This sort of thing (Photo from Paws in the Park)

I spend Mondays training the dogs. Since I got him, I’ve taken Raffles to class at 10:30 in the Keston Village Hall and then come back to fetch Oscar in time for the 1 o’clock class which is supposed to be more advanced. The dogs do retrieving and directional work: the basis of gundog stuff, but inside in the hall. As you know I fast on Mondays and spending the whole day in that freezing cold hall (that seems like it has the heat extracted from it in winter) is a real drain on very little food. No wonder Monday is my grumpiest day.

A couple of weeks ago Mr. Raffles passed his Kennel Club Good Citizen silver test and I took the opportunity to reassess his training needs. He seems really to have taken to all the dog training exercise but it seems to me that he’s a little bored now with the puppy class especially since he’s an older dog and could do with more stimulation. So today I took him to class in the evening which involved doing stuff off the lead that I would never have thought possible for a beagle, the breed that is notorious for running around and following their nose, without thought for their human’s wishes.

Some friends of mine are trying strenuously to persuade me to do obedience classes with Raffles, since he’s taken so well to general classes. It would be quite something wouldn’t it, to have this tiny example of a  supposedly untrainable breed trained in discipline, perfection, and accuracy. I can dream.

My dog training school, Dog Solutions, run by the indefatigable Inder Alexandersson, is giving a team display at the forthcoming Paws the Park event at Ardingly Showground In Sussex next weekend. They are running a gundog display team and I would like to have done this with Oscar but, having tried it once or twice, I’m afraid Oscar is just a little too… random… and can’t really be relied upon not to be class clown. Whilst he’s up for endless LOLZ there is a limit to how funny this can be, especially when you’re supposed to be handling him and he is supposed to be completely under control.

Nevertheless, I’m keen on going down to support my friends in the team, and it looks like it will be a good day out for all sorts of dogs and their owners. Apparently, there is a beginners’ obedience event, and I’m trying to pluck up the courage to give this a go with Raffles. I have a feeling he’ll love it, but apparently once you try obedience and achieve success with it you’re hooked and I don’t think I’ve got the time to commit at the moment doing yet another thing.

Anyway, trying tonight’s class was a good idea because it meant that I could get some paperwork done in the morning and eat something before I went out this evening with Raffles. Now, however, I’m exhausted and past being ready for bed.

I’ve downloaded the enhanced dictation software for my Mac and I’ve used that to dictate this post because it’s got to be better than my two fingered typing where I spend half twice as much time going back and correcting typos, Hasn’t it?

So it it really is time for bed now. Goodnight!

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