Find the workout you love together <3
By that I mean that you should train together what you can see that the dog loves – not what is “in” or popular to train.
I started puppy training when Emma was very little. It went really well, even though she was stubborn as a donkey. She/we passed and moved up to an obedience class.
After 1 year of obedience, my dog trainer said that something else needed to be trained, because as she said: "I think Emma is bored" 😊 NOT a success.
Luckily she also had an agility team, and it was very "in" at the time, so I definitely had to try it out. I thought we should have a party just the two of us.
We started off gently (fortunately) with very simple jumps and tunnels, and slowly built up so that the series became longer and more complicated.
This is where I discovered 2 somewhat unforeseen issues:
- I have, as in, NO leg/arm coordination.
- Don't tempt with treats.
This is where things started to go a bit wrong for both Emma and me. I was a fool for turning the right side and "wearing" my arm in the right direction, which resulted in a confused dog and frustrated handler. Emma didn't really want to jump anymore unless I had a treat in my hand.
The day I quit the team was when my coach said: "Everyone but Lotte is not allowed to use treats in training" 😊 NOT a success.
I started training Schweiss out in the woods – 1-2 times a month at the Beagle club. We meet early in the morning, go out together and lay the track, find the breakfast bread and have fun together, all while the track “matured”. We went for a walk with the dogs together, and then we walked the track 1 dog at a time. It was a huge success, she/we loved it. Nose work + forest trip = perfect dog entertainment. We managed to pass a 400m 3 hour test, but had to stop because Emma has a chronic eye disease (KCS), and the dust and dung from the forest floor caused a lot of eye irritation. But still - GREAT success.
This is where I discovered Nose Work. My dog trainer had started, and I was quick to get started. It was also nose work, but in less dusty surroundings.
It's been 5-6 years since we started and we're still going strong. We try to train 2-4 times a week. It's the coolest sport for us, I love it and Emma loves it. For those who don't know, there are 4 different types of searches: 1 x indoor search, 1 x outdoor search, 1 x container search and 1 x vehicle search. X number of scent sources are stored (depending on the level you're competing at) - which must be found on time and without too many mistakes.
If you don't know the sport, you can easily say, "how hard can it be, just lock the dog in the room and wait for it to find the source". Nooooooooo no, that's as far from reality as it can be. Even now, after so many years, I'm still learning a lot about Emma and her tiny signals, which I have to read and adjust my search based on. She might just nod her head when she walks past and move on = hmmm that might mean we have to go back and check that area. Wind/weather/draft/temperature/sun/shade/humidity etc etc also play a role - which just makes it even more fun, because it's not "just right", it's cooperation at its best . We love it, and we "nerd" about it, and EVERYONE can join, young and old, it's DEFINITELY RECOMMENDED if you want to try something new 😊 And yes, I still go to the same trainer I went to for puppy training <3 - we have many fun experiences together.
I would like to conclude by saying that it is definitely not a bed of roses every time – and I am also completely OK with that, because as I have described before, I LOVE my beagle and her headstrong mind. I have experienced going to rehearsals where the entire indoor search was spent sniffing the floor clean for crumbs. Or (hate it) when we get an outdoor playground as an outdoor search, where there is a campfire – we then spend 4-5 minutes cleaning the campfire place of sausage remains and breadcrumbs. Fortunately, it is not that often, and she is now experienced and “goes to work” when I say “Search” (well most of the time) 😊 But Nose work is a huge success and definitely something I can recommend. We have found that WE love to train together !
A little about the blogger.
Lotte is in her early 50s. Lotte works as a customer advisor and spends most of her free time training with her dog Emma, who is a beagle girl of almost 9 summers. They have trained and competed in Schweiss's track. Agility without much success (you can't tempt her with treats) and now they train Nose Work 3-4 times a week, if they can get to it. They compete at NW3 level, and they have a party together when they apply <3
Exercise with your dog
Find the workout you love together <3
By that I mean that you should train together what you can see that the dog loves – not what is “in” or popular to train.
I started puppy training when Emma was very little. It went really well, even though she was stubborn as a donkey. She/we passed and moved up to an obedience class.
After 1 year of obedience, my dog trainer said that something else needed to be trained, because as she said: "I think Emma is bored" 😊 NOT a success.
Luckily she also had an agility team, and it was very "in" at the time, so I definitely had to try it out. I thought we should have a party just the two of us.
We started off gently (fortunately) with very simple jumps and tunnels, and slowly built up so that the series became longer and more complicated.
This is where I discovered 2 somewhat unforeseen issues:
This is where things started to go a bit wrong for both Emma and me. I was a fool for turning the right side and "wearing" my arm in the right direction, which resulted in a confused dog and frustrated handler. Emma didn't really want to jump anymore unless I had a treat in my hand.
The day I quit the team was when my coach said: "Everyone but Lotte is not allowed to use treats in training" 😊 NOT a success.
I started training Schweiss out in the woods – 1-2 times a month at the Beagle club. We meet early in the morning, go out together and lay the track, find the breakfast bread and have fun together, all while the track “matured”. We went for a walk with the dogs together, and then we walked the track 1 dog at a time. It was a huge success, she/we loved it. Nose work + forest trip = perfect dog entertainment. We managed to pass a 400m 3 hour test, but had to stop because Emma has a chronic eye disease (KCS), and the dust and dung from the forest floor caused a lot of eye irritation. But still - GREAT success.
This is where I discovered Nose Work. My dog trainer had started, and I was quick to get started. It was also nose work, but in less dusty surroundings.
It's been 5-6 years since we started and we're still going strong. We try to train 2-4 times a week. It's the coolest sport for us, I love it and Emma loves it. For those who don't know, there are 4 different types of searches: 1 x indoor search, 1 x outdoor search, 1 x container search and 1 x vehicle search. X number of scent sources are stored (depending on the level you're competing at) - which must be found on time and without too many mistakes.
If you don't know the sport, you can easily say, "how hard can it be, just lock the dog in the room and wait for it to find the source". Nooooooooo no, that's as far from reality as it can be. Even now, after so many years, I'm still learning a lot about Emma and her tiny signals, which I have to read and adjust my search based on. She might just nod her head when she walks past and move on = hmmm that might mean we have to go back and check that area. Wind/weather/draft/temperature/sun/shade/humidity etc etc also play a role - which just makes it even more fun, because it's not "just right", it's cooperation at its best . We love it, and we "nerd" about it, and EVERYONE can join, young and old, it's DEFINITELY RECOMMENDED if you want to try something new 😊 And yes, I still go to the same trainer I went to for puppy training <3 - we have many fun experiences together.
I would like to conclude by saying that it is definitely not a bed of roses every time – and I am also completely OK with that, because as I have described before, I LOVE my beagle and her headstrong mind. I have experienced going to rehearsals where the entire indoor search was spent sniffing the floor clean for crumbs. Or (hate it) when we get an outdoor playground as an outdoor search, where there is a campfire – we then spend 4-5 minutes cleaning the campfire place of sausage remains and breadcrumbs. Fortunately, it is not that often, and she is now experienced and “goes to work” when I say “Search” (well most of the time) 😊 But Nose work is a huge success and definitely something I can recommend. We have found that WE love to train together !
A little about the blogger.
Lotte is in her early 50s. Lotte works as a customer advisor and spends most of her free time training with her dog Emma, who is a beagle girl of almost 9 summers. They have trained and competed in Schweiss's track. Agility without much success (you can't tempt her with treats) and now they train Nose Work 3-4 times a week, if they can get to it. They compete at NW3 level, and they have a party together when they apply <3