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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.

So someone forgot one of her dogs and left her at home.

Well, actually I forgot that I was easing Macy back into agility and skipped a few emails.  Whoops.  No biggie, I think doing yoga and one dog is enough. 

Dulce took a second place in FAST.  I never felt in control but she ran in the same general direction and took all the obstacles except one that I sent her too  and I really didn't think that would happen. 

Ran out of the ring in Open Standard.  I still think she is just being naughty, and she came back when I threatened her with cookies.  Maybe her name really is Cookie — which is what her breeder called her.

She did run in the same general direction in Novice Jumpers but stopped too long for beagle snack.  At least for the first time ever, I had to wait for the scores to know if she Qed.

We have a new strategy for Sunday:  picking her up and not letting her sniff outside the ring, and bringing all the dogs that are entered.  Should be too hard, currently I have just two. 

Husband has already demanded to see the Bobby Fisher movie and since he doesn't make those demands often, yes of course we're going and we're doing the full date night.

I've already seen some previews and I know going to be disappointed in their choice for Boris Spassky.   He came to Dallas when I was still playing chess, just about the time Rich and I got married.  The board of the Dallas Chess club hosted him.  He stayed with another couple whom I dearly miss.

Man, he was the most fun and was just the nicest guy.  Plus he was gorgeous it.  He loved it here because he could walk around the malls with us and no one knew who he was.

He irritated the heck out of the husband because he was kind enough to let me play as long as possible during the simultaneous.    I think I was one of the last he beat, or pretty close but unlike Rich I play a safe game and don't take a lot of risks.  He also complimented me on that.

Sometimes I miss playing but I love my dogs more.  Even Rich doesn't play chess very often any more.

One of my best Best Friends in agility is a vet who specializes in caring for research animals.  She's a really fun person who most people don't understand.

She choose to go into this field, even though it is not popular.  One reason is to help make medical advances for both humans and animals.  The other is to make sure that the animals aren't suffering.  As a vet, she can ensure that.

She has been talking about a group of beagles to me ever since she moved to Dallas as she messes mine and the little Rascals reminded her of mine.  I didn't want to hear about it, but I did listen.

For those of you who think this is wrong, you have to know that those little dogs are as loved as your beagles (or dogs).  This is an old age study, so they needed the dogs to be in as close to a regular environment as possible.  When they do a protocol like this, they research as many things as they possible can.

The Little Rascals had their own area where they played together, the staff played with them — certainly my friend did.  And yes, when an old age study is finished, they have to put the dogs to sleep and take them apart so see what happened.

Yes, that's the hardest part.  BUT REMEMBER,  it's an OLD AGE study.  The beagles that lived to be 12, were all put to sleep.  I felt so bad I couldn't Cheryl and let her play with the little beagles as that was as hard for her as it is for us when we need to help our dogs go.

BUT here's the best part.  Some of the results of the study have given us new dog that does help them.  It's got ingredients for joint health and brain development.  I've seen the commercials but my friend told me about it long before it goes on the market.

We looked at the labels over the phone together and while the package says 7+ there is no reason to feed it younger.

In fact, I'm thinking seriously of taking the existing food to the shelter and buying the new brand tomorrow.

Someone almost spat in my face when I was carrying Macy after her runs once this weekend that if her toes hurt, and said there is medication.  This is rest of the story.

There is a second part of story, because I know that something happened that has been misunderstood.

Mildred Austin, Tesoros Beagles was kind enough to let me have Macy.  Yes, I paid money for her, because that is the proper thing to do with something that precious.  Besides, I wanted her to be ALL mine, not co-owned.  I'm funny that way.  I do share with my husband, but that's it.  (Well, not really, they really are my dog).  I do know Mildred well enough now, and understand things well enough to know that it would be an honor to be a co-owner with Mildred or any of Mildred's friends.

Macy loved me from the minute she saw me (Mildred's beagles are like that).  She was 8 months old at the time and gorgeous.  Best yet, she looked just her daddy, Ben, my favorite little dog.  We had to drive a long way and the first things that happened is that she got incredibly scared and care sick on the way home (always take a crate when you get a beagle from Mildred).  She was scared of my husband which was a) surprising because Sam is much bigger than Rich and b) that he was in love the minute he saw her.

She was also super smart, I taught her first trick to her seconds what I was looking for.  I'd been told years ago by an old hunter than those fancy beagles didn't have a brain.  I've been delighted to find out that he didn't know what he was talking about.

Macy was also afraid of Marcie.  Marcie was a very loving mother but she was strict.  She too came from a very good beagle family but a hunting beagle and they are hard on their children because they know the world is hard on them.  She spanked very hard because the people spanked hard and she wanted to toughen them up.  Macy was very ashamed one day because she was being naughty and her daddy got spanked instead of her and he was bleeding.

Macy saw that Marcie got extra special attention and treats because she did precisely what mom said unless she knew that mom was wrong.   But Macy has a problem.  Macy is very naughty.  She doesn't want to be or mean to be but some days she just has to go a different way.   She has to tear something up, usually mine.  Then she's instantly sorry because she doesn't want to hurt my feelings.

One night something really bad happened at the house.  I was yelling and there was a truck in the house.  The house smelled awful because the truck was still running.  Macy was scared and started running but fortunately Macy is slow and her daddy is fast and he saved her.

The saddest part is that we couldn't live in the house for a while and Macy had to live in an apartment.  It was awful.  There was no yard, and Macy had to be walked around the complex on a leash.  Macy LOVES walking with her daddy, and I'm constantly having to remind him that she can't walk as far as he does.  He gets mad when she won't walk and he can't walk one dog and carry one.  As a result, Macy got stress fractures in her toes and her vets did their best.

When the house was being fixed, one evening after Macy's toes got hurt, Maggie got scared and ran.   Macy got scared too, but she only got as far as the park across the street.  When we found her, she was a little wad of beagle fur and she was still so scared.  Dulce was scared but being the smartest of all the beagles at the time, she stayed at our house.

I took her to my vet's.  I love my vets, Kirk Esmond and Melissa Cordiess.  I've been going to them for years.  Kirk loves the beagles and has been as sad as me when we have to say good bye.  Melissa runs agility with us.  She doesn't get to all weekend.  She doesn't know all my Best Friends.

They did the best they could and my husband had to carry her everywhere. She's tiny but solid and 15 pounds is heavy. I get tired quickly carrying her.

Macy gets really upset when she can't keep up with me.  She tries really hard.  I know that Macy feels really bad.  That's why I always say, "Macy's toes hurt" so she knows that I know she tried.

And she runs beautifully at Elizabeth's Fun Farm and I am sad you can't come see.

And yes there is medicine.  I'm on anti-flammatories, and they don't do the job.  We use them sparingly with Macy because it is very hard on the liver and she's a very little dog.

One of our Best Friends is a vet for clinical research trials.  She's actually told me about some research she has been helping with and we're trying it as soon as the bag gets here.  By the way, they make it at Purina, the Bright formula and I understand Iam's does too.  I don't feed either food and have considered either slightly above feeding dogs kibbles and bits.  I'm starting to change my mind.

There is another story.  I learned the hard way that you cannot absolutely ever touch your dog in the agility ring.

I was in Ft. Worth at the Ft. Worth Kennel Club show and Macy was very sad because she couldn't do what I wanted.  I reached down to scratch her back and surprised her.  There was a bench committee.   The outcome was that I did break a very important rule and I paid my lesson.  The club also broke rules and paid a lesson.

The clubs actions have cost the local agility clubs a lot of money and saved me a lot.  I haven't back to any of the trials that are put on in Fort Worth since that happened.  I am going back to the Dalmatian club's trial at the request of one of the members who was at Purina Farm and visited with me during the trial.  Besides, they put on a great party!

You see, to support the local agility community I have always entered every since trial and every single class that were available to my dogs.  I'm not able to run that many dogs and set bars or anything else, but I can write a check for each of my dogs

I made the mistake of doing that for the beagle party, and I won't be doing that again.  The definition of insanity is repeating something and expecting a different result.