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Poor Maggie is having a tough time of it.  Alex has not only been shoving oil where it shouldn’t go, but it’s been making it rain in North Texas.  Oh, not like Mexico or South Texas rain, but rain none the less.

She’s been on 3 Xanax a day most days since we had our first crisis with her – that crisis was her screaming because the weather was turning bad and I had put her in the crate.  That woke up my husband.  He wanted me to have her put down right then and there, but I was a bit busy that morning.  Nor was I really ready to do it. 

That was about 4 weeks ago.  We’ve been talking about it a lot lately.

Since then, even on 3 Xanax a day, she escaped when I put the dogs out, and was gone for 12 hours.  Rich found her 3 doors away, probably looking for breakfast.

She also escaped without eating breakfast on Tuesday, causing Rich to wake me up to tell me (sorry, honey, but that’s what email is for), that time she was hiding behind my computer desk.  A favorite spot.

Here’s a dog that is so afraid she takes off.  She obviously isn’t happy and it upsets us and makes us miserable.  Dogs are supposed to add to your life and reduce stress.  Not make things worse.

We would like for her to make the decision, but not when one of us has let her out.  I felt really bad when she was missing, because I had let her out, and because she had turned up missing on my watch.  If she were to get up, go to the back yard and escape right now, I wouldn’t feel the same way.  It was the fact that I opened the door and told her to go out and then she immediately disappeared, that I felt guilty.

I honestly do think we should have the vet put her down, but husband isn’t ready for that and vet isn’t ready for that.  If she were in obvious physical pain, no one would object.  However, I think she’s in obvious mental pain.  She doesn’t understand that the weather will eventually get better.

The good news, is that we live in North Texas and it often goes without rain for months.  Just not right now. 

I’ve been taking Crate Games from Paula Weir at Dog City.  One of the fun things about Paula, is that we can discuss clicker training and honor each persons point of view.  Of course, remember, the only thing that two dog trainers will ever agree on, is that the third dog trainer is doing it wrong.

Crate Games is at http://www.clickerdogs.com/crate_games.php and it’s basically a positive way of teaching control.  I’ve got the DVD, but there are some things that are easier for me to get if I have instructor feedback.  By the way, the instructor has a strong Canadian accent and an irritating voice.  Which also makes it difficult for me to watch very long.  I’m “spoiled”, I was told and it was true, that I had an irritating voice, especially when transmitted, and I spent a long time to learn how to fix it.  Must have been successful because for several years I had a radio show.

It’s an interesting system and I don’t agree with it 100% (remember the above – the only thing two dog trainers ever agree about …. ).

Paula wanted me to have a release word.  I don’t have one.  I did, years ago, but I found that having a release word doesn’t make any sense.  I usually want my dogs to do something.  I’ve been analyzing that over the past couple of weeks, and it is true.

If I put a dog in a crate, when I get the dog out of the crate, I want them to do something.  9 times out of 10, I want the dog to go outside.  Now, once they go outside, I might not tell them something else to do.  So, an appropriate release word would be “Go Outside”.  And yes, that’s what I tell my dogs when I come home and let them out of their crate.

The other 10% of the time, I want the dogs to do something with me.  If they are in the car, I want them on leash so I can take them from the car to where we are going – so in that case, the appropriate command is “put on your leash”.  Yes, that is a command, and I use it on the agility field, both in training and competition.  It means we’re done, and I want you to hold still so I can put a leash on you.

I honestly never put a dog in a crate and then expect them to do nothing when I get them out. 

My compromise is to use the phrase “Let’s Play”, since the rest of the time I use a crate, would be to alternate training between the dogs. 

But seriously, when I let a dog out of a crate, I want them to do something.

Took book cages in, and just had a long, relaxing training session there.  I have a membership, which I highly recommend.

I am working both girls on a single jump, and both girls on the first steps of 2×2 weaves.  Yes, Macy can weave but it can’t hurt. 

I worked Macy on the teeter on both sides, and am working on the first stages of teeter with Dulce.  Both did really well.

I spent a lot of time working crate games with both dogs.  I also did a lot of work on Dulce’s recall – in fact, spending the last bit of time letting her play keep away from me, but ultimately rewarding her for coming to me and giving up her toys.

I also got to spend some time working on heeling with Macy and working on circles with Dulce.

Good time!

Saturday is a big day for Dulce as she has both conformation class and she has Crate Games.

We do confirmation at Top Dog Dallas with Verjean, who I really like. 

One thing I learned at the vet’s office this week, is if I don’t fuss with how Dulce is standing, she does better, so I kept my hands off of her this week.

She gaited better, she does better during the judge’s presentation than she does going around but she is doing better this week.  I’m a bit nervous because it is a 4-point major, and that means as many as 9 beagle girls in the ring at one time.  That’s a long time to stand and wait but both of us.

Crate games is going well.  We’re to build duration this week.  I need to work on my own behavior with crate games, and when I’m tired and don’t want to mess with it, I make my husband get the dogs out of their crates.

I’m also changing how I manage her in the house.  I’m shutting all the upstairs doors, and letting her have access to the upstairs.  I still have the front living room gated off and the study downstairs gated off but she still hasn’t really figured out the point of the gates.  Which is to stay out of that room.

All in all, she is showing progress, and she’s turning out to be a pretty cool dog.

I’ve decided to enter every local thing that comes up – fun match, CPE, AKC, USDAA. In the hopes of “fixing” Macy’s problem.  Her problem is that she doesn’t find value in running agility.   In other words, I took too long to get rid of the treats.  I’m also taking extra classes – right now, she is going to two classes a week, she’ll be going to three in July.  The rule is that I make her do tricks before we go into the ring and she gets food rewards, and I stuff her after the run.

I think it is working.

We entered our first USDAA trial and went on Friday and Saturday.

We had a disaster our first standard run.  About 5 obstacles in, she stopped and peed.  The judge fussed at her, but I doubt that really bothered her.

We did a really nice snooker run, she was staying with me, except for the moment she went and apologized to the judge.  She was moving nicely though and in the correct path when she visited her.  We did the opening correctly but ran out of time and had to leave after obstacle 3. 

She again had a gorgeous jumpers run on Saturday night but again ran out of time.  Stayed with me but was slow.

Our standard run wasn’t bad, but she had problems at the chute, the weaves, the tunnel and the teeter, all her problem obstacles.

We had a good time, though it was a long night both nights.  Got home around 1:30 on Friday and around 12:30 on Saturday.

Now mom has to do her part, lose weight, exercise and gain some speed.

Rich just freaked me out by coming through the front door.  He NEVER comes through the front door, and brought Maggie up to see me.

He had just left for work, and said he was just scanning for her as he was driving down our street when he found her.  I’m guessing she was in one of the open yards hiding last night – a bunch of our neighbors yards have open doors.

He is feeding her and putting her in her cage. 

Weird dog.

She made it through an entire car ride to Mckinney for Macy’s agility class without drooling!  She has a major issue with being car sick and I have been working through it.  Huge relief as she is entered in a conformation show in a few weeks (closes today).

I think she knows what she is doing with the 2×2 weaves, but she has a few spots where she goes blank.  Working on that.  Is doing fabulous channel weaves.

Knows what the table is and goes to it for treats.

Doesn’t always come when called, but when she did her — “yeah, I’m free number this afternoon, she caged herself”.

We are making really good progress with crate games.

Most of the time she is picking good things to chew on but I still need to watch her, and she likes to wander off into the off limits areas.

I’m pretty pleased with her.

Anyone need a 12” dog for flyball?  I’m not sure she’s that fast, she tends not to break out of trot, which is fine by me.

But tonight she was consistently playing fetch which means I can get the edge off and get her tired enough to sleep.

Our biggest problem is that she is over stimulated – she came from the Beagle house to a real house and there is just too much to do and play with, and that means she picks up the wrong stuff gets in trouble – like my underwear, a shoe, etc.

I was able to keep her moving through most of ice road truckers tonight.  That means she might sleep all night.

This morning, Dulce ran out the dog door and let herself out and immediately stopped and peed when she got outside.

If she just didn’t get into everything and chew everything up!