Many people are familiar with the concept of conformation dog shows. A group of dogs goes in. The judge selects the dog that s/he feels is the best representation of the breed and things go from there. That’s not something we do (ok…we did it once). The kind of golden Read more…
I’m not sure why we’re always so endlessly busy – I have decreased a few commitments but somehow have replaced those with even more things to do. We finally had another trial opportunity. Tonks has only had a handful of trial days so far. There are always things to work Read more…
We had an exciting weekend at a USDAA trial. Griffin was adorable – he had some really great runs and qualifying scores, a few small things on his part, and I had a very unfortunate run where I sent him off course. We finished his level 2 title and now Read more…
Recently we had our first seminar for 2018! One of our training friends, Fanny Gott, came to visit. She’s now come so many times that I’ve lost count – but this was our first time doing an agility seminar. We had two days of agility and then were able to Read more…
This weekend we visited our friend Megan while on a trip to see our rehab vet (rechecks for Griffin and Viktor). We’ve had a long standing joke that we should do UKC conformation to get another opinion on whether Griffin or Tonks are structurally more “correct” for a golden retriever. Read more…
This weekend we hosted a rally trial (heeling event) and Tonks had new accomplishments. Level 1 We received two more passes to finish her first level title. This included one run with a score of 209/210. Here’s a video of the moment where she lost that point. Thanks to Raegan Read more…
Socialization is a frequently misunderstood concept in dog training. It’s more (time) critical with puppies, but even for adult dogs we need to continue to provide good (not bad, and not neutral) experiences with the world. For dogs who are genetically more stable/resilient, we don’t need to work as hard. Read more…
Only a few weeks until our training friend Fanny Gott is here for a 2 day trial-prep seminar! We did the online class version of this a few years ago and loved it. Rally: We’ve been doing some trial prep for a change. Last weekend we did a rally fun Read more…
Our summer has been so busy – this trip should have happened 4-6 weeks sooner but we did finally make it up for our re-checks with the rehab vet! We also do adventures with our friends. While it’s a long drive, it’s never quite as bad as I think it Read more…
Tonks went to her first training seminar a few weeks ago. And then the following weekend we got to do even more training together at a Self Control seminar with Fanny Gott. We’ve heard variations of this talk several times before, but we can always learn more about self control. Read more…