Goals

Stella turned nine months old at the end of February and that means this wonderful little girl has been with us for almost seven months.  We have had a lot of fun and learning wrapped up in that time.   Most days I feel proud of what I have accomplished with her so far but every once in a while it sneaks into my brain that perhaps I should be further along both with her and Riley.  Those thoughts are usually generated when I hear about someone elses accomplishment with their amazing dog.   It's human nature to compare situations but imo this is really quite a flaw in our character.  Most of the time we compare ourselves to a "snapshot" of a moment but we don't really get to see the whole picture or know what the journey has been for them.   I allow these thoughts for a short moment and then stop and give my butt a kick and remember how much I have enjoyed spending time with my dogs.

I set my goals because it gives me a way to spend time working and training with my dogs.  I am pretty new to the whole competition world and my goal for this year is to complete our Rally Excellent and Novice Obedience with Riley.  There is a trial coming up this month that I was planning to enter but have now decided to wait a while longer.  I know we could qualify for the RE and I'm pretty sure he could qualify for legs in Novice now but at the same time I know we still have things to work on.  I have noticed some huge improvements the last little while (mostly because my handling is improving)  so why not just keep working things together and the time for the trial ring will present when we are ready.

My goals for Stella's first year were to have a well socialized, confident puppy that has good life and foundation skills.   It might sound conceited of me but so far I think I have done a pretty damn good job at doing that.  There is so much time ahead to be ready for competition (obedience, rally, agility, tracking?) but very few months to enjoy crazy puppy fun.  So this is just a gentle reminder to me and anyone else to enjoy the journey instead of always focusing on the destination.

Speaking of fun  ......

We had a blast last week playing in the snow.  Here are some of the pictures.

 My snowshoe partners.

Gotta bug Riley no matter what weather

 This is why her nickname is Bean (as in jumping bean)

 Woops, that snow is really deep off the packed trail!

My happy boy