My princesses

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Sava Sara Brakada, AKA Xsara was born on 06-27-2004. She was raised in Kennel Brakada spending the first two months of her life on beautiful countryside Gorenjska (Slovenia) with her siblings and parents. As soon as she came to Ljubljana we started a puppy class, followed by an obedience class. She passed her B-bh exam with 96 points (instructor Agility EO winner Polona Bonač). We now continue with Rally-Obedience under Polona's supervision. Our biggest passion however is Agility. We started our first Agility class in October 2005 (club Agility Ilirija, instructor Silvia Trkman, two times agility world champion). When Silvia stopped teaching agility classes, we switched to Daša Zakotnik. We regularly participate in Agility trials in Slovenia and sometimes abroad. Xsara also loves to learn new dog tricks, you can see some of them in our videos. Her other passions include long walks, big meals and playing with dogs, specially her pyr shep sister Tani, her crazy agility pals and her sister Sena.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Holidays Are Over ...

... and so is our snow. I'm not snow-crazy but Xsara loves it very much, so it's nice to have it - for a couple of days at least. We also made another trip to the sea (I know, I'm obsessed), so we actually had both: the pleasures of snow and sea in one weekend.

Unfortunately the weather was kind of depressing most of the time, so I spent an entire day planning our summer holidays in Tuscany. Long walks among beautiful hills, vineyards and fields full of sunflowers are just what we need (well, who doesn't, right?). I can't wait :)

We are working on a new trick. I'm not revealing what it is, I'm just telling you it's something awesome and also kind of complicated. We are making great progress with it, so I'm really happy about it. Xsara likes it, too - she gets so excited and I just love to watch her learn new stuff.

We also started to jog. For the first couple of days Xsara seemed to be the perfect jogging partner. Being a true beagle however, she soon discovered that I wasn't keen on making stops and she decided to take advantage of this. She would slow down, let me go on, and when I would be far enough she would roll in something delicious or even try to eat it. The whole jogging thing would then turn into me chasing her around the fields, which she thought was way more fun. I don't want to jog with her on leash because it took me years to convince her to run at least one step ahead of me in agility. So now we jog with a ball in my hand. It's not even jogging any more, it's more like sprinting as fast as we can and in a certain moment I say "go on", throw the ball ahead and then reward her if she outruns me to the ball (she always does). It's fun but I would still like to jog, too. If you have any ideas, I'm opened to suggestions.

We have no trials for two more weeks, so we are just doing our usual training. When the season starts we will have trials every weekend, and hopefully the weather will improve by then. Our biggest challenge this year is to get accepted to European Open 2008. Last year it was probably my favorite trial because we were camping there for the weekend and we got to see many excellent handlers in action - even a couple of very good beagles, which is always a wonderful experience for both of us.

10 comments:

William Tell said...

Such a talented pup! I'm sure you will teach your Mom to jog the way you want her to real soon! :)

Also, can't wait to see what your new trick will be.

Happy Tails,
William Tell

Patience-please said...

If she has the behavior of running ahead of you in the ring fully learned, then I would think jogging, with a leash to your belt so your hands are free, would be a whole different behavior in a doggy brain.
I can't wait to see the new trick!

Patience and the whippets

Lorenza said...

Your summer holidays sure sound great!
I will be waiting to know about the new trick!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

JAZZ AND DIXIE said...

Hi
I too have tried jogging with two beagles on leashes and it was a disaster. Firstly the stopping so abruptly to sniff or eat something and then Jazz gets so excited she tries to pull the leash from my hand or take hold of Dixie's leash. I think your ball idea is a good one. Looking forawrd to the new trick too.
Jazz and Dixie's mum

Urban Smoothie Read said...

i hope u master the new trick soon n reveal it to us.... we can't wait to c it...

btw...i alwiz run ahead of my owner and when i can't c my owner, i will go off-course... it took her a loooong time to get me run nearer to her...

i hope u can be there at the european championship...sounds totally cool... n i'm proud to be your friend...

Amber-Mae said...

Oh, a new trick? Can't wait top see it soon! Hmm, what a notty girl she is nowadays. I guess jogging is just too boring for her when there's sooo much other fun things to do for eg: roll in some dung. I don't know if I can help you much with this but you could always try this. While you both are jogging, the moment you know Xsara is gonna start sniffing on something, quickly do a sharp about turn or left or right turn & say, "close Xsara!" or whatever commands you use to ask her to stick close to you & then get away from that spot that she wants to sniff & just continue jogging to the other direction. It's like Obedience but fast pace...Make sure she's on your side always & never in front or behind of you. Try this & see if it helps or not. You could always do some practice first. Put some tempting treats on the floor, jog towards it with her & get close to it & if you see she's gonna go after it, quickly do a turn. Reward her every time she does it right but not all the time.

Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer

Thor and Jack said...

Hi Xsara!
It seems that you´re having great fun in holidays! I can´t wait to see your new trick!

Thor

Simona said...

ej, kdo fotka te slikce?? Dobr mu gre. Mislm sej Xsara je že sama po seb precej fotogenična, ampak fotograf je pa tud kar talentiran.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

come see my blog,i have updated finally.
Your a talented dog
Tilly