Intro to Cast and Crew

The purpose of this blog is to track the progress of the training of each of my dogs. In order to create clean goals and expectations of them and myself and because I need a kick in the butt to actually start doing things with my dogs again which I hope will improve my own mental state. 

I expect that my goals and plans will change along the way but I'm going to start here with a clean slate with each dog. I use a variety of methods and would like to explore different training methods to find what works best for each individual dog. So without further ado a short bio on the dogs themselves. 

Happy 
Breed Border Collie
Age 12
Gender  Male
Accomplishments 

All the things.

Goals 

None, no really. Happy has earned his retirement and has plenty of accolades to his credit. My only plans for him are to increase his activity level and thus mine and to have fun with him. No actual training goals in mind. I may use him as a test subject to try out new training methods because he is very good at telling what does and doesn't work, and I feel like if it doesn't work then there's no harm done.

Loki
Loki von Livinghaus

Breed German Shepherd
Age 5 years old
Gender Male
Accomplishments 

Loki is my currently retired/pulled from work service dog. He enjoys a large number of tricks and just being with me.

Goals

My primary goal with Loki is to improve his issues around dogs to the point where I can do Something with him. I like the idea of doing nosework and barn hunt with him as well as maybe Coursing and Fast Cats. I would enjoy putting some trick titles on him. My overall dream would be to be able to get him back to the point where he could pass a CGC which will mean a lot of work around dogs which makes it more of a dream than a goal.

Emma
Emma Ploskiy Sobaka BCAT

Breed Borzoi
Age 4 years old
Gender Female

Accomplishments

Emma is a working medical response service dog. She has her BCAT as well as points towards both her CA and SC.

Goals 

Emma is not 'my' dog so my goals with her need to be fluid. I think she would enjoy doing nosework and I want to continue to pursue running titles with her as long as she enjoys. I feel like Emma could succeed in obedience or rally at the lower levels as well as maybe agility although she would not be competitive at any of them. Much will depend on what sports she enjoys.


Remy
Synergy Von Schraderhaus CA

Breed German Shepherd
Age 3 years
Gender Female

Accomplishments

Remy has her CA title and points towards her BCAT title. She has passed her public access test for service work and is a clean consistent medical alert and response dog. For various reasons, she is not a full-time service dog but she has the training.

Goals

I would like to continue letting her get points for running titles and focus on low impact sports with Remy. I would like to prep her for her CGC and CGCA/CGCU which may or may not take work based on how she is feeling about other dogs. Nosework and or Tracking mixed with the possibility of doing obedience or rally if she shows enjoyment in it. I think barn hunt might also be a goal depending on how my finances stretch. Overall putting more AKC based titles on her will be my ultimate goal and looking for activities that enrich her life and enjoyment.

Lyra 
Sylvan Queen of Siam CA BCAT
Breed Borzoi
Age 2 years (3 in March)
Gender Female

Accomplishments 

Lyra has already gotten her CA and BCAT titles as well as points towards her SC title.



Goals

I would like to go back and get her JC title and then start working towards finishing her SC title. I would like to get her ready for CGC and CGCA/CGCU this coming year. I would like to start nose work training and see if she has any enjoyment in barn hunt. Other titles will depend largely on what interests her and what I can build her confidence towards. Ultimately I would love to be able to take her to nationals in 2019 and compete in at least a couple of different sports.



Elijah

Breed Standard Poodle
Age 1 year
Gender Male

Accomplishments

Being cute and making me laugh.

Goals

More laughter, more cuteness and maybe agility or dock diving or you know whatever brings both me and him joy.