Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Hiking in the desert

We took a hike in the desert recently and snapped a couple pictures. A friend also snapped a picture of me snapping pictures. The last picture is of a coyote we saw when we were hiking. Coyotes are very common around here. (The one pictured was not very close - the zoom lens makes it appear we are close-up and personal : )



 

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Been there, done that.....

....that seems to be the conclusion I usually come to when thinking back on Jackson's obedience career and my plans for the future. I've been thinking about it a LOT lately - since Jackson's retirement from the ring - but MW's blog post last week about her goals for 2012 spurred me on to put it down in writing. (That might help me think things through.)

It's been quite a journey for Jackson and me as we pursued the elusive UDX title. I've learned a lot about training, what works and what doesn't work for him, and for me. I will confess, training with the goal of achieving titles has at times gotten in the way of our 'relationship.' I believe I've been able to fix that now (thank goodness dogs are very forgiving : ), and I won't make the same mistakes again.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey and the great friends I've made through training....but..... would I do it again with my next dog? I don't know. I tend to think, not. Oh, there will be another dog at some point. It will be a Great Dane, as I love my breed more than I love obedience titles. And, I love training. I am really anxious to get a puppy at some point and start training from the very first day and see how far we can go and what we can accomplish - not necessarily in obedience titles, but in terms of what we can learn and the relationship we can develop.

Now, lest it sound like Jackson has one foot in the grave, he's doing fine. We're keeping active in training and hiking - although we're having to trim the distance of our walks due to some occasional lameness resulting from some arthritis issues. Future posts will likely be about our hikes in the desert, rather than training for the next title : )