2013 - A year in review..... 2014 goals.

Like any year this past year has had it ups and downs.  Kiah, Keegs and I have had some difficulties in agility this past year; Kiah with her shutting down again and Keegs having a blast in the ring but not paying much attention to me.  I am sure with Keegs we just haven't clicked as a team and it will come in time.  Kiah just doesn't enjoy the trial atmosphere so we will just be doing a few local trials where she is comfortable next year.  I plan to get her back into tracking and maybe we will try Rally or obedience together.  Those are much quieter venues and maybe she won't stress as much.

The highlight of the year for all of us was getting Thor; Kiah and Keegs just love him.  Keegs and Thor love to play together even Kiah will join in the fun at times.  Kiah is Thor's sleeping buddy, he loves to curl up next to her when we go to bed.  He does usually come sleep next to me before morning though, I think they get too hot sleeping together, Thor is a little "heater".

Thor is going to be my agility, obedience, rally and tracking dog, I hope. He is doing really well in agility although we haven't had time to really practice in agility since early November.  We have been keeping up with our obedience classes which will help in agility.  Tonight we will be doing a rally class; learning and practice with the signs. I am looking forward to it.  I love his attitude and he is so much fun to work with but we are still dealing with his shyness around people and loud noises at new places.  He is doing better, improving by very small steps but it is an improvement so I can live with that.  It might be I have to start him in agility a little later but I want him to be comfortable.

The older two will probably retire in a couple of years and just do some of the easier performance venues to keep them active.

My goals for 2014:

• Keep up with training Thor making sure to keep everything a game and fun for him.
• Practice with Keegan on rear crosses and build up speed in his weaves.  We missed time at a couple of trials since he spins if I do a rear cross and his slow weaves.  Also practice on keeping his attention more.  
• Keep Kiah from stressing as much, even if I only have to do a few jumps and then out of the ring. The judge and Renee at the last trial said I need to do that more often so she has fun in the ring.  She has a blast in class so we are good there.