Agility Beagle Xsara

Another Fun Walk / Photoshooting

2009-11-06T12:06:00.015+01:00

Yesterday we went for another walk with Polona, her toller Wi and Polona's fantastic camera :) We were very lucky because we had nice weather, even though it's raining all the time otherwise. But somehow we managed to even catch some sun! It's hard to imagine that only one day before our walk it was snowing like crazy. This weather is really gone wild. Here are some photos from our walk and from Xsara in snow:

Xsara's Trials And A New friend

2009-10-02T12:46:00.006+02:00

Xsara is doing very well. I haven't posted in a while (again) because we spend every minute of our spare time playing outside. The trialing season 2009 is going to end tomorrow and I'm very happy with Xsara's runs this year. This is our first full season in the top Grade, so the courses are more difficult and the competition is very hard. She made me very proud on a trial in Ljubljana a couple of weeks ago when she placed 3rd and stood on the podium next to the super La!

Yesterday, Xsara and Tani got a new cousin. Cairn terrier Miki will be the best friend to my younger sister Katja. We still live in the same house so I wasn't sure how the girls would react to an outsider, as they now form a pack. But they both like him very much and he likes them back, so all is good :) Miki is a son of Xsara's agility friend Kin. This is his picture - he is sweet, isn't he?!

Updates

2009-08-14T11:05:00.006+02:00

We didn't get lost somewhere in Holland, we're back at the seaside and enjoying the Summer. European Open was a lot of fun and Xsara had some very nice runs. I'm specially proud of our team Fast Snails - we were placed 13th (among 87 teams) in jumping and 29th overall. Other competitors from Slovenia did very well too, and we were very proud to applaud them on the podium.

We're currently staying in our new appartment by the sea where I have a lot of time to work on my diploma. We are also working on many new tricks and hopefully will finally make a new video for Xsara - who is now a big swimmer, by the way. She never liked water too much, but now that we have Tani, Xsara likes to join us in the water as well. But sometimes she does get tired of the little hyper Tani, so she learned how to close herself in the crate. It took me days to figure out why the door was closed even when I left it opened, until one day I saw her closing it with her paw. She sure is one super smart little girl!

A Very Fun Morning (Specially For Xsara)

2009-07-22T20:01:00.010+02:00

Yesterday we went for a walk with Polona, her toller Wi and Bamm Bamm, who is staying with Polona for a couple of weeks. We had a great time together, but Xsara got me very scared. She was behaving very nicely, came whenever I called her and played nicely with other dogs, when suddenly I heard the familiar beagle-scream that they produce only when they find a trail. I tried to run after her, but my neck got stuck in Tani's leash so I had no chance at all. I tried to follow her anyway, while Polona and the other dogs waited where Xsara left. I called her and followed the barking, but she was moving way to fast for me to follow her through the bushes. Then I couldn't hear her any more and I got really scared, so I decided to return to the others, hoping that she would come back soon (beagles should know how to return to the spot where they left). And she did come right after me. The entire chase didn't last long, maybe 10 minutes - but it seemed like ages to me. I was soooo happy to see her, I think I hugged so hard that she lost her breath for a second and then I kept her on leash for the rest of the time. She is my sweet little girl, but deep inside, there are instincts that she cannot resist. I will be extra careful from now on!

Polona took some amazing pictures of my girls, so BIG thanks to her! Here are pictures of Xsara, while Tani's pictures are on her blog:

Birthday Pawty Pictures

2009-07-11T11:04:00.020+02:00

As promissed, here are some pictures from Xsara's birthday party - big thanks to Daša for taking them!

Xsara's B-day guests were:
Lija
Lana
Kate
Cherie
Katka
Bones
Tani
and of course the party girl Xsara :)
We hired a clown to amuse the guests
... there were doggy games such as tug-o-war
... the 3 little puppies ran around like crazy
... and the others preferred to cuddle
Xsara looked a little unhappy with her limber tail syndrome
... but she had fun too - her favorite part of the party was the cake
... other guests enjoyed the cake as well

All doggies were pretty tired after all of that and they agreed that the party was a big hit :)

New Action Pictures

2009-07-02T09:52:00.012+02:00

Here are some new pictures from our trials - one of them in pouring rain. Xsara got limber tail syndrome on that trial, but it already looks much better. I kept her in a warm place and dried her after every exit, but sometimes these things just happen. Luckily it's nothing serious, she's not in any pain and doesn't need any medications, so hopefully, she'll be back to wagging like crazy very very soon!Her Birthday Party was a lot of fun. I'll post pictures as soon as Daša mails them to me. All the dogs played nicely, except for our party girl who was busy guarding the kitchen and her cake. She got a very big piece and it took her about 3 seconds to finish it, so apparently it was delicious. Tani got her share of fun as well as there were 2 other puppies on the guest list. Photos to follow ...

Happy Birthday!

2009-06-28T00:47:00.005+02:00

Happy 5th Birthday to my sweet sweet little Xsara and her siblings!

We are a little tired after two trials and an all-day agility seminar with AWC 2009 judge Manuel Alff, all in the past 3 days. But we sure had a great time. Xsara ran very nicely, specially on the workshop and in her 2nd run on today's trial, when she got through a very twisted course with no faults and faster than usually.

We are having Xsara's agility friends over tomorrow, and of course there will also be cake and presents :)

Telepathic Little Dog

2009-06-15T10:52:00.007+02:00

Our weekends are still full of trials and fun little trips. I'm happy with Xsara's runs this year - even though she doesn't run clean all the time, she is starting to be more independent on course, and I really hope she continues to do so.

We are also working on some new tricks, and she absolutely loves learning new things. She is a very very smart little dog. She is quite different from Tani who will try a thousand things with a new object and keep trying until she hears the click. Xsara will sit and think, and somehow figure out what I want her to do with it right away. I never know how she does it, maybe we're so bonded that she can telepathically feel what I want her to do. But she never needs more than a couple of tries to figure out what the trick is.

Here are some new pictures of my smart little girl, taken on our hiking trip yesterday:

More Trials

2009-05-25T07:03:00.006+02:00

Xsara and I had a very nice weekend. On Saturday we had an agility trial in Slovenska Bistrica. We had great two runs - unfortunately with one disqualifying mistake (tunnel under the dogwalk). But I was very proud of her because we got through some very difficult sequences with no faults, and quite fast as well. The courses were very tough and only a handful of dogs got through with no faults while many excellent dogs got DQ. I was veeeery proud of my little girl!

On Sunday we had a Rally-Obedience trial. When we saw the courses, I first considered pulling us out of the competition. There was my least favourite excercise in the world: there are 4 bowls of food on the ground and the dog must heel around each of them! And as if it weren't enough, this excercise was in the straight line from the tunnel - it would be so easy for the dog to run ahead :) But I decided to go through the course anyway, taking it as an opportunity to train. We started extremely well - even the judge said that the beginning of the course was absolutely perfect! She did sniff the bowls though, but not as much as I feared she would. However, once a beagle starts sniffing, it's hard to convince them to stop, so she was a little distracted by smell for the rest of the course. She still did the excercises very nicely, but with a little bit of sniffing now and then - and in the last excercise I accidently stepped on her foot :/ We were 4th, but with muuuuch nicer work that the previous time, so I was extremely proud of Xsara again She sure is one special little girl!!

Photoshooting

2009-05-22T11:15:00.013+02:00

Xsara and Tani had a photoshooting in Hrušica on Wednesday. Big thanks to Iztok Noč for the pictures! Here is the result:

For some action pictures of Tani visit her blog: CLICK.

A Trial and a Trip to Bohinj

2009-05-17T20:31:00.005+02:00

We had another agility trial yesterday, this time in Ložnica. Xsara made me very happy with two nice runs and 4th place. Once again she was running a little better than before her illness, so apparently she didn't need much time to regain her confidence after all. I know this is still not her full speed, but as long as we keep improving I'm very very happy.

Today, we decided to go for a trip because weather was perfect for a loooong walk. I've never been to this beautiful lake not so far away from home, so we went to Bohinj. Xsara doesn't like to swim, but I wanted to see if Tani would enjoy water so that at least one of my dogs would swim with me in the Summer (and Tani liked water a lot). We had a lovely time together, enjoying the beatutiful surroundings and each other's company. When we got back home, the girls were both exhausted and happy, and now they are both sleeping on my bed :)

Monza - Frontline Combo

2009-05-12T17:10:00.011+02:00

Italy was great: the weather was perfect, we saw some really good handlers and dogs in action and we also got the opportunity to see some other interesting canine disciplines, such as goose herding, flyball and freestyle. Xsara ran beautifully, I was so very proud of her. Unfortunately I made some handling mistakes (or to be honest, they were all the same mistake) - she was in a great mood for running and trying to speed her up even more, I called her too soon, so we got a couple of refusals. I have to work on my timing, apparently :) She was very responsive, so I was very very happy with both our runs. We also had a lot of fun outside the course, camping and watching the rest of the trial with our friends, so all in all it really was a wonderful weekend!

European Open 2009

2009-05-08T03:25:00.008+02:00

We got accepted to European Open 2009 :) It's one of my favorite trials because it's an opportunity to run courses from judges we don't see every weekend and see so many excellent competitors from around the world. And it's also a lot of fun to camp with our friends and talk about agility and dogs until very very late every night.

Here are some Xsara's pictures from the trial in Ptuj.

Regaining Confidence

2009-05-03T14:25:00.009+02:00

First of all, I made a new blog for Tani, so from now on this blog is back to being full-time about my amazing little beagle :) I think each of them deserves her own blog, so to read about Tani's progress you can click HERE. She's doing great, by the way!

Xsara is also doing amazingly well. With every trial she is gaining back her confidence and I am very proud of her. She's been out of training and competing for quite some time and it's so nice to see her be happy and healthy again! In yesterday's trial she ran her full speed again, agility even faster than her average speed before illness, so I was jumping through the roof! If she hadn't knocked the last bar in jumping, she would be third. It was all my fault, of course - I was so happy with her run that I started praising her a little to soon, causing her to lower her hind legs. But nevertheless, all contacts were perfect, she was in a great mood and a joy to run with.

I have some new pictures of her trials. Looking at them, I am often amazed by how high she actually jumps sometimes. She is often 65cm in the air, like large dogs - and sometimes she takes off metres before the jump (and yet she hardly ever knocks them). I think we might need a technique to regulate her jumping a little, but right now all I care about is boosting her confidence so that she will be more independent on course again. I want her to just run and have as much fun with me as I am having with her.

This is the smile I love so much :)

More Trials

2009-04-20T23:57:00.017+02:00

Xsara had two trials this weekend. On Saturday we had an agility trial in Gornja Radgona. I am very happy with how we did as we had two clean runs. Her contacts have improved a lot and she seems very happy to be back to competing and training. We were 5th, running after 3 pyr sheps and a poodle. We had a lovely day there, it was a lot of fun. Even though Gornja Radgona is far away and we had to wake up very early in the morning, it's one of my favorite trials.

On Sunday we had a Rally-Obedience trial. Unfortunately I cannot brag with great results there, as Xsara was sniffing a LOT. She worked perfectly outside the ring before and after our turn, but wasn't so willing to cooperate on course. We still scored 161/170 and were placed 4th, but I know we can do a lot better than that. I hope we will do better next time.
I haven't made any new tricks videos yet, but I have some beautiful pictures to share. Big thanks to Iztok Noč who took them!

Xsara:

Tani:

I have managed to make contacts with Tani's sisters. Little black girl Rayas is in Switzerland and she has a very nice webpage. The fawn-merle girl is now known as Razz and she lives in Spain. All three sisters will be agility dogs when they grow up.
Razz:

Rayas:

A Little Bit Of Everything

2009-04-13T12:31:00.009+02:00

I've become totally horrible with updates on this blog!! We had very bad weather for a week and couldn't train outisde, but it's been lovely for the past few weeks and now we're mostly outside.

We had a 4Fun trial a couple of weeks ago and Xsara won the open cathegory, making me very proud. Then yesterday we had a trial in Austria. Our first run was pretty bad because I forgot the course (it happens) so we got a refusal and knocked the long jump, but the second run (agility) was great, all contacts were super and even though the course was very difficult we were 2nd, so overall we finished on 5th place (but only missed 2nd place for 1 point). Not bad at all, specially since we haven't competed in so long. We have a lot of trials in the next weeks as well, plus some rally-obedience trials and a herding test for Tani, so we're super busy. Here are some pictures from Austria:

... we also filmed some of Tani's new tricks:

... and went to the seaside again:

Why am I a workaholic when it comes to my dogs? Because of this look in their eyes! When it comes to learning new things, they both get green sparkly eyes and wag their tails passionately - and I'm crazy about that :)

Tani and Xsara are doing great, they are still very good friends and I have no problems taking them everywhere with me. I thought I would have more problems getting Tani used to competitions (a lot of dogs, people and sounds), but she was totally fine and acted like a pro :) Xsara is constantly regaining muscles as Tani keeps her very busy, so she is in a very good shape now (but they are currently both on hyper calories diet). Will post again as soon as I have more time! Thanks to everyone for your comments, I always appreciate them.

Puppy Tricks (part 2)

2009-03-24T07:32:00.003+01:00

Here is part 2 of Tani's puppy tricks, filmed during our trip to the seaside on Sunday.

You can see how nicely Xsara and Tani play together, for those who were asking how they get along. They are very good friends, only 2 toys are absolutely off limit for Tani and Xsara won't let her near them (nobody touches the green ball but Xsara and I). Tani has some very beagle-like characteristics (not distrustful of strangers at all, everybody is her best friend and gets tons of kisses if notices how wonderful she is). Xsara is even more playful than before, I think she really likes having company. So all is good :) Hope to make some new videos soon (we really need to do a new tricks video for Xsara as well)!

Puppy Tricks Part 1

2009-03-18T17:57:00.002+01:00

We only filmed a couple of tricks on Sunday, but I made a short video anyway, so that you can see our little girl in action. She knows some more triks and is learning new things every day, so part 2 will arrive shortly :)

A Quick Update

2009-03-09T09:29:00.009+01:00

A quick update while the girls sleep :) They have become very good friends, they play together, cuddle together, eat together, Xsara really looks after her and I think she's very happy to have somebody to play with 24/7. Tani is crazy about Xsara, she constantly gives her little kisses and is very happy when Xsara kisses her back. I expected there to be more jealousity, so I'm very happy to see them be such great sisters to one another.

As pyrenean shepherds need so much socialisation, I pretty much take Tani with me everywhere I go. I have a little doggy backpack (similar to a sherpa crate) so I just put her in and off we go. She is very brave, loves people and animals and is incredibly nosy :) She is still a little afraid of trucks and buses, but not too scared around them at all. Every time Tani and I come back home, Xsara will first check if I brought Tani back and be clearly happy to see her, only then will she greet me as well :)

I'm also happy to report that Xsara is back to training and, naturally, we take Tani with us when we train. Yesterday we tried sending her through the tunnel for the first time and then we ran around the wings of jumps with bars on the ground. With Xsara, we're working on her being more independent on the course. I think it looks quite promissing, I'm very happy with yesterday's training, really. Her weaves entries are very good and her contacts are also more and more independent. She is very happy to be running again, that's for sure!

We took the girls to the seaside a couple of times as the weather finally improved for the weekend. There is already Spring on the coast so we had such a wonderful time. Unfortunately, I think Tani will probably not be crazy about swimming, so I will have two dogs and none of them will swim with me, urgh! I'm also teaching them tricks full time. Tani already knows "cik" (go around an object and turn left), "go on" and "get in the bowl". With Xsara I was a little busy practicing a routine for a tricks show we participated in (at the opening of a new pet store), but am planning on teaching her some new tricks as well.

Now they are awake again so I'm taking them for a loooong walk! Will write again as soon as I have more time! Thank you all for your comments and welcome wishes for Tani, we really appreciate it :)

Proud To Present Désirée de Loubajac

2009-02-26T07:01:00.008+01:00

Yes, she's here and she's one funny little girl. We all have fallen in love with her right away. Xsara is a great sister, they sleep together in my bed and she even lets Tani near her food bowl, so she really took me by surprise. They look very cute together. Xsara is very careful when they play and lets her gently know if she gets too much into her face. Tani is totally fascinated by Xsara's tail so she likes to walk behind Xsara and watch it as it goes left and right.

One word to describe Tani best would be fast. Everything she does is speedy! She is always alert, looking around and listening to every little sound. She loves to run and play and she adapts very well on new surroundings. Everyone who will stop to admire her will get a big wet kiss. But in her heart she decided right away that she only belongs to me, so she follows me everywhere. She is always eather behind my back on between my legs, like a little duckling.

We try to take her to as many places as possible as pyrenean shepherds need a lot of socialisation at a very young age. In the night she literally falls asleep (she tries to be awake for as long as she can, until she drops on the floor with a big smile on her face). So we're really really busy. But at least she sleeps all night long, she only needs occasional potty breaks and goes right back to sleep. But during the day she really doesn't sleep much, so again I don't have much time for the internet. I'll try to do better and write more regularly, I promise!

Schnappi Rhimes With Puppy :)

2009-02-06T17:24:00.006+01:00

Yes, well, I'm sure you've all deduced that we're getting a new puppy :) So I'll stop being misterious. Why do I keep calling her my Christmas present? It's because she was born on Christmas! A very cool date to celebrate her birthday, I must say. I didn't want to talk publicly about her until I was absolutely sure about everything - and now I am :) So let me tell you more about Xsara's little sister: First of all, I decided to try another breed this time. I love beagles and will always have them, but I also want to try something else. So we're getting a beautiful little pyr shep. I will go to the Pyrenees to get her in two weeks. She is a sweet little blue merle girl from de Loubajac kennel. Her mother is Pecquelette de Loubajac (also famous La's mother, so they are step sisters), while her dad Hobnob's Victor comes from Sweden. I have her pictures but cannot post them for copyright purposes. However, I promise to post some when she comes to stay with us. I will try leading a separate blog for little Tani (short for Katana, 'cause we're naming her after a cool motorcycle) because raising a pyr shep puppy will be a lot different from what we do with Xsara.

Otherwise not much news to report. We still have snow, rain and lousy weather, but were able to attend a couple of training sessions nevertheless. Xsara seems to feel great, which, of course, makes me incredibly happy! Whenever the weather permits, we go out and play in the snow and go for long walks and she seems very relaxed. I'm sure she'll love to have company, to play with and to misbehave together :) Her billboards are still accross the country and I finally got used to seing them everywhere. I like the feeling, but I have to say it's still kind of weird.

UPDATE: To clear things up - I see some people think we're getting a Great Pyrenees :) Pyr sheps are very small, nervous shepherds that work together with them, so it's quite a different breed! We're getting one of those.

She's A Star

2009-01-22T08:36:00.011+01:00

I haven't posted in a while but things have been quite crazy here (mostly for me). Xsara is well enough to train, but unfortunately bad weather is now keeping us away from our training centre. We do some flat work, obedience and theraball tricks, but can't wait for some actual stuff. However we have some very big news to share:

Xsara was invited to be the poster-girl of a TV show here in Slovenia. We had a photo-shooting on Friday and her pictures turned out very nice, so she is now on jumbo billboards! I saw two of them yesterday but didn't have my camera on. Aša was able to make a snap with her phone on her walk with Sena and they sent me this picture, so thanks! Xsara had to pretend that she's a boy peeing on her neighbour's door for the poster (the title of the show is "It's nice to be a neighbour"). She got a little confused because the photographer couldn't decide if he wanted her to lift her right or her left foot and I had to stand behind her back so I couldn't help her much (and we only had one day to prepare for everything). In the end she would try to lift all her paws at the same time. She still lifts her back legs whenever I tell her to do something, it's really funny. Anyway, since it was a paying job and she did so well around all the cameras, lights, people jumping around and everything, I bought her a very fancy new fleece overall coat the next day (which was also my birthday, by the way). The hair on her tummy hasn't fully grown back yet, so she's very cold outside. She looks very cute in her outfit.

In my previous post I was talking about a potential big Christmas present for us. It looks like it's really going to happen! I'm so so happy. I don't want to share all the details until we're absolutely sure about everything, but it rhimes with Schnappi :) Shouldn't be too hard to guess, right?!

We're Back!

2009-01-05T09:28:00.020+01:00

Happy New Year everyone! We're back from the seaside where we spent one week around New Year. We had a great time, as always. Long walks, a lot of sunny weather, no TV or computers, just bonding, playing and relaxing. It was really great and we are already looking forward to go back!

On the morning after New Year, Xsara got a visit from Dedek Mraz. He brought her a Wubba and more natural treats (100% freeze-dried bison meat). She also got a new tugging leash, because she's obsessed with tug games lately. She really likes all of the presents. She is even more playful than usually, so I think that home prepared food really suits her. We might get another really big Christmas present, but it's to soon to talk about. I have my fingers crossed!

A couple of days before going to the sea, we went back to training for the first time in months. It was great! Xsara was very happy to be back, she jumped out of the car and started running around like crazy, making circles around her friends Bode and Gayo and herself. Once I managed to kind of calm her down, we ran a couple of very short sequences (a couple of contacts - all of which were great, and some turns and tunnels). I rewarded her a lot, mostly with tugging and a ball, but also with food. We didn't stay long and when we finished we went back home right away, with no waiting for everyone else (thanks to Daša who allowed us to do so). I was very happy with how it went. We're going back to training today and in the following days I will go there by myself once and run with Bode again. I don't want to run with him in front of Xsara because it could get her nervous, but I really want to run with him and Manca offered so ... :)

Anyway, here are some pictures from our vacation:

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T09:42:00.008+01:00

Happy Holidays everyone! Apparently Xsara was a good girl this year, so Santa left her something under the tree. Her gifts were ordered from our favourite online store for agility enthusiasts :) She knew it was for her right away, so she jumped on the package and started to unwrap it - with our cat closely monitoring her every move. With one move she opened the gift and the baggy of natural treats for active dogs, so the treats fell out of the baggy and it took us some time to clean up the mess. Then we proceeded with the other present: a tug toy with real rabbit skin. She went crazy over it, so this year Santa really got her the most perfect presents ever. We also celebrate New Year in Slovenia, so next week we're expecting another nice old man with a bag of gifts. We call him Dedek Mraz (Grandpa Cold).

Today we had a very relaxing morning after a real drama. Xsara's sister Sena ran away two days ago, chasing an animal in the woods. We spent an entire day looking for her, we even went there in the middle of the night in case we would be able to hear her in the silence. Xsara helped us as much as she could, but she got very nervous in the woods so after a while we took her home and went to continue searching for her ourselves. We were soooo worried about Sena, it's really cold outside and she had been out for 24 hours! But then her people called us and told us that someone found her and saw a poster of her missing, so she was reunited with her family on Christmas Eve. She is very tired, but otherwise she's fine. I hope Santa gets her a GPS device so she won't get lost again :)

Xsara's Personal Chef

2008-12-18T10:14:00.006+01:00

We had another vet appointment yesterday. Her blood work and ultrasound are a lot better, but some parts of her intestines are still inflamed. She cannot digest processed food well, so we will probably have to cook for her. We can try different brands of kibbles and cans to see if there is any formula that suits her, at least for our shows abroad it would be a lot easier. It will be a little complicated, but with the right diet she'll be totally fine. We just need to find out what the right diet for her is, and that might take a while. It seems like she's always had sensitive digestion, so it's not stress related. I never considered her to be under stress, so this diagnosis makes sense to me. I'll be more than happy to learn how to cook for her, if that will make her feel better.

We can slowly start to include our normal routines back into our life. Since her intestines are still a little inflamed, we will start in baby steps. We will go to a trial as spectators on Saturday, where she'll be able to see her friends. But we won't stay there for too long. I also ordered a theraball DVD to learn some easy exercises that will help her to regain muscles before going back on course. And after consulting with our vet I also decided to try an Ayurvedic medicine that is supposed to help with digestion. When we will go back to training, I will reward with tug games and balls more than food, and I will try out some home made treats recipes that will be even more tasty, easy on her digestion and chicken free, as she is allergic to poultry. If you have any recipes to share, please let us know. We would really appreciate it!