2012

It is 11:03pm. I am spending part of the last hour of 2011 making plans for 2012. :) Sitting on the couch beside Mika, who is sleeping. Wall-e is sleeping nearby; he still likes having his own space while sleeping, except for the odd occasion when he lies on the couch beside me.

Plans, plans, plans!

First off, I'd like to say that although I place limited importance on titles, I still use titles as a way to focus our training; so when I say that we'll be trying to reach for a "such-and-such" title in 2012, I'm really just using that as a way to focus our training sessions.

Mika

SGDC (Starters Games Dog of Canada) title
- We're 4/6 for this title. The two Q's that we need are both in Starters Snooker, which we've ever done a few runs in; for us to reach this title, we'll really need to get our Snooker skills in order. So really, I need to get my handling in order! We'll be training through lots of handling exercises from Clean Run Magazine. I have to concentrate on making my handling more fluid and less choppy. At least Mika is back to having an awesome obstacle focus/handler focus balance. I remember back in 2009 when she was insanely obstacle-focused, and had her moments where she'd spot a line of jumps and, ZOOM, just snag 'em all.

AG.I.J. (Agility Intermediate Jumper) title
- 1/3. This is a CKC title. I like CKC courses because they give Mika a bit of a break from her technical Masters runs in AAC; Mika is in the Intermediate level in CKC, so she gets to run simpler courses. Not much to work on for this title; but it will be a bit of a challenge to achieve because we'll only be doing 4 Intermediate JWW runs in 2012, since there is only one local CKC trial. Sooo, we'll have to Q twice out of the 4 runs. The pressure will be on! :) I haven't run under pressure in a long time, since the 2009 AAC Regionals actually (I wasn't even running under pressure at Nationals, since I had no goals for Nats). It'll be interesting to see what happens when I push myself and Mika. Of course, my #1 goal will be to make sure that Mika has a blast; but I do love to see her reach her full potential.

Wall-e

ADC (Agility Dog of Canada) title
- 2/3. Wall-e has all the skills to achieve this title; we just need that final Q! He does, however, have a few things that could use some brushing up; namely, 1. not running by the weave entrance like he's been doing lately, 2. being more clear on his 2on2off criteria, and 3. collecting more upon approving the table so that he doesn't slide off.

SGDC title
- 2/6. He needs his two Starters Gamblers Q's and his Snooker Q's (which he hasn't even tried yet). His distance could use some work; we haven't worked on it in a while. For Snooker, I simply need to improve my handling, like with Mika. Wall-e is turning out to be a bit more difficult to handle as he gains obstacle focus; it's like Mika gave him a bit of her old obstacle focus!

AG.N.J. title
- 1/3. Just a fun title, shouldn't be too hard.

See you in 2012!

EDIT: Forgot to add that I'll also be preparing both dogs for the 2013 Regionals and Nationals. Although we won't be able to attend in 2012, we'll finally be able to go again in 2013; I'm still trying to decide whether we should or not. Mika is ready, since she did well at the 2009 regs and nats; but Wall-e isn't ready yet. I'll be working a lot on his distance skills to prepare him for the Masters Gamblers runs that he'd see at regs (and possibly at nats, if he would qualify).