The beagle did an entire rally course OFF LEASH tonight!!!

[Critters2]

And the ONLY thing she got wrong was sitting in front of me, rather than beside me on the "halts"! I'm one proud beagle mom tonight!! I'd give her some special treat, if I weren't afraid of poisoning her!

I'll give her an apple. There are no apple recalls, right?

[Blue-Jay]

1. Dogs like apples?

[Critters2]

2. She loves apples. Not as much as tomatoes, though.

She actually knows the words "apple" and "tomato" and will go to the fridge and wait if you ask her if she wants one. Likes bananas, too. But tomatoes are her faves. I just don't happen to have any right now.

[idgiehkt]

3. What is she training for?

(I don't know what a 'rally course' is.)

I gave my dogs an apple tonight too. Most of them like them but I have one that is finicky. I also have a rabbit that likes a sliver of apple better than anything. :hi:

[Critters2]

4. We just do it because she seems to enjoy it.

She likes being with other dogs, and seems to like having "work" to do. She gets very excited when we pull into the parking lot for obedience class. Some of the dogs in the class compete at shows, but since I don't have weekends free, we can't do that. So, we do it for the hell of it.

Rally competition is kind of a cross between straight obedience work and agility. You walk through a course with little signs that tell you to heel, sit, heel fast, heel slow, turn right, left, turn 360 degrees, 270 degrees, back up and other commands. You're judged on both time and how well the dog follows commands, stays with you, etc. Tonight was the first time we did a whole course without her leash. We've done "loose leash" before, where I just loop the leash over my neck, hands free. But tonight I just trusted her to stay with me...and she did. It's a big deal because beagles are notoriously bad at this kind of thing--too easily distracted by smells, and just too stubborn to take command well.

Here's info about rally obedience work: http://www.canismajor.com/dog/rallyo.html

The beagle likes apples so much that I wonder why we need dog biscuits!!

[idgiehkt]

5. 'agility' training, that's what I was thinking of

I have a cattle dog mix that is extremely intelligent, I wish I'd put her in something like that, she would have loved it. I notice alot of the agility champions seem to be australian mixes. My dogs love apples too and my cattle dog would live on tomatoes if she could. She will eat just about any vegetable: celery, brocoli, you name it. Glad you all did well and had a good time. :hi:

[Critters2]

6. There are more Australian shepherds than any other breed in our class

One Australian cattle dog. The beagle is the only hound in the class, but there are tons of herding dogs.

Oh, and the beagle started doing this at the age of 5--last year. She'd done other obedience, puppy kindergarten and the like, but our regular obedience instructor suggested this. They don't have to be puppies to start.