Since it *is* the new year...

Reflection on what my goals were at the beginning of last year:

Ok... it's the New Year and all :) Here are my doggie goals for the year:
1 - Lose weight and get in shape! Panic is pretty fast and I need to be faster to really reach her potential.
2 - Be ready to enter Dexter in AKC trials when he turns 15 months old. That will be October 7th. From what I've seen so far, I think we'll definitely be ready.
3 - Teach both dogs more tricks, and I'd also like to work on some obedience.

My goals for Dexter competitively:
Compete in the USDAA 12" Nationals - and be competitive
Compete in AKC Nationals - maybe
Earn metallic ADCh and MACH
Complete UKC championship, and AKC championship if/when they are in Miscellaneous
Complete CD

And how did we do? Goal #1 - failed miserably :( Goal #2 - well was so so. Did enter him Oct 9-11 and he got his NAJ! But has had no successes since and stresses on contacts/weaves. Goal #3 - did both trick training and did train Dex for UKC novice obedience. Now, SHOWING in obedience was a total failure.

My Dexter competitive goals (and I realize now it wasn't clear, but I meant these to be lifelong goals!):
Compete in 12" USDAA Nationals competitively - I still think he has the speed potential. When he picks it up in a trial he looks fantastic. But we will have to work past our stress points.
Compete in AKC nationals - well we'll see if I really pursue that or not.
Earn metallic ADCh and MACH - all depends on getting past this tough spot we're in now, but I think we'll emerge a great team!
Complete UKC championship - DONE :) Will try for AKC once eligible.
Complete CD - HAH. Never going in that freakin' obedience ring again!

So here is my plan for now with Dexie-dog. He is entered this coming Saturday at SWARM's USDAA trial in Cinci (Gamblers, Standard, Snooker). Then the BRAG USDAA and a few weekends later the BRAG CPE. If after all those trials he is still having confidence issues around his trouble spots, I plan on taking a few months off of competition to just train and hopefully he'll forget to be afraid of those things at trials :) Question - Gamblers is first this weekend. Do I take the chance to ask him to do AF and teeter, which he's been not so great at doing at trials? The problem is once he gets on the teeter at a trial and hops off (in standard) we must go on. NO chance to re-do. At class/training if he does that at the beginning of the night and I put him back on, he usually does it fine and then doesn't have any more problems. Trying to decide if the same will happen at a trial, or if it'll just stress him. Because I *could* just create a gamblers course full of things he likes to do and make it totally stress free. Don't know what to do!!

So, Dexter's goals this year:
Be able to do weaves and all contacts in trial situations
Better FCs and overall smoother handling - right now he is just getting to the point where he can do sends and I can get some distance when we're running. So, the majority of our FCs I stil feel majorly in the way because I've had to babysit the jumps leading up to it.

That's pretty much it honestly. I don't care what or if any titles we get. I just want my little boy to have fun. That is the biggest difference I saw this weekend from our first weekend at North Olmsted. Even when he was not wanting to do obstacles, he wasn't shutting or slowing down for the rest of the course. If we happen to MAJORLY improve then maybe I'll Q him for/take him to USDAA Nationals but I wouldn't bet anything on that one.

Panic's goals:
I would love to finish our ADCh (only need one more gamble!)
Qualify for nationals in all tourney events
Go to nationals and perform to the best of our ability. What is that? Well I don't know. I need to be able to control my nerves and emotions at a big event, that will be very tough for me. I really don't think we could make it into Steeple or GP finals, but just running fast and clean, wherever that puts us, is my goal.
Improve Panic's confidence to take off a little bit earlier for jumps so she doesn't have to add that extra stride that costs us speed and time.
Improve our contact reliability.