Beagle Tracking Training Update

Lulu is picking up the magic cup trick so fast I may have to move into tracking sooner rather than later.

If you remember, the magic cup trick is when I hide a treat in one of four cups and Lulu has to figure out which cup it's in. I was a little disappointed by her first attempt, since it took her so long to find the treat.

But on Wednesday and today, Lulu's made up for that first try.

I put a heart-shaped apple cookie in the cup and let her sniff it inside. Of course, she tried to get at it any way she could. (SIDENOTE: The cookie was from Woof Gang Bakery, and she really liked it. Check it out!)

I moved Lulu into the bedroom (she went happily, no problems! She knows what's coming), and arranged the cups, putting the cup with the treat in the third spot.

I let Lulu out of the room, and before I could to the kitchen she already had the third up picked out.

We played again, this time using a bigger treat -- a bone cookie, also from Woof Gang Bakery. I hoped the bone might throw her off when moving the cup because it's heavier. I also put it in the last cup, which I hadn't done before. 

Lulu nudged the first cups out of her way and grabbed that cookie from the last cup like it was nothing!

After that, we tried some minor sit-stay exercises. For this, I pulled out a Natural Balance beef roll, which the trainer at PetCo suggested. You can get it for a buck at the store. The trainer called it puppy crack, and I believe it. Since she already had done these exercises with the trainer, the minute she saw the roll, she knew what she had to do. Easy. You just give her a little piece of it, wave it under her nose, and she sits no problem.

Just hoping she can sit and stay when she needs to, and not for a treat.