I just had a fun dog training session, with each dog individually. I started with Barclay, with my intention to teach him to roll a big ball around using his nose. Since he already knew ‘touch’ (nose to my hand), I just put my hand between him and the ball and had him touch it a few times, then removed my hand and he went right to touching the ball. I stopped then to go work on the soup for dinner, and he kept bugging me to come back for more! So I went and did another round with him, and actually had him double-touching the ball before I ran out of treats – he’ll be pushing it in no time. Then I just have to figure how I want to teach him to move it where I want him too!

Then I did a round with Navi, and worked on ‘Jump up’ like jump up on the couch, and ‘off’ – get back off the couch. And sits and downs. She is so eager to earn her treats, she goes at light speed and offers things so fast I have to click fast to catch her before she decides to offer something else.

For Jack’s turn, we did some starting nosework. I hid a treat under a towel and told him to find it, and he nosed under the towel and got the treat, and was VERY proud of himself (I think he was actually strutting around). After that seemed pretty easy I moved to putting the treat in one of three small boxes. I’d mix up the boxes and tell him to ‘find it’ and point at the boxes, and he sniffed around until he singled one out, and I opened it and let him get the treat – he got it right everytime! That’s a beagle nose for you!

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Luckily, it was only a very short trip before they were home safe again! Yesterday the dogs were out playing in the yard. Navi had come inside, and I wanted to close the back door, so I called the other two. No response. So I walked around to the front yard and saw the gate was open! Oh no!

Ever since Barclay was a puppy I’ve been working to teach him not to go through the gate without permission. But eskimos kind of do what they please. Worst of all, if Jack sees an open gate he’ll look at it, look at me standing there saying ‘wait’, and then go for it and run right by me! And once he goes the others follow. I’m not saying that’s what happened, it’s entirely possible they raced each other to see who could get through the gate first! I’m just saying that even if Barclay remembered his training and felt even an inkling of a feeling that he shouldn’t go through the gate, it would have been forgotten as soon as he saw Jack charging out.

So I told Dave and ran out to the front field, hoping they were in the fenced area, and calling Barclay, then I started hurrying down the drive, calling Barclay and looking every direction. Which way did he go? Not towards the road, I hope! But I heard dogs barking up the hill, so I looked up that way and saw a neighbor waving at us. I started running and hollered at Dave that they were up here, and he drove up in the car. The neighbor pointed towards the other neighbor’s house and said ‘they were trying to play with my dog but he ran them off, they went back there’. I called again and Barclay came running to me from behind the house, happy as can be! What a relief to see my buddy racing towards me! I grabbed him and hugged him and ruffled his fur and told him what a good boy he was for coming back.

Then the neighbor said ‘there was a beagle with him too’, and I said ‘oh, yeah, we’ll get him too’. Now, it might sound mean, but Jack ignores me when I call unless it’s dinnertime, especially if he’s doing something fun, so I wasn’t going to waste a bunch of time chasing after him. I was just happy to get my hands on Barclay, and I wasn’t going to let him go! I called Jack, but as expected he ignored me. Dave drove up and we put Barclay in the car, and about then we heard baying on the other side of the neighbor’s house, so Dave went around and came back with Jack, looking like he’d had the time of his life!

So our little adventurers were none the worse for wear. I wasn’t too traumatized, but really, what could be worse than losing your dogs? Calling your dogs and not knowing where they are, if they could be a half mile away in any direction, is the most empty, lonely, frightening feeling in the world! [note: this is why I don’t have kids, I’m barely responsible enough to handle dogs!] I mean, can you imagine having to go to bed knowing they were somewhere out there? There’s cars and coyotes and big farm dogs, or they could get into someones field and chase livestock and get shot! Having to put up posters and hoping someone sees them and grabs them and brings them back? The world is too dangerous for a little dog to be out wandering around on their own, even if they don’t know it.

Dave thought I was paranoid for always checking to make sure the gate was closed. I don’t know how it got left open this time, but I guess I’ll keep being paranoid and checking before I let them out. It’s better than the alternative!

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