Another Fun Walk / Photoshooting

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

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

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)

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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.