Saturday, January 1, 2011

2010 Wrap-up and 2011 Goals

I wasn't going to do a 2010 wrap-up post, because I didn't really feel like we had accomplished much, but then I though of one thing . . . I didn't get any new dogs in 2010!! Considering I got Lok in 2007, Jun in 2008 and Elo in 2009, that's a pretty big accomplishment!!

Seriously though, most of my 2010 training was disc related, which I dont talk about much on this blog, probably because it's a dog training blog and disc training feels more like ME training. We didnt accomplish as much as i was hoping to accomplish disc-wise, but we did pretty well in a couple quads and had one great freestyle round. Actually, we accomplished quite a lot now that I am thinking about where we were in 2009. Jun is a much stronger freestyle dog. Her TC fell apart, but I think we're making progress on those issues. For 2011 I'd like to add a few more yards to my long throw, become more consistent in my throwing in a comp environment in both distance and TC and get better at just "playing" in freestyle.

My biggest training accomplishments this year were with Elo. Lok pretty much took a break from all training and Jun didnt do much besides disc training. Elo has come a really long way since September 09 when he came home with me. I am super proud of this dog. For 2011, I'd like Elo to get his CGC. That would be such a huge accomplishment for him! It may not happen this year, but that is what I plan to work towards.

Lok started nosework in 2010 and I plan to continue to work nosework with all the dogs once a week. I've also been working less on tricks and more on manners, and incorporating manners work into our daily routines, e.g., stay out of the bathroom while I'm getting ready in the morning (practical boundary work), down stay before being allowed to get on the bed, etc. My dogs have decent manners, but since we're not training for any sport competitions right now, I figure we may as well work on useful behaviors that increase the peace in our household and help save my sanity.

Here's to an accomplished and fulfilling 2011!

2 comments:

  1. I would love to hear more about your disc work. Maybe reading about it would get me off my butt to work on it myself.

    Manners work is boring! I want to hear more about tricks or even better if you actually started comp obedience work!

    I wish I could have seen you compete more with Jun.

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  2. Haha! Everyone should be training obedience huh? Actually I would like to compete more with Jun. I just need to find a way to train without paying for classes. It dawned on me this week that I can train at my office on the weekends. A giant building totally empty, just waiting for me to work heeling! So we did that this weekend. I'm still working on Jun's go-out. Making some progress. She has the majority of what she'd need to compete in rally. I just need to tune it up and work it around distractions. I think doing a lot of run-throughs would be a good idea. I am going to orientation this week to volunteer at the HS in their training dept (its where Lok started classes and worked through his CGC) and I'm hoping I'll be able to train there too.

    Still working tricks! Have no worries! Trying to shape a limp with Jun at the moment. I never was able to get more than 2 steps from Lok. And maybe I will post about disc more often.

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