A lovely day at the Beach!!!

I had a great day at the beach yesterday with Oscar! I love people on the beach,they don't stop to pet your dog and they don't make a big fuss they just keep on walking,and ignore your dog! Just what i want people to do!
Here is the beach we were at,

I think the cloud in this photo looks like a turtle with rabbit ears!

It was a fairly nice day so that made it even better but it did rain and get darker when we stopped for lunch.

Oscar was very good! He was so good that i let him off the long line for nearly the entire walk,only putting him on the lead when dogs and young children came!! It was like a switch had been flicked in his head and he was on good behaviour mode or something!
Honestly you wouldn't have thought that he was a dog who had trouble with recall! He could be a mile in front of you(obviously i didn't let him get that far) and you could say his name and he would come back to you! Even from other people,new people he had never seen or smelled before in his life! Dogs were his weak spot though,he just couldn't resist trying to engage in play with each dog he saw! But luckilly there weren't to many dogs there!
Here are some shots of oscar,

The first few steps of freedom!

A successful recall! With a lip lick on the side!

Embracing the waters edge!

The recall thing was amazing! I was over the moon,even more than i was with the last breakthrough!
But what i havn't quite decided is good or bad yet is Oscars new fear,Jellyfish!! Yeah,dead jelly fish aparently are very scary! And there we lots yesterday!
He barked at some and the funniest thing was when he sniffed one,jumped back and then growled at it and ran off! It was so funny to watch and he was serious,i know his barks and that wasn't a messing around one!
But by the end of the walk i think he was over his fear,well at least enough to sniff one and actually ignore them when he walked past!

When we stopped for lunch,about an hour and a half into the walk,we had gotten to the 'point' so it was as far as we could go. Anyway,it rained then so we had to seek shelter in a woods behind the beach. Oscar was tied up,i didn't want to lose him in the woods or we would never see him again! So he just sat by the rug,shivering in the rain,

I did offer him my coat,but he wasn't having any of it,he didn't even want to sit on the mat!

I did give him some of my chicken roll,just some chicken but my brother didn't eat all his so i gave him the chicken out of that too.
The actual roll part was for the birds but Oscar came over and sat next to me. I thought to myself that there must be a reason he left that spot over there and i was right,he stole the roll!!  So the birds went without!

Here is just a random picture of the woods from where i was sitting,

On our way back down the beach some seals appeared in the sea. (yes we do have seals in the seas in Ireland!)  So Oscar raced for the seals and then,he hit the water and froze. So there was no seal harassing that day! He did however walk right up to the waters edge and stare at the strange things bobbing in the water(the seals)

Seal in the sea!

Another seal in the sea!

On the hunt!

There were 3 seals in total,but poor Oscar doesn't like water,which was probably better for the seals anyway! But i obviously wouldn't let him harass any seals any day.

I think its time we adress this water issue,but i can't say Oscar was overly happy about it!
The last time we were at the beach he ran into the sea out of shere excitement but he soon discovered that the waves come in  as well as just out! So naturally he wasn't too keen this time but we found some calm water to try out!

Being careful!

At a comfortable depth

Getting deeper and deeper!

Not impressed at all! Just look at his face! Pure disgust!

So maybe the water thing didn't go so well,in the end even cheese couldn't coax him back in and he made a run for it out of the water! And he quickily lead the way to dry land,

 Well he made a stab at in anyway,he did go through the water to get to dry land,when in reality he could have just turned left at any point!

He still stopped and waited for us to catch up every now and then,even when escaping the dreaded water!

The day went well even with a little rain and oscar slept like a log that night too! And after our little water adventure i am in the mood to buy him a swimming pool! Hehehe,he will have no choice then but to swim or to swim!!  I will have to save for it first but the new treat pouch,collar and wood for agility stuff is on the top of my savings pile!

I will leave you with these photos of Oscar posing. Just as he does,he really is a poser! 

Home Sweet Home!

Well..............I've been back from Florida now for 1 week now!
What an interesting time it was,not as fun as the first time we went but it was still good! Went to lots of places and got caught in tropical storm Debbie for some of the last week(second week).
I didn't see to many dogs though,but i did see a husky,lab and some mixes usually in the morning,probably because it was cooler out and the sprinklers were on!(nothing nicer than a spray of a sprinkler on a hot day)

Oscar enjoyed himself in the kennels! He must have made some friends there,but i did hear him howling when we left and when we came to pick him up.  I got him some things in florida too. I got him a new toy,with 2 squeakers in and some grain free chicken treats,which he loves might i add! And he really loves his new toy too!

He was so happy to see us,he went crazy. He ran all over the place,he just wouldn't stay still so i had to put my camera on continuous mode to get this photo!

And of course i had to try out his new treats! They now go by the name of 'special treats'. Say those words and the tail wags and the ears go forward and he is over to you in a flash!

This was his first encounter with his new toy. It was an instant hit. He ran around with it for 15 minutes and then decided to play with me with it and then he even brought it to bed that night!
I didn't get a picture of that though,but i can assure you,it was so cute!





After all the madness was over and the suitcases were unpacked it was back to normal,well i suppose you could say that!

But we had a big problem at hand,and still kind of do.
We gave the Kennels the bag of Applaws and i kept a little box for ourselves. I presumed that there would be some left when we came back home and collected Oscar,but i was wrong. So we were,and still are,faced with the problem of having no applaws food to feed Oscar,bar that little box which ran out on thursday morning!
I ordered some applaws from the petshop but it would take 2 weeks for it to get here,and that just made the problem worse! So we had to get an alternative food for those 2 weeks. I chose Lathams Sensitive because it was the cheapest,fairly ok food that i could find. We could have gotten something like Arden Grange but we just didn't have an extra 30euro to spend on top of the 50 it would cost for the applaws in 2 weeks time.
I'll have more on this dilema later on!


So Oscar was happy with his presents and ,as luck would have it, on our second day back the sun came out and it was actually fairly warm out! So it was play time again for Oscar,but what he didn't know was that i was secretly taking photos of his wild moves!

Celebrating!!

Tumble down the hill!

And time for a rest!

Needless to say,the toy is definitely a hit with him!
Later on that day though,sadly,it rained! But duty still calls and it was off for a walk. Luckilly the Horses are gone from the 2 fields now,so we have our walking space back! Now,i haven't done recall training with Oscar since before Florida and he hadn't seen me for 2 weeks but that walk was when i had my most successful recall ever!
We had just stepped into the second field and we had gotten to a patch of long grass. Oscar just started going mad,frantically sniffing the ground and pouncing over the grass but what i didn't realise was that he had caugth the scent of a rabbit hiding in the grass. He suddenly raced off for the rabbit,nose to ground,zig zagging along and the long line slid out of my hands. So here i am,thinking about what to do,call him of chase him? I called his name he stooped on the dime raised his head and i said 'to me',his recall command,and what did he do............ he turned and bolted to me! To say i was over the moon is an understatement! He got a 'special treat',lots of praise and a treasure hunt.
We havn't done any recalls since because i know by the way he acts when i pop him over the fence if he is going to be in the mood for it today,and i like to make sure each recall is a success without using the long line. We still do games though which encourage him to stay close to me,which is just as important as recall.
But i can't say that he was too happy coming home soaking wet!

It was a tiring walk and play for him though,because he konked out in his bed when we went inside!

Right then,back to the food dilema!
So we got some Lathams,2 bags of it and Oscar ate it,well of course he would he eats anything! The problem now is that there is no applaws to mix it in with so what happened today,lots of lovely farts on the way home in the car(he was at the kennels from friday night cause of my mums birthday party and it would have been unfair to have him around with all the people) and a lovely poo when we got home,and i could only decride this poo as,well........slop!
At first when he had his first meal of it i thought he took to it ok,because his poo was fine,better than it was when fed applaws but i guess i spoke too soo because its not worse than when he was fed applaws!
I will have to make do with it for the next week or so. 
However i have some great news! I am so excited and delighted to say that................................. ........................ WE ARE GOING RAW!!!!!!!!!
Yep,you saw right,RAW!!! I managed to cancle that order for applaws and mum and dad are all for raw if its cheaper and better,so they gave me the go ahead to switch to a raw diet!  Goodbye kibble,and hello raw food! 
                                  "I'm so excited,and i just can't hide it!"

So things did,eventually,sort themselves out!

Well thats all i have about Oscar,but here are some photos from Florida!

squirrel!

Seaworld,Shamu Show!

Dolphin Show,Seaworld!

I really like Seaworld,its by far my favourite park in Orlando! But i loved Big Cat Rescue! I even got an internship offer there for 3 years time,when i am finished school and 18!  I went to see a 'pets ahoy' show at seaworld too and it was really good,it was a show with cats and dogs and pigs and birds and stuff and it was so cool and it really shows the potential of rescue animals because all the animals there are rescues from across america!
I also got to feed and touch dolphins at seaworld and it was great,i loved it!

So as you can see,i had a great time in florida and this past week has been pretty good too!

Hopefully i will be able to get some more updates done over summer! I am hoping to go to agility this week and the beach if all goes well so i should have some picture and stuff to mention! I really want to get back into the agility now,i especially want to get to some fun shows! And hopefully Orla will organise some walks for Oscar so that i can work on his fear of dogs(something he developed because of all the dog attacks on him and stuff) And of course i want him to mingle and make some buddies!

Rainy days!!!

Well the horrible weather is back! Rain all day today,just like yesterday......and the day before!
There were no magical energy consuming indoor obstacle courses today. Just a very wet walk! Lets just say my coat is no longer waterproof,and well,my boots had ponds in!
Oscar seemed quite happy though,even in the rain and he doesn't like the rain. So after our walk it was time to be dried off,which Oscar liked very much!

A very wet doggie!

Towel time fun!

I've got a cape!!!

I sees you with my eye!

And to go backwards with the day,now i will talk about this morning!
Well as you could have guessed,it was wet so Oscar wasn't too pleased with his morning walk at all,but he soon cheered up when i brought out his new toy,

 

 

Then of course the game had to end,and he soon discovered that i had toast and came to say hello.

Why,hello there,i see you have toast. I too,enjoy toast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also enjoy a nice belly rub,sitting up!

And i can do it sideways!!

And now to confuse you even more we are going to jump to the present! And again,its still pouring down but the wind has joined in now too!
So Oscars a little hyper,but he always is when it rains. But still,he is in his bed,chewing away on his stag bar(finally)

And this is a funny one,well i think so,that i got earlier.I think he looks like he is in a bed deeper than it is,like he is in a hole and i slapped a soft thing in front of it!

Well this will be our last post for 2 weeks because Oscars off to the kennels tomorrow,which he absolutely loves! And I'm off to Florida for 2 weeks on Saturday!!! And only 1 exam for me tomorrow,German,and thats fairly easy.

Roll on Summer!!! And bring the weather too please,not the rain!

Nature can be cruel sometimes

Well yesterday wasn't the nicest day I've ever had.
I was on the computer yesterday when i heard my Dad shouting at Oscar outside,i went down to see what all the racket was about only to see that Oscar had just eaten a whole,live BABY BIRD!
He had been paying a lot of attention to a cedar tree that day,and i couldn't figure out why because i couldn't see anything in it,well there was obviously a birds nest in it.
So that was bad enough,but to make matters worse i went out to Oscar after he had his dinner to see him attacking a shrub type bush thing on the other side of the garage. Underneath that bush on the path(the bush was on a raised part) was another dead baby bird.  This one must have fallen when he was attacking the bush because Oscar didn't notice it. But then another baby fell but Oscar was quick to get it. He had it and ran off with it up the garden,with me in my socks trying to get the poor bird off him. He dropped it and the bird moved,and he pounced on it.
At this point it was still alive and both me,in my socks,and my mum,who had shoes,were trying to get oscar. We finally cornered him in his run and he spat the bird out. I grabbed him by the collar and rushed him inside.
But the bird was still ALIVE !!!

So we scooped it up with gloves and tried to find its nest. We couldn't find it,but even if we did either the cat or the dog would soon get it again.

So we made one,out of a box,paper and leaves and put it in a higher tree,in the hope its parents would get to it.










All we could do was wait and see what happened..............................

......I got up this morning and went to check on the bird,but it had died. Probably out of shock.

The poor little birdie!!!
But i had an opportunity to do something here,i could show Oscar how to behave around the bird,whether it was dead or not.So i showed it too him and let him have a sniff,and rewarded him for not trying to take it,

I don't know if it did any good,to be honest. It probably didn't but i still liked the fact that Oscar didn't try and run off with it again. And he probably knew that it was dead.







He is a hunting beagle after all,he likes to chase birds,hunt for rabbits,although he has never caught one,stalk birds in the garden and chase the cat. But she has scratched him many times now,you would think he would have gotten to message by now!  So what can i say? That i am angry with him? Because i am not,i am actually quite impressed that he could pick up and remember the scent of the birds without being trained,it just goes to show how amazing his nose actually is.Its his instinct,he was doing what he was bred to do,or at least as close as he could get!

And i think this just goes to show how cruel nature can be!

Rainy Sundays!

Well......it rained today,it rained all day. So Oscar spent his day in doors,only going outside when it was dry or when we went for walks. So how could i keep this dog from tearing up the house out of boredom and get him to sleep and settle down tonight? I did some training and some search games inside,but it wasn't enough,i had to put my thinking cap on!
And it worked,i had an idea,and it was a good one at that! Trick training with cheese cubes and an....................... OBSTACLE COURSE!!!!!  
I got a bunch of things together and made up an obstacle course in the hallway,and it was good fun too,especially without my parents about to give out to me.
The first thing was just a line of chairs he had to walk on,he still found it fairly challenging in the beginning though,

And then we set up the actual course part,

He had to go over the camouflaged towel jump,ignore the teddy bear distractions,crawl over the the beanbag and then over the final jump.

We also had a race at it,but he won,surprisingly,i thought the teddy bear i threw at him would slow him down,but no it just made him go faster!!

Over the towel jump,made up of a bin,2 boxes and some of my school books! Oh,and the 2 towels used to dry Oscar off.

And over the bean bag. He was supposed to crawl over it but he didn't quite like that so he improvised! I had to use my hardbacks to block him getting around the sides.

He might have gotten a little distracted on the way back. I think i might have dropped some cheese there by mistake!

He did eventually get brave and tackled the bean bag they way he was supposed to,having a little lie down in the middle!









Then it was outside for a toilet break,but i can't say he was too pleased with that!

Then it was back inside,where Oscar found his new beloved friend,paddington bear!!!

Mine!

Friends forever! Well until he eats the coat that is!

And here is Oscars newest trick,Stand tall!

I also made a long line today! I can finally give my agility trainer back her one when i see her again. I could get a 30ft long line online for 10euro,or i could go to aldi,buy a set of strong and light gang lines and use and old lead clip to make a 24ft one for only 5euro and i have 2 gang lines left over to make another!

Decisions,decisions,decisions

This week was fairly busy,finished school on the Wednesday and spent the rest of the day studying in the library with my friend,spent Thursday at home with Oscar and on many of the dog forums i am on(your dog,dogsey,pet forums) and i did the slightest bit of study. And then Friday was really a waste of a day,me and my friend went in to the library only to find that the study center was closed,so we spent the whole day sauntering around the boring town. Typical,when we want to study we cant!
But something good did come out of spending the whole day in town on Friday.We went up to Lidl and Aldi,and i could look at prices of meat. What a strange thing for a 15 year old school girl to be doing,isn't it? Well it had a purpose,and after a look on the Aldi website yesterday i have had a break through!

I have always wanted to put Oscar onto a Raw diet,but it never suited us,we either didn't have the money or it wasn't convenient enough. So that's why i spent almost 6 months researching dog food, and as an alternative to raw i chose a grain free food with high meat content( The Applaws dry food) . But i did still intent on one day moving Oscar over to Raw.
Well,after researching the raw diet a good bit(last year and while i was doing dog food research) and looking at prices online from English suppliers and in local supermarkets,i have finally found an opportunity to feed raw.
If i get all the meat from Aldi and scraps from the butchers,it will only cost 15-20euro a month to feed a full raw diet! Thats cheaper than feeding dry food! And thats exactly what i wanted to find out!

Only problem is that i will have to prepare all meals by myself,because it wont come straight from a raw food supplier so it will take a while to get a balanced diet. And freezer space may be an issue but i am sure my nanny has an old freezer we could have,where to put it though is another problem. I also need to get a book,but i have no money right now so there is another problem.

So i am going to try a semi raw diet over summer,then once i get prices sorted and if oscar does well and my parents are ok with it(which they will be) i might be switching to raw.
But i need to make the decision,take the leap or not to take the leap?
Certainly the pros of this diet are never ending and Oscar will love having raw everyday but will it work out?

I really hope so! But only time will tell.