Time to think back on the year and reflect on the new year ahead!

Every year I make a video. A video highlighting a lot of our good moments, none of the struggles. I make it for me, but if you like watching kids and dogs then enjoy! Otherwise scroll by!

2023 was a pretty big year for us. I finally got back to competing after losing Zumi. That long break from trialing was tough for me and it felt good, and a bit scary, to be back at it with 2 young dogs.

It was a year of testing their training, and coming back to fill in the holes. Ginny told me she needed a lot more work on rewards at a distance to help her motivation and confidence in a trial. We did a lot of NFC runs with the toy left at the startline for me to send her to. But somehow she still earned her novice and senior titles in UKI!

Loot was actually pretty solid with his trial prep behaviors right from the start, but this last year has primarily been working on his confidence. He's a big thinker! Things feel like they are coming together for him and he just squeaked out his novice title at our last trial in December! He's certainly the most responsive dog I've ever owned.

And right at the end of the year we dipped our toes into WCRL rally and learned quite a bit there too in how they respond to that type of environment. A lot more arousal than I expected!

We started some disc work towards the end of fall, and I'm excitedly waiting to pick that back up again in the spring. I did a lot of disc with Vito before I had to retire him for safety reasons. And while Zumi and I enjoyed playing, I didn't really do that much with her as she matured due to pure time constraints. Zumi was 2yrs when Netta was born and it was a bit of an adjustment for all of us!

2024 is here!

For 2024 goals, I'd like to take Loot to the UKI Open next year, and possibly Ginny too if she shows me she can handle the, much closer to us, Midwest Cup. My guess is she will be fine in that environment, it's the travel I'm worried about as she does have some car anxiety due to (resolved??) car sickness.

The big stretch goal for me will be seeing if I can bravely enter obedience next fall with Loot. A lot more trial prep work ahead. And doing more chaining things together rather than trying to always push his "skills." While I'm not giving up on some precision goals with him, sometimes it's about pushing ahead with what you have so you can actually train for the bigger picture.

Right now I'm doing so much work on fiddling with fronts, halts, finishes, position changes.... that we're not getting the level of flow and chains of work that we will need to focus on for actual trials.

Lucky for me that February I'm running my novice obedience class. I need to commit to working Loot through the material. We're in that boat with many other students of mostly knowing a lot, but getting stuck with putting it together.

Ginny will likely never due obedience due to the people pressure, as well as the actual exam. But I would like to do some more rally with her! AKC rally in the fall as our goal??

Upcoming February Classes

Registration opens January 22nd for the next session.

From TEAM to Trials: Building Chains for Novice

This class is everything you need to start looking at obedience trials!

It will be a mix of working on the "skills" (lots of heeling! fronts! exams!)

and then an introduction to ring prep skills and rewards at a distance.

This class is designed both for those who don't know where to start, and for teams who have done a bit of everything but still feel a bit hesitant to put things together.

Follow me on the social media platform of your choice to try and catch all my daily training videos. I hope they inspire you to try something fun with your dog!