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  1. #1
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    How did 2018 go and what are your 2019 Goals! Let's hear them!

    I know it's barely past Thanksgiving, but it's never too early to talk goals!

    How did things go in 2018 (all sports)? Not just titles. But what did you learn? Disappointments?

    What are your goals for 2019 (all sports)?

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    I'll go first!

    2018

    Linus:
    My plan was to finally start trialing in AKC Obedience again and see how far we could get. We did, and achieved our CD with three tries and scores in the 190s, two firsts and a second place. Linus is trained to Utility and I'd hoped to get at least one Open leg before the end of the year. We tried...and failed. Linus shut down on me in the second exercise and I excused us from the ring. Skills have been the easy part for us and the rest has been a struggle. So, while I wasn't completely surprised, because I know he has it in him to stress down and quit, I was disappointed. He loves to train, so we'll continue working at it and go from there. Agility has been going great; we just need to perfect our weaves. We didn't do field work all year, as I was focusing on obedience and agility.

    Presto:
    Well, I made it through the waiting, the plane ride, crate training, potty training, socializing, and then some. He has a good foundation in obedience going on. Agility, too. We started some private lessons (online at the moment) with Janice Gunn for heeling, as my heeling experience has been not so great, and, having worked with her at camp last year, I really liked her results as well as the results of her students. I'm hoping for a focused and happy heeling dog in Presto.

    2019

    Linus:
    In obedience, we'll keep on keeping on and see where we get with it. In agility, we'll begin trialing in 2019 and see how that goes. I'm pretty excited as it's so much fun! I'm going to start tracking with him and signed up for a class that starts in a couple weeks. I'd like to get the AKC Versatility title (obedience, tracking, agility) with him. He's always been game to do whatever and I figure, if obedience isn't in his future, at least we can commemorate his willingness and talent. We might get that final barn hunt leg, too. I'm not sure if I'll do SH with him. I am thinking about taking him with me for Presto's lessons (when we start; probably when Presto is around 12-18 months) and using him to practice training for the SH. We have some of the skills needed for a SH, but not all, and I'm wondering if he has the chops to get through the hard parts.

    Presto:
    Top goal is to get through adolescence and continue building our bond and relationship while he grows and matures. I'm going to get a really good obedience foundation on him before doing field work. I know from experience it's much easier if your dog already has a stay, hold, fetch, recall, etc. And, I'm going to work on tracking with him as well, while I'm working on it with Linus. We have in person privates with Janice scheduled in the early Spring (I'm in Oregon and she is in Vancouver, BC) when Presto is more mature mentally and physically. We'll continue our agility foundations. No jumping until he is older, of course. Obedience trialing won't begin until he's at least three. I don't know if we'll do rally.

    General:
    We have an action-packed 2019! In August, I have a working spot at Janice's obedience camp for four days. I'll probably use Presto, but I'll take all the dogs and stay at the same farm with the fenced acreage like I did last year. We are also planning on going to Labrador Nationals in October, down in Chino, CA. I'd love to be able to do obedience with Linus. I want to get both boys' conformation certificates. Maybe I'll get Presto's WC. I'll do agility with Linus. I may see if I can get a Dog for all Reasons trophy for Linus (I'm still a little confused about how to obtain one). Presto will mostly be there for the experience. He'll be old enough to trial in agility, but we'll have to see how he does, but also how he is on his body and if he's fully mature by then. I am not one to hurry things along in agility!
    Last edited by Labradorks; 11-24-2018 at 04:40 PM.

  3. #3
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    I learned Brooks was too young and immature to be in the obedience ring. With hindsight being 20/20 I would not have shown him in obedience until I was finish with his Rally titles. I have to compete in the rally "A" class as we have a BN. We did get our RA this year which was one of my goals. We failed to get our CD, only getting 2 qualifying scores in 8 attempts. We'll keeping working on it, and hopefully will get not only our CD, but our CDX.

    While we struggled in Obedience, we did quite well in the field, getting 5 qualifying scores in 5 attempts doing Junior Hunt Tests. We've been really concentrating on field work, as I think we both enjoy it more that Rally or Obedience. Brooks has been showing great promise working on the things needed to attain a Senior Hunter title. He's doing great with multiple marked retrieves on land and water, and has been doing well with mostly land blind retrieves. I don't have much access to water this time of year, but he was doing well with basic water blinds at the end or our group training season. If all goes well I hope to have a Senior Hunter title next year.

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    Labradorks (11-24-2018)

  5. #4
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    2017 ended on a downer with Elle being so badly injured that I wasn't sure what her future would look like. However with the help of a great surgeon and terrific physiotherapists she has rebounded beyond my wildest dreams. Her first season has been a good one. She was able to run as test dog in a junior field trial (derby in the US) and it proved that her hip was going to withstand the rigors of field trials. In the hunt test game she passed two started UKC tests, got her WCX and was a little devil at the JH level only getting one leg. After field season we entered an obedience trial for her CD. She got two HIT's but her stupid handler blew the next two trials. We are signed up for a Rally obedience trial on Dec 8th & 9th, and are on the waiting list for the obedience trials that weekend. Would like to get that last pass. Starting next week she is signed up for strength and fitness lessons. These will concentrate on keeping her core strong. I have never done this before and look forward to it. That will wrap up 2018 for her.

    M also had a good 2018. She finished her senior hunter, got 3 qual JAM's and a qual first. and passed her first UKC finished test. She received her Rally novice title in obedience. We are on the waiting list for obedience on the 8th and 9th.

    2019 - over the winter both will continue to work on obedience, open and advanced rally. We will also do some indoor drill work for handling in the field. Elle will take an open obedience class in January and M and I will work with another good trainer on her open work. Once the snow goes it will be back in the field working Qual and Amateur set ups for both. Elle can run junior (derby) until the end of June, when she turns two. I hope to get as many weekends in as possible for both of them. M needs four point for her QFTR. Come September we will go back to hunt tests and do some seniors with Elle and finished with M. I am not sure what I want to do about master with M. Here they still do a sit to flush on a quartering test and I just find the set ups and judging so inconsistent.

    As for me I will secretary the club's Field trial and Hunt Test and have accepted one judging assignment. Will probably do one more for the other club I belong to as well.

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    Labradorks (11-25-2018)

  7. #5
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    2018 was absolutely AMAZING. Chloe not only earned multiple UDX and OM levels, she also had multiple High In Trials and High Combined awards. But most importantly of all she earned her Obedience Trial Championship (OTCH) which was a goal not just for the year, but for life. A little bittersweet though as she will now be pretty much retired, except that I did enter her in Masters Obedience at Westminster in February, and she might go on to try Rally just to keep her active and thinking. It was such an amazing journey and I learned SO much from her about training and handling.

    2019 is going to be about the young dogs. Sass is entered in Novice at two trials in December, and will hopefully be able to finish her CD in early January, at which point it will be Cookie’s turn to compete. Both of them should be able to get their CDX’s in 2019, and maybe even UD’s, although that might be pushing it as they are just now learning Utility, although they are taking to it well. The main thing for them will be to set the foundations of good performances so that as they become more experienced and competent we can eventually try for their OTCH’s as well, without having to fix too many bad habits, as I did with Chloe.
    Annette

    Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
    Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015

    Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009

    And remembering:

    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
    Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015

    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

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    Labradorks (11-26-2018)

  9. #6
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    This is my favorite thread of the year, thanks for posting it Labradorks!

    I learned a ton in 2018. I can honestly say that I'm approaching dog training in a much different way now vs the beginning of 2018. My current dog is MUCH different than my first, but we are really starting to come together as a team. I can't wait for the next year together

    2018

    Field - Bert finished two large Qualifyings with a Res. Jam! We made it through the third series in two other trials. Training really started to get good toward the end of the season so can't wait to pick it up again in the spring. I underestimated just how hard this sport is. Really wish I'd run a few Master hunt tests with him just to gain some experience and line time for myself. The dog is wildly talented...and I'm trying my best to handle him. Its so tough!

    Obedience - Bert finished his UD in April and we haven't touched it since (all our time was spent field training). We plan to jump back in the ring shortly.

    Agility- We trialed a whopping two weekends and finished is OA and NAJ. I love agility and want to continue....but its third on the list of things we are doing so we are struggling to train it enough to safely trial.

    Unfortunately Bert was injured while running a field trial in September (fell in a hole and injured his carpal collateral ligament). We are working with an awesome rehab vet and we are ALMOST back to work. Doing a ton in rehab (water treadmill, strengthening, sprint drills, jump grids) so hopefully that means returning to real work soon!

    2019

    Field - I'm training differently and its starting to show. I'm becoming a better handler and we are becoming a team. My big-kid goals for 2019 is to confidently enter our first Amateur stake toward the end of 2019. I may also enter a few Master tests - as I have to work these for my club memberships and I'm there all weekend anyway.

    Obedience - Start working away at our UDX/OTCH. I've tentatively planned on a large handful of shows early in the year. We'll see how post-UD showing goes! I also hope to attend our Regional qualifier - which means I'll need to keep obedience sharp over the summer as it falls right after field trial season ends.

    Agility - I don't know. I'd really like to get back to training and trialing, he is such a fun agility dog because he is so dang level headed and driven/fast. We'll see what we have time for.
    Last edited by indybindy; 11-27-2018 at 04:33 PM.

  10. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Annette47 View Post
    2019 is going to be about the young dogs. Sass is entered in Novice at two trials in December, and will hopefully be able to finish her CD in early January, at which point it will be Cookie’s turn to compete. Both of them should be able to get their CDX’s in 2019, and maybe even UD’s, although that might be pushing it as they are just now learning Utility, although they are taking to it well. The main thing for them will be to set the foundations of good performances so that as they become more experienced and competent we can eventually try for their OTCH’s as well, without having to fix too many bad habits, as I did with Chloe.
    Hi Annette!

    If you don't mind sharing, what bad habits are you trying to avoid in your young dogs before taking them to the upper levels? Did you move Chloe up too fast, not have a certain skill nailed down, etc? Would love to just hear a bit more about your thoughts for your young girls now.... everyone always goes on to their next dog much wiser than before

  11. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by indybindy View Post
    Hi Annette!

    If you don't mind sharing, what bad habits are you trying to avoid in your young dogs before taking them to the upper levels? Did you move Chloe up too fast, not have a certain skill nailed down, etc? Would love to just hear a bit more about your thoughts for your young girls now.... everyone always goes on to their next dog much wiser than before
    Mostly just accepting less than perfect performances even on the little things. For example when teaching the more advanced skills from Open and Utility, it’s easy to say well, they found the right article or jumped the broad jump cleanly, so I’m not going to worry that the front was a tiny bit off as it wouldn’t affect whether they would qualify or not. But that creates a dog like Chloe who would routinely qualify Utility with performances in the 195-196 range when 197-198 was needed for OTCH points. I spent most of two summers ago not showing her and working on nothing but fronts and finishes before she came out strong and started accumulating OTCH points. With the young girls, no matter what the exercise ALL parts of it have to be perfect before they get rewarded as I don’t want them thinking a crooked front or finish is ever okay.

    Another example - Sass is showing in Novice next week and I am working on her heeling as when it is Fast, Normal, About Turn, Halt, she tends to have too much momentum coming out of the fast and can’t control her rear end enough so she crabs (swings her butt wide) the first few steps and ends up slightly crooked on the halt. Very small thing - maybe a half-point deduction, but might as well fix it now as there will be a great deal of heeling in her future. (And with her, fixing it mostly consists of reminding her “BUTT” as we come out of the turn - she doesn’t need anything more than a verbal reminder at this point as keeping her butt in has been something we’ve been working with since the beginning - she, like Chloe when she was young, didn’t seem to realize her front half and rear half were connected, LOL). With previous dogs, I was just excited they were in heel position at all at that point in their careers.

    With the dogs before Chloe, I’m not sure I would have even noticed the crabbing or the slightly crooked fronts, so the more I do this, the more aware I become of what perfection (the goal) really is. With Chloe I learned what it was along the way, with these two I’m aiming for it sooner. Doesn’t mean I’ll get it, but the training criteria are definitely tougher for them.

    Hope this helps! I am such a geek about this I could talk about training Obedience all day long :-)
    Annette

    Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
    Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015

    Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009

    And remembering:

    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
    Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015

    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

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  12. #9
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    Thanks Annette! I appreciate it!

    You totally hit the nail on the head - not accepting mistakes (like crooked fronts) even if everything proceeding it was perfect. This is something I've FINALLY come to realize, and it is still not a habit for me. I have to work very hard on keeping my criteria when chaining the exercise together. How is my poor dog supposed to figure it out if I'm fuzzy on what I'm asking?

    I'm nerdy too - could think and talk about this stuff all day long! Love figuring out these tiny, 0.5 point puzzles!

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    Annette47 (11-30-2018)

  14. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by indybindy View Post
    Thanks Annette! I appreciate it!

    You totally hit the nail on the head - not accepting mistakes (like crooked fronts) even if everything proceeding it was perfect. This is something I've FINALLY come to realize, and it is still not a habit for me. I have to work very hard on keeping my criteria when chaining the exercise together. How is my poor dog supposed to figure it out if I'm fuzzy on what I'm asking?

    I'm nerdy too - could think and talk about this stuff all day long! Love figuring out these tiny, 0.5 point puzzles!
    I look forward to hearing about your progress!
    Annette

    Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
    Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015

    Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009

    And remembering:

    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
    Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015

    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

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