco Agility Group – at the Belton Expo Center.

It’s a drive from Dallas, the Expo center is located on the other side of Temple, but will worth it.  There is even a La Quita at show site, which I think even I could walk from the hotel to the show site.

The majority of crating is on concrete, and best yet for me, is that they had plenty of electrical outlets available.  I have a camping table now that I use, and was able to keep all of my devices fully charged while i wa there.

i actually like the two ring, one judge set up as you can tell the progression of classes pretty easily.  They also had a good selection of vendors, something I may do in the near future.

One of most important things for me to be able to be comfortable at a show site is internet access.  I only used my ATT devices and didn’t see if they had internet access.  Was able to do what I wanted to do all the time, with no issues.  This can be an issue at the local trials, especially Myers Park.

Haven’t found the bug when I installed on a Lenovo Desktop and a different blog.

I keep talking about “naughty beagles” on Facebook. I’m having an interesting problem with the beagle girls – I keep losing their focus.

Even today, though Macy Qed, she lost focus on me at least three different times. The good news is that I got her back and we were able to Q.

I even lose that focus in class – which is a good thing. I have also learned something I wish I’d figured out a few years ago – the Zella exercise wear I wear all have hidden pockets in the waist band and the beagles seem to forget the food is there. Weird, but it really helps in training as the only way I can get good focus is to have food in my hands. At least I’m figuring this out BEFORE the new pup.

At first we though thought it was some kind of ring stress, but now I’m convinced they are happy to be at the trials and with me, it is just that there are other things to do in the agility ring besides what mom wants. It’s a matter of convincing them that playing with me is more rewarding!

Today was a good example – Dulce was paying all kinds of attention and doing tricks outside the ring but once we got in, she was focused on anything BUT me. It’s a just a matter of working though it I think.

I do think scaling things back and showing Macy only in FAST is helping her. I’ll probably start adding JWW next. That was the class that was giving her the biggest problem.