Resolutions for 2014

For Alder, the poodle boy, who is 7.5 years old

·        Simple: Get those next two Qs in Utility.  I won’t water down the resolution this year with TRY to get the next two Qs.  Alder will be 8 years old in June.  He’s never been the most athletic dog.  If he can’t finish this year, I’m not optimistic about his continuing to be able to jump 24” beyond 2014.  I so often hear the dog training advice “It’s not a race.”  Well, sometimes, it is a race.  The prime of your dog’s life fades to old age far too fast. 

For Maple, the Golden girl, who is 4.5 years old

·        Reliable jumping on mats.  We built a garage this year.  It has enough space to put mats down on the concrete so I could work on Maple’s confidence on mats.  Problem?  We spent too much money on the garage to afford mats. 

·        Last leg of Open.  This goal will be a lot easier if Maple will jump indoors on mats.  If we can only Q on grass, we’ll have a tough time finding enough venues around here.

·        Utility Title.  Probably being too confident thinking I can get all 3 UD legs (especially if we can’t jump on mats!). 

·        Make the OTCH/no OTCH decision.  This year, I think will be the decisive year for the OTCH possibility.  If I hadn’t gotten into hunt training, I’d probably aim for an OTCH, regardless.  Hunt training has opened up an alternative path if the OTCH looks like too arduous a slog.  I’ll persevere through a UD, but I think it’s a make or break year for the OTCH pursuit.  Maple will be 5 years old in June, in the prime of her life.  If her enthusiasm and performance in obedience hasn’t improved by the end of 2014, I’ll likely give up serious pursuit of an OTCH.  I’d rather spend her middle age pursuing something she loves. 

·        Field Work:  Blinds, blinds, blinds.  In 2013, I went to a lot of hunt tests and only a few obedience trials, but I did a heck of a lot of obedience training.  I expect 2014 to be the opposite.  I plan to go to a lot of obedience trials and not many hunt tests, but I plan to train, train, train on handling for blinds.  Ideally, when we do our next hunt test, I want to step up to the line and KNOW the blind will be a piece of cake.  We’ll probably show in a few hunt tests at the Senior level to support the local clubs, but my real goal by the end of the year is to have a dog that can do a 200 yard blind. 

For Me, as a trainer

·        At the start of every training session, have at least one specific weakness to work on, and a specific plan for improvement.  It’s all too easy in training to march through the obedience exercises or do a handling drill without asking yourself what, exactly, did you NEED to work on and did whatever you did actually help.  For example, I know our weaknesses in heeling.  I’m awkward at about turns at a wall or ring gates.  On the first halt in a heeling pattern, my dogs tend to forge ahead.  Etc.  I can go marching through a heeling pattern and not make much improvement, or I can zero in on the awkward about turns in a session.  Or the first halts.  When working on angle backs (field work), I can run through a handling drill in the same spot and in the same way we’ve done it before, knowing Maple will probably do it just fine, OR, I can improve her understanding by adding a little bit of a new challenge each time, by changing the distance between me and her or setting up with a different factor, like up a hillside or through a patch of tall grass.

·        Be more creative about distractions at home.  It’s tough for me to train in town with other people to try to simulate ring conditions better than home.  My annual resolutions to train more often in town don’t make much difference.  I’ll get into town as often as I reasonably can, and probably no more than I have the past few years.  So, instead of resolving to get into town more often than I know I will, I’m resolving to get more inventive about proofing at home. 

·        Keep up my training notes.  I keep my notes – blog posts, trial and test results sheets, training progress scrawls, and email posts – throughout the year in a 3-ring binder. At the end of each year, I bind the notes in a folder.  Last year was an enormously important year for me.  I learned so much about training in obedience at the higher levels.  I learned even more about training for field work.  I regret that I didn’t put more of my thoughts to paper.  My 2013 folder is about a third the thickness of my 2011 and 2012 folders.  At the end of 2014, I want to have a much fuller showing and training folder, and I want it to include plenty of pictures.