A Trial In Slovenska Bistrica

Xsara ran us the 1st place on yesterday's trial in Slovenska Bistrica. She won a trophy in the shape of a ... bone(r). I was particularly glad she did the weaves since we had been having problems with this. We also had team competitions and Xsara had a clean run for her team as well. I was very happy because of these results since the trial in Slovenska Bistrica means a lot to us - it's where we won our first trophy last year. Unfortunately I didn't have a sandwich so Xsara got my lunch - a yogurt and wholewheat bread plus a chewable treat later at home.

Weaving Problems

Ah the weaves! If anybody wants to know what it looks like if a beagle is fooling you on the weaves, check out the demonstration from Saturday's trial in Ložnica pri Žalcu. On training all the weaves are perfect of course, and she hadn't missed a contact in a very long time. Naughty little girl! I should probably blame myself, the beautiful weather, the virosis she doesn't have any more, anything but the beagle. Otherwise I'm glad she's running happiliy like this, following the principle "if the beagle is barking, she's feelingče OK". Last year she was dragging herself from one obstacle to another if it was too hot outside, this year she is running much nicer (knocking on the wood). Right now she is on her back, all paws in the air and snoring like crazy. Beagles rule!

Sena's People Are Back

Yesterday we had to give Sena back to her people who returned from vacations. Of course we miss her a lot, but I think Xsara is quite happy that she has the entire bed for herself again (the king-size bed is definitely to small for two spoiled beagles). But it bothers her that I have to learn for an exam and she doesn't really understand why I'm staring to the stupid laptop instead of doing something more fun. Fortunately the weather sucks so going outside isn't so inviting. We wanted to go to obedience course for the first time after her virosis but I don't think jumping around in the rain is just what she needs right now, she is still not that well. Today we will give her the first half of her meal next to the risotto. I hope she will take it well since I recently discovered how dificult is teaching tricks with risotto!

Sena Is In The House

Thursday evening we went to get Sena who will spend a week with us. Xsara wasn't too jealous and let Sena have a spot on the bed next to me. She curled next to us herself as well. Yesterday we made a trip to Planina and the girls were behaving very nicely. Xsara is still a little tired from her virosis so she's a little calmer than usual and Sena is quite a calm dog in general. Today we had to cancel a trial in Ptuj because the vet said she should still rest for a couple of days. He is probably right, Xsara is still not begging for food when we eat so I guess she's not completely OK yet. I'm sorry to miss a beautiful day on trial and the first competition of Xsara's friend Ben, but health comes first. There will be many more trials anyhow!

Double Achievement For Brakada

We had a trial in Gornja Radgona on Saturday. We had a very nice sunny day. There was a hunting dog expo next to the trial where they chose Xsara's mom Ella for the BOB beagle. The day was very successfull for the kennel Brakada since Xsara also celebrated 3rd place in agility, but I guess it was more luck than anything else this time. An Austrian judge was judging the trial and his courses were a little different from ours. I was particularly nervous because of that and I ran like a chicken on the course. Xsara understood my weird signals unbelievably well and the first run was clean. Which means he acchieved two conditions for the next level in only three trials which is pretty impressive. She could have made all three of them if I weren't so silly. We're not rushing there anyway, we just got to the 2nd level. We had some problems with weaves in second run so we gained one fault and it also showed in timing that we repeated the entire weaves. Since most dogs didn't Q we still finished 3rd. On Sunday I regretted going to this trial. She had had digestional problems already on Friday but it wasn't bad and I decided to go anyway. I misjudged the situation or she got worse because she was running. She's on antibiotics now and has a diet which requires her to eat horse meat risotto. She was feeling bad for a couple of days, but now she's much better. I'm so sorry but on Saturday she really looked well enough, she was jumping around like always. Tomorrow we will get to babysit her sister Sena for a week, I'm sure that will cheer her up

Halloween

There will be more videos now that I have all the equipment. Here is a video of our "mouse" Xsara for Halloween. I will soon be adding some of the tricks we have learned so far.

By The Beautiful Sea

We spent the entire day by the sea today and we visited the castle and park Miramare. The weather was beautiful but Xsara and Ben had to be on leash in the park. That's why we later went on Slovenian coast where they could run around a little. Xsara is now happily asleep so that she will be able to run around again tomorrow.

A Trial in Ajdovščina - New Video

I'm attaching Xsara's second run from Ajdovščina. I think this was probably one of our worse runs until now, but it happened to be the first time we remembered to bring a camera. I finally have all the equipment so there will be more videos from now on. Today we are going to the sea with Ben and in Italy to get Interceptor pills. Maybe I will manage to catch something on the camera.

A Trial in Ajdovščina

On yesterday's trial in Ajdovščina we had an off-course on the first obstacle because of my mastake. Nevertheless we finished the course very nicely. We had a very nice day, like it's summer already. After the trial we visited Xsara's breeder since their kennel gained five new puppies yesterday. Otherwise Xsara and I have been training for B-bh exam. I'm attaching the link to the video of Xsara's first run from yesterday's trial without the disqualifying mistake (no censorship, the girl who was taping it just turned the camera on a little late):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKA6Uld5EoA Thanks so Petra for the video!

First Performance in A2/J2

Yesterday we had our first competition on A2/J2 medium level. We had both clean runs, which means no faults, we only gained a couple of seconds on time because I was having some difficulties remembering the course (the combination was very difficult). We still finished on 3rd place which was very unexpected. Xsara is a constant surprise to me. This week she also learned a new trick: she can now do figure eight between my legs backwards. I can't wait for our next obedience course because Xsara is really fun to work with!