I don't think I actually set any "goals" for 2017. 2017 was pretty much just a continuation of 2016 - still not a lot of trialing due to the economy and the fact I wanted to spend the time training my young dog instead of just focusing on trailing the boys. I've also decided that trialing in the cold isn't so nice on my dogs, so we aren't going to do a lot of winter stuff - especially for Spencer with his knees.
In 2017 we competed at the following trials;
Jan- Training Troop
Apr - Calgary Agility Association
May - Rocky Mountain Agility Club
Aug - Dog Days of Summer - Nike Trial Debut
Sep - Sundog in Lethbridge
Nov - Calgary Agility Association
Plus a couple of little Sunday Sampler trials through AB Herding Dog Rescue.
We did not compete at Regionals (or subsequently at Nationals) this year. I've decided that 2016 with both boys winning their divisions was enough for Baxter at 8 years old and he's retired from Regionals/Nationals. With Regionals being a 3 day event this year and Nike not being ready, I decided not to enter Spencer - there were just better ways to spend my time and money.
2016 was the 3rd Regional win in Baxter's career. I don't want to push my old guy for Regional competitions anymore - he's done so much more than I though we would, and will just play at little trials to do a couple runs here and there and eat some hot-dogs from now on. With that in mind, he's also retired from Gamblers. He was never really a great Gamble dog to begin with now with no more Regionals, no more reason to frustrate us both!
Nike turned 18 months old in the middle of May, so she technically would have been old enough to trial in the Regionals warm up trial put on my RMAC and possibly run at Regionals. Mentally however, she was no where near ready. We did debut at the Dog Days of Summer trial in August. Had some really great stuff and FEO runs with toys. So she was entered for the Sundog trial the following month in Lethbridge. We had a FANTASTIC Gamblers run @ 16" on Saturday morning where she got a boat load of points, held her contacts and even got the final gamble (after 3 times running past the final jump.) The next run up was Jumpers and it was a complete disaster where she left the ring completely and freaked out out the dog that was barking/ out of control at the warm up jumps. We were dismissed from the ring. I still am not sure what happened - but since then we've had some disconnect issues where she is just leaving work.
Title wise, we haven't gotten many this year. Baxter got one whole title! Finishing up his Bronze Steeplechase on 31-Dec-2017. Spencer got two titles, finishing his Bronze Gamble and earning is Versatility Bronze Award on the same run with Sundog in Lethbridge.
I don't think titles are the be all - end all of trialing, but I do have some goals for the boys this year.
AAC has the jump height change this year, so now the boys only need to jump 4" instead of 6" as veteran dogs who are less than 12 inches tall - which will be nice for Baxter I hope. Not that 6" was really a big jump.
I'd like to finish up Baxter's Gold Jumpers - he only needs 3 more for the 50. As well as his Gold Award of Merit which is only 8 Standard away. Once we complete those, I may retire him from everything but Jumpers which is "his game." Jumpers was our very first Q in agility, I like the symmetry of it being our last as well - and Jumpers is easier on his front end with no contact equipment.
With Spencer I want to obtain his Silver Award of Merit which should be even more do-able than Baxter's Gold. We only need 3 more Standard. Hopefully we have a few more Regionals before he retires from those, but I'm still not sure yet if we'll be going this year - it depends on Nike.
Which brings me to the biggest surprise of 2017.With the performance stress issues with Nike and the struggle working through those, that when the opportunity came up to get a puppy from a proven performance breeder, I couldn't say no. Sizzle joined us on the 26th of November - a Shetland Sheepdog from HyperHounds out of Syrah.
She is so much fun! Such a sassy, opinionated little dog and such a fantastic little puppy - especially as compared to how difficult Nike was. Don't get me wrong she's incredibly busy and prone to naughty - but what I love is how easy she is to live with. Those shining little black eyes just melt my heart.
So this year the focus is on the girls and building (or revisiting) foundations/ building and then proofing skills. Also focusing on cross training and conditioning the older dogs and making sure to keep them active training something too!
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