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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Ringing in the New Year

The year 2012 will definitely be one of the most memorable years of my life simply because it was the year that Athena entered my life.  Throughout the past five months, Athena has gone from being a crazy dog to being a very enjoyable pet.  She has learned so much through training and has shown us that she is capable of even more.


So, B and I have put together a list of goals for Athena for the year 2013:

Training:

  1. Canine Good Citizen-  We plan to have Athena CGC tested around her second birthday in July 2013
  2. Obedience- Along with earning her CGC, Athena has some training commands that still need some improvement including drop it, take it, hold, and settle
  3. Reactivity- Athena has some reactivity issues around strange noises, new people (sometimes), skateboards, people wearing funny hats, etc.  We plan to train Athena to be less sensitive in these situations
  4. Jogging- It is our goal that Athena will learn to jog/run with us as a way for us to keep with our exercise goals for the year.  Currently Athena thinks that it's time to sprint whenever we attempt to jog...
  5. New Tricks- We would love for Athena to learn some new tricks this year including putting away her toys, roll over, and being a beer maid (B insisted that I include this one because he would like for Athena to deliver him beers...yeeeaaahhhh right)

Athena will also be practicing her good walking skills in 2013

Dog Sports:

  1. Intro to Flyball Class- We have decided that we will take a break from obedience classes and jump into the world of dog sports.  Although we don't plan to compete with Athena in flyball, we think that taking a class will be a great confidence builder for her and will help her to practice staying calm in the presence of other dogs
  2. Rally & Agility- I would love for Athena to also give rally and agility a go sometime during 2013!
She looks like a flyball champ, right?!

If Athena were to set her own goals for 2013 I'm sure they would look something like this:

Thean the Bean's Goals:
  1. Food- Successfully snatch a scrap from my mom & dad's plate while they aren't looking
  2. Treats- Attempt lots of tricks and commands throughout the day without being asked in hopes of getting a treat...or two, or three, or ten...
  3. Bacon- Always remember that bacon is cooked in the kitchen.  Therefore, if anyone is EVER in the kitchen, make sure to stand directly below them in hopes of getting a scrap of bacon
  4. More Food- Participate in the parent's flyball, rally, and agility classes because they always mean one thing...TONS OF FOOD!
  5. Canine Good Citizen- Ok, this would be really cool if I was called a good citizen, but did you know that they don't allow FOOD during the CGC test?!  Good luck parents...

Is that food you have there, dad?!

I'm sure that many more goals will arise during 2013, but these are the ones that we see fit for right now.  What goals have you set for your dog for 2013?

21 comments:

  1. What great goals you have! Our intro to competition obedience has showed me so much about the dog training world but sometimes it's hard to keep it really fun :( I would love to do a tricks class & think Trinity would be great at it but unfortunately it's only offered at 11am on a Monday :( I think it's hard to do a class the dog likes & you like. I would love to do agility but Trinity's scared of all the obstacles except 3. I'm looking forward to read what you guys are gonna do!

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    1. I have a feeling that Athena would be fearful of most of the obstacles in agility also. But, seeing as she's afraid of LOTS of things, I think agility would be great for her confidence and a way to learn that not everything is so scary =) I look forward to hearing if you and Trinity get into any trick training or dog sports!

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  2. I think you've set some pretty cool goals for Athena. I can't wait to see the blog posts that follow!

    Happy New Year!

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  3. I think those are wonderful goals for Athena and I think she is just the dog to achieve them all. On the flyball goal I really do think she does look like a champ. She is strong, athletic and driven. I'm eager to see how that all plays out for Athena, I am a bit worried that she might not like the disc though :( she'a a "ball" girl :)

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    1. Thank you, Diane =) We are hoping that Athena likes flyball because it just seems so fun!

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  4. Athena's goals are perfect...we plan on doing Hank's CGC as well sometime this year.

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    1. I look forward to hearing about Hank's progress towards his CGC! I know he can do it!

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  5. Those are great goals! One of ours is to do more classes with Nola. Since we've been fostering, we haven't had a lot of extra time to enroll Nola in fun classes. Since she tore her ACL last summer we can't do agility anymore, but we are doing Noseworks and I am def going to to CGC training with her in 2013! Good luck with all your goals!

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    1. That's too bad about Nola's ACL, at least there are classes like Nosework that you can take to keep her exercised and having fun! This weekend we are actually taking a intro to nosework class, I'm super excited to see what it's all about!

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  6. I want to try flyball with Kaya. I can't wait to hear how it goes for you!

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  7. Yay that you are going to try flyball! I'll warn you, it can be pretty addicting. I would urge you to go to at least one tournament before deciding to not compete at all. I bet Athena would love it. Happy New Year to all of you!

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    1. Personally I would like to try to compete with Athena if it's something she enjoys, but I need to convince B first! He's not so sure yet!

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  8. Athena is so cute! Looks like she has lots of work to do in 2013! Good luck to you guys in the new year. And good luck on your beer waitressing skills Athena!

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    1. haha thank you! I'm sure she would be a very clumsy beer waitress!

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  9. Those are really great goals. They're pretty similar to what I'm hoping to achieve with my guys this year. In fact, I just signed Cooper up for agility, so we'll see how that goes! I look forward to following your and Athena's progress!!

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  10. We'd like to attempt the CGC this year too!

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  11. You know, Athena and I have a lot a common. Especially that bit about the jogging. If you think about it, you will realize that we are right. Why just jog along when you can run like the wind? I am still trying to convince my mom of this obvious fact too ;)

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    1. Wow, so glad to hear that Athena isn't the only one with a jogging problem!

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