Dog sports recap, 2025

Loki had a slow year. I retired him from agility aside from hoops, tunnels, and barrels. We played around with nosework and treibball, but mostly he's just enjoying relaxing. He did finish his AKC FIT Bronze title, though I haven't sent in the paperwork for it.

Jean finished her FCAT early in the year, woo! She also completed her CL-1 title in CPE agility, which is probably the most difficult thing we did this year, hah. We got in a few canicross miles here and there, got her AKC FIT Bronze title, and played around with nosework and treibball. I learned Jean loves finding rats! I suspected it, but seeing her sniffing them out is incredibly entertaining. We were supposed to get to one Happy Ratters trial, but the day we were supposed to go got canceled due to weather, womp womp. We've got more classes lined up in January and another shot at a trial that month, too. Jean had her first round of AKC agility league later in the year, and while we struggled in the first half, she improved exponentially in the second half of the season! We'll be going back for another round of that come January.

Echo did end up getting her novice title in rally at the end of last year, and she picked up an advanced leg early this year. We had a herding lesson and a dock diving lesson, but our main focus this year ended up being treibball! Echo passed all nine skill tests, earning her the skills certification title. We had one day to attempt a novice standard treibball run, but she was having an "off" day and it was really hot, so we ended up doing more practice on simpler skills instead while we were there. I started her over in agility jumping just eight inches, and she's shown no signs of limping! With CPE, I'm able to jump her at that height, so she ended the year with just three more legs to go before her CL-1 title. She also demoed agility at the annual sheepdog festival which was pretty chaotic considering it was only her second time doing agility outside of our regular practice sessions. Her weaves are coming along really well, and we'll be at a trial for one day this coming weekend to see if she'll do them in a trial setting.

Heading into 2026, I'm going to try and finish Echo's CL-3 title and get 40 qualifying scores so she has a chance to attend the 2027 nationals which will be held in Georgia that year. Assuming she's as consistent as she has been, that should be no problem! I'm planning to focus on Happy Ratters and eventually Barn Hunt with Jean, since that's what she seems to like the most.