Goal!

A post that reviews goals set and sets new goals would usually be something that you do at the end of the calendar year but, for me, it always seems that the end of the summer is the end of one agility year and the beginning of the next.

My goals this year were largely met.  We qualified for Nationals even though I knew we weren't going to go. We went to the Canada Cup where Beckett's performance surpassed my expectations and we made it in to the finals which unfortunately since I was injured we didn't get to run.

Beckett and I with Sarah Mairs, the judge for the final Q

The other goal we had was for Beckett to get his ATChC which he did but I had two other objectives in mind with that goal. The first was to get it before his fourth birthday which we did not do, Beckett turned 4 in June but we didn't get the ATChC until August.  The other objective was to get his ATChC faster than I did with Tucker as I think this says something about our level of training and hopefully me improving as a handler.  This we did do, but not by much. The AAC records in their statistics the time from Agility Dog of Canada, the starter Standard title to ATChC.  Tucker took 2.62 years and Beckett took 2.38 years.  Tucker was quite a consistent dog, even if he wasn't that fast, and he was very forgiving of my poor handling skills. Beckett on the other hand gets a little frustrated on occasion with Mum's handling. So maybe our commitment to training was better but for Beckett I still need to be a better handler, well maybe just fitter and faster.

Tucker ATChC

AC #	Dog's Call Name	Owner's Name, Last	Owner's Name, First	Years From ADC to ATChC	Province	Age at ATChC
9647	Tucker	Stewart	Helen	2.62	ON	7.53
17127	Beckett	Stewart	Helen	2.38	ON	4.13

Next year's goals are already pretty set in my mind. I want to go to the AAC Nationals with Beckett for the first time. They are being held in Sussex, NB from 7 to 10 August 2014 and that is the same time frame as when I usually go home. Hard to believe Beckett will already be 5 and it will be his first Nationals (counting my chickens here).  I want to go back to the Canada Cup and this time hopefully if we are lucky enough to make the finals that we get to do our best to earn a spot on the podium. I'm also thinking of doing the UKI Nationals which will be held in Barrie next year at the end of August. These courses have more of an international flow to them so it will be interesting to see how we would do. I'll have to teach Beckett how to do broad and panel jumps though.  

Our next title goals will be for Beckett to earn his  Expert Jumpers Bronze (two more Q's to go), his Expert Steeplechase Bronze (8 more Q's for that one) and his Expert  Standard Bronze (five more Q's for that). If we can achieve those goals he would also get his Bronze Award of Merit and his Bronze Versatility which were the highest titles that Tucker was awarded.

For Keltic, our goal is for him to learn to weave and to compete in his first trial. He'll be old enough later this month but I don't want to enter him in competitions until he can weave.  The only events we really could do without being able to weave is Jumpers and Gamblers but I'd prefer that we move up the levels fairly concurrently although I know that's not always possible. Ceilidh had her Master Jumpers title in May 2006 but it took her until August 2007 to complete her Starter Games title. Hopefully I'll be able to enter him in his first trial later this Fall.  I also plan on entering him in Regionals next year just to see how he does and maybe even in the Jumpers event at the Canada Cup.

I hope I'm not being overly ambitious but I think these are achievable goals and I think it's important to have objectives to work for.

Better get training!