We haven’t managed to take Beanie or Biggles to obedience classes for a few weeks due to work commitments. Tonight was our first night back (Biggles’ class tonight, Beanie tomorrow) and I was a little apprehensive as whilst we’ve been working hard on training it’s been mostly recall related. I honestly expected Biggles to have problems remembering what to do.

Biggles gave everyone a big surprise. Teachers Val and Carol couldn’t believe how calm and laid back he was since they saw him last – in fact I was accused of drugging him at one point! He was as good as gold, and performed without treats even. When told to sit and stay he kept his bum stuck to the floor no matter what chaos was going on around him. The only slight problem was a tendency to roll onto his back for a tummy tickle mid-way through ‘down-stay’ exercises. He did so well that he’s been promoted to the next class.

Here’s hoping that Beanie does just as well in her advanced class tomorrow night!

And whilst on the subject of training, our emergency recall practice seems to be paying off. We’ve been working hard on it for two or three months now and over the past few days we’ve tried it out while Beanie and Biggles were some distance away from us and quite engrossed in what they are doing. It’s worked every time. The moment we call they stop what they’re doing and run to us like little bullets. Today we decided to be brave and give it a real test…

Beanie and Biggles had clearly picked up a scent and took off at high speed, baying their heads off. Most Beagle owners (including us until today) assume that Beagles are in fact deaf when on a scent as it’s impossible to get their attention. Well, they were about 200 yards away from us and about to disappear out of the meadow and into the trees. Paul yelled our magic word at the top of his lungs and they both instantly skidded to a halt and sprinted back to us.

The fundamental rules of Really Reliable Recall are:

• Practice recall using your emergency word three times a day
• Use highly valued rewards, and make the reward last at least 30 seconds (i.e. keep feeding treats for 30 seconds).
• Only use it when you are 100% certain that your dog will come to you.

We took a gamble on rule 3, but fortunately it paid off. But we won’t make a habit of this – tomorrow we’ll be sure to make it nice and easy for them.

Normal, every day recall is coming along well too. I won’t claim that it works EVERY time, but most of the time they’ll break off what they’re doing and come to us when we call.

Finally, here’s a couple of pictures from today’s walk:

Biggles finally started puppy classes last night and I baked a sardine cake for the occasion.

We were last to arrive and all the other pups were getting to know each other as we walked in. He was the youngest and littlest there, but it didn’t phase him for a second. He ran around saying hi to everyone, tail waggling like mad. He was very popular with all of the children.

He’s every bit as confident as Beanie was when she was little, but a lot more noisy! He barked to let everyone know he’d arrived; He barked at everyone he met; He barked when anyone paid attention to him; He barked when no one was paying attention to him; He barked when anyone appeared to be having more fun than him! But basically all the barks meant one thing – I’M HERE – PLAY WITH ME!!!!!

After the introduction we had a handling session. The idea of this is to make sure that when your puppy grows up he doesn’t mind having his teeth brushed, his ears inspected or his nails clipped. And it also makes your vets life a lot easier if your dog is happy to be handled.

Biggles doesn’t mind being handled at all….

…all he cared about was getting hold of that sardine cake that he could smell in my pocket!

Finally we were to give our pups a nice long cuddle. A lot of the pups weren’t happy about that but Biggles was in his element – as always he rolled onto his back with his little eyes pleading me to give him a tummy tickle! He’d stay like that all day if you let him.

Next we swapped pups so that they got used to being handled by lots of different people:

The beginners were all taken into a corner to learn the basics. As Biggles is such a clever little boy (and we had been practicing) the trainer used him to demonstrate how to sit, down and stand. Biggles did very well, but as the trainer handed him back to me he quietly suggested that I work on bite inhibition for next week – it seems that along with that tasty sausage Biggles was nibbling a bit of juicy human finger as well! :)

Finally the class ended with a little recall practice. Biggles did very well and came running the moment I called – he probably didn’t run the fastest, but he definately had the cutest recall :)

The Glasgow Dog Training Club, where we take Beanie for obedience training, breaks up for a month for the summer holidays next week. So last week we had a professional photographer in for end of term photos.

We’re delighted with Beanie’s pictures:

She’s such a little poser!!!! During the class, each of the dogs was taken out in turn for a little private photo-shoot.  As is normal for Beanie nowadays, she was being the naughtiest pup in the class. But the moment she was in front of the camera she was as good as gold. Even the photographer said she was the most well behaved dog they’d seen that night!