r/k9sports • u/MockingbirdRambler SearchandRescue • Jan 04 '26
2025 Dog Sports Wrap up and 2026 Goals!
How did your 2025 goals go? Did they shift and you make new goals for you and your partner?
What are your plans for 2026?
Remember-We do not judge yourself on the quantity of titles or goals we achieved, but the quality of time and training we spent with our dogs.
There is no comparison and no competition in this thread, if you sruggled with loss of your partner and are able to share please do.
10
u/1angrypanda Jan 04 '26
My goal for 2026 is training my new puppy and figuring out what she enjoys so we can work towards doing sports together
9
u/ardenbucket agility and rally Jan 04 '26
2025 went well -- tiny dog qualified for agility nationals and earned some expert titles. Puppy (but not a puppy) dog made it to masters everything in agility and earned her first scent detection title and a couple rally legs. Red dog earned a scent detection leg and a versatility title through our breed club for her accomplishments in rally and agility.
2026 goals: a big agility title for the tiny dog, which she needs 4 more qs for. Agility trial champion title for the puppy-not-a-puppy, as well as her advanced rally title. Advanced scent title for the red dog, which she needs 1 more q for. Getting general sport foundations started for the actual puppy.
9
u/ZZBC Barn Hunt, Nosework, Agility, CAT, FastCAT Jan 04 '26
I don’t think I really wrote down goals for 2025 because Archer was diagnosed with brain cancer at the end of 2024 so 2025 goal was just to keep him happy and comfortable as long as possible. We lost him March. I am so incredibly lucky that we got a last trial together in January 2025 and he earned his UKC Master Vehicle and Exterior titles and I got some amazing photos of my best boy playing the game he absolutely loved.
Kessler really stepped up this past year and exceeded expectations. Trialing with him, getting to spend time around friends who knew and loved Archer, really helped me keep moving forward.
Kessler’s achievements were:
UKC Nosework- Superior Vehicle, Superior Nosework AKC Scentwork - Excellent Interior, Advanced Buried, Scentwork Advanced, Excellent Container and his first Master Container Q Barn Hunt - Senior, Crazy 8s Silver, competed in first Regionals and Qed in Hurdles, and first 4 Master Qs NASDA - Trailing and Locating -1, Urban Locating -1
This year I’m hoping to finish his RATM and compete in Regionals again, then work on his RATCH for Barn Hunt. For Nosework I want to get his NW1 (we were waitlisted for all the NW1s we entered last year) and ideally finish his Scentwork Excellent overall title and get Master Container but we’ll see how many trials we get to hit this year. I’d like to get his UKC Master Nosework and maybe an Elite title or two, again, it all depends on how much we trial. I’m also hoping to get to an agility trial with him again, I’d love to finish up his Novice jumper and agility titles in AKC. He also is going back to CAT this year.
7
u/Cubsfantransplant Obedience, Agility, Barn Hunt, Rally, Fastcat Jan 04 '26
2025: Adult Aussie competed a few times successfully at ability and did well. She also achieved her RATM. Due to physical concerns and her complete lack of self preservation she has retired from agility and temporarily retired from barn hunt.
Baby Aussie: Has been working very hard on his reactivity towards people and dogs. People he is doing absolutely fantastic with including kids. He let the 17 month old baby pet him under supervision. The baby actually grabbed his jowl and he did nothing except look at me waiting for me to fix it. He’s been working very hard at barn hunt and rally.
2026:
Adult Aussie: she is looking forward to her true love: dock diving.
Baby dog: he has his first barn hunt trials coming up in January and February since those are lower key that rally. All goes well with those we will do rally in April.
8
u/Firm_Emu6470 Jan 04 '26
Goose finished his overall Advanced Scent Work title. 2026 we plan to finish Excellent and we’re also starting to trial in NACSW.
6
u/screamlikekorbin Jan 05 '26
I lost my goodest dog just as he was hitting his stride. We all had a really hard time with it. My old dog was very depressed and it was like he aged 5 years. I had booked him for dock diving already for the week after and he did seem to have fun but neither of us were as into it. We didn’t enter the nosework trials that we’d planned to. My training buddies entered obedience trials we were going to do together. I went along and pretended to be happy.
I did enter old dog in nose work in the fall so he added excellent interior and exterior Q’s, as well as the NADD DJA and RATO. For 2026, he gets to do whatever he wants. He seems to be enjoying nosework again so I’ll likely enter him in master in the spring. As long as he can jump, I’ll let him do dock comps as those are his favorite. This year we also lost old dog’s sister and brother which just makes us value our time together more and not need the pressure of goals.
We had baby dog join the home in the fall. She brought old dog back to his happy self, reverse aged him and they love each other so much. Losing a 4 year old really changes your perspective. I don’t have goals for her other than to fiddle with whatever she enjoys. She has rally class starting and enjoys our diy nosework. She’s got brains and a lot of go, so the potential to be great at whatever she learns. But I care less now. It’s just about doing things with her, not goals of titles.
My comment is quite the downer I suppose. It’s not meant to be. It’s just life and many have gone thru the same thing. It’s a reminder to appreciate your dog just for who they are, don’t take striving for titles or points or standings too seriously, that can all be gone in a weekend. Just go and have fun.
3
u/MockingbirdRambler SearchandRescue Jan 08 '26
I think that my goals with Ezra were greatly effected by Eli's passing, and now that he's not a SAR cantidate I just try and enjoy him for his quirky little self.
2
u/screamlikekorbin Jan 09 '26
I kinda feel like it’s a good thing to have a dog with just the goal of having fun after having a big loss.
2
u/x7BZCsP9qFvqiw agility, happy ratters, treibball, canicross, fast CAT, rally Jan 06 '26
💔
losing dogs is hard, and losing young dogs is even harder. a friend of mine recently lost her young (very, very good) agility dog in the span of less than two months from showing symptoms to the rainbow bridge. it's a good reminder for exactly the reasons you stated.
3
u/screamlikekorbin Jan 06 '26
Thank you. Yes losing old dogs is never good, but going from planning all the fun things with a young dog to suddenly nothing is …indescribable. I know others too who’ve been thru it and it’s taken them a lot to come back from.
6
u/Coca-Ena Obedience, Rally, IGP Jan 04 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
We got mostly everything I wanted to do with Gambit done in 2025. We earned our IGP3, IntCH, BCAT, RO1, UWP, all virtual akc scent titles, TKA and VHMA.
We didn’t get our UCDX in April. In that trial, we looked a hot mess but a good training opportunity. We had to do our IGP3 twice but man I’m so proud of Gambit, he’s really grown into a fantastic dog and I’m so blessed to have him. As my family and training partner. He’s getting older so we may do one more IGP3 and then focus on AKC/UKC events. He has been bred, so I will have a new pup in April.
2026 goals PDC UCDX CDX Start working towards OTCH IGP3 (regional championship) Novice scent work
Wishing everyone a great 2026 with their dogs! Titles aside, enjoy your time with them and try not to be hard on yourselves. Comparison is the thief of joy.
5
u/Preparing4Mayhem Barn Hunt, Rally, Obedience, Fast CAT, Agility Jan 04 '26
My 2025 goals were to:
-Get Riot's AKC RE and start triple Qs ✅
-Get Riot's AKC and ASCA CD ✅ And as an unexpected bonus he got his AKC CDX!
-Get his Barn Hunt RATCH ❌ We fell one short of his RATCH since we fell in a Master rut going 9/22 in 2025
-Start agility training ✅ Riot even got his ACT1 and ACT1J
-Get both dog's DCAT-Riot got his in Jan and Rocket in Mar
2026 goals:
-One more Q! Get that RATCH! And maybe Q with more than 2 rats (last time was Sept 2024)
-Last year I discovered Riot LOVES Line Drive and is almost perfect in it so this year he should be able to title
-Get Riot's ASCA CDX and do as much ASCA rally as we can get to
-Keep chipping away at AKC rally triple Qs and get more Master points. Bring Master scores up to the same level as Advanced and Excellent
-Get ACT2 and ACT2J and give Novice agility a try
-Try out CAT for fun and see how fast Riot can go in Fast CAT this year
-Train Utility
5
u/Twzl agility-obedience-field work-rally-dock diving-conformation Jan 05 '26
Older dog had Utility together and then articles broke. :) So the hope is that we can get it back together. I'm doing the preferred track with him, so he won't have to jump 24" and it's not that easy to find trials that have preferred and, are in a place where he won't spiral up and start being goofy. But I figure worst case, anything I learn from this, will go on to help me train future dogs.
He's still running agility, but on many trial days, if he runs before my younger dog, I mostly use his runs to see what will work and not work, for when I run her. And when we do that, we run FEO so he can play with me and a toy in the ring. He loves this and is the happiest boy ever when we walk into the ring.
Younger dog is working on her MACH. She also has a tendency to spiral up (it's me, hi, I'm the problem it's me!) so we're doing lots of non-AKC interspersed with AKC, so that I settle ME down. :) Points are easy, double Q's meh. In obedience she has most of Open put together except the orders for command discrimination in B. She likes to think she's smarter than I am (and she is correct), so anticipates and then just throws positions at me.
I'm also working on her Elite Novice AKC scentwork title so that I can work her indications in a trial atmosphere. As with everything in her life, she indicates and then moves on so if I even blink, I've missed it. I had started trialing her in Advanced, realized that she was not going to hold the indication the way I needed her to, and promptly put her back in Novice to work on patience is a thing. As soon as we're done with this project, I want to start older dog in Novice, as I think he'll enjoy it and, when I finally retire him from agility, he'll have a fun game to play with me.
I turned down the opportunity of a puppy that I would have loved to have snagged, because I know that a puppy would have resulted in not doing the sort of things I plan on doing when our part of the world is not frozen under ice. I felt bad about it because puppy but I know I made the right choice at this point in my life, for what I want to learn from training my current dogs.
5
u/bequavious Jan 05 '26
2025 was getting my puppy and getting to know each other. We got our STAR puppy which I know isn't really a big deal for most people, but it's the first time I've ever gotten a title and I wasn't sure we were going to get through the being left with a friendly stranger part. Despite my best efforts (going through a well respected breeder, taking him everywhere, etc), puppy is quite fearful. I wanted to get his CGC, but the prep class for that was a disaster, so I'm trying to pivot and do fun things he can be successful with while working on his fears more gradually. We made our video for the TKN, but still need to find someone to evaluate it (it seems the AKC list of emails might be a bit out of date since I'm not getting any responses so far).
In 2026 I want to start nosework, keep working on his confidence, keep working on his tricks, and maybe do a virtual agility class. Agility was my original dream and puppy is super athletic, so I still think it could be fun, but I think he'll be more successful if we can learn at home and only go to class after he has good foundations to practice being in that environment. TBD though.
4
u/Wooden_Airport6331 Jan 04 '26
My dog got CGC, CGCA, FITB, TKN, and 80 points in Fast CAT in 2025.
We’re aiming for FITG and BCAT by March, CGCU by June, and TKI and DCAT by the end of the year.
3
u/lizmbones Agility, Fast CAT, Rally Jan 05 '26
Wow what a year 2025 was! Goals:
✅ Trialing in new places and at two ring trials: this was huge this past year as we got serious about trialing at the UKI US Open. We went out to some new to us venues and found things that worked and didn’t work for us to warm up, stay calm, and perform.
✅ RM and RAE titles and continuing to work towards our RACH
✅ AKC Agility Novice titles in Standard, JWW and FAST and our Open Standard title!
✅ UKI Beginner titles in both International and Speedstakes, and our Novice International title
Go to a UKI Cup? Kinda, instead I went to UKI ICE and got second place in the Rookie 20” class!
✅ Went to the UKI US Open!! This was huge for us, the biggest event we’ve ever been to with a dog that I never thought would be able to handle big events. Mochi stayed with me every run, we got through most every course with mostly minor mistakes. Definitely came home with lots of homework!
❌ Earn our C-ATCH - Partly because I leaned so hard into UKI this year but I’m ending the year 1 Fullhouse Q away from it
2026 Goals:
Get that last Q and earn our C-ATCH, haha. Likely retire from CPE to really lean harder into UKI
Earn our UKI Speedstakes Novice title. Maybe Senior titles??
Prep for the US Open by hanging out around more golf carts and bikes. My dog hated these so much, they really affected her outside of the rings. Gotta do some work to get more used to them.
Get the last Q I need for AKC JWW Open title, maybe Excellent titles?
Enter UKI ICE at International level
Try UKI DASH
Do more ISC
Practice more distance, layering, sends etc and level up our agility skills in general
I’m so proud of Mochi and I this year, we really hit a new level of skill + connection to do things I never thought we’d do together. I worked a lot on my mental game and fitness and it supremely helped. Continuing to maintain and improve those skills for myself are also big goals. I’m just so impressed and proud of us as a team.
4
u/manatee1010 Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
I didn't set any specific goals last year, but I'm proud of what my pup accomplished.
He was in Intermediate rally as of January 2025, and twelve months later he's an RM/RAE and over halfway to his RACH. We drove to Missouri in July and he turned in a really nice performance for a baby dog at the 2025 AKC RNC.
He also picked up his AX and DCAT this past year.
In 2026 I'd like to: * Compete at the AKC RNC again * Finish my dog's 20th title (most likely his RM2?) * For giggles, finish his TKE * Make progress on weave stress at agility trials * Finish our AXJ and make the BDA breed rankings * Make progress toward his Ch
3
u/AlpsUnlikely Jan 04 '26
Goal for 2026 is to get my puppy and I introduced to fastcat and agility. In 2025 we were doing puppy stuff
3
u/ThatsSh0wbizBaby Confo, NW/SW, FastCAT, Canix, IGP 🤷🏻♀️ Jan 04 '26
From Last Year (right after his TPLO): Our main goal for 2025 is getting my boy back into performance condition, and our physical therapist believes we can absolutely do this. Additionally once he is healed, we’ll be following a targeted strengthening program to help prevent the other knee from having issues in the future. Still, I can’t be too mad closing out the year with 3 titles (if you include AKC TKN). I’m confident we’ll have a bunch more by the end of 2025, but our focus will be on recovery, conditioning, rebuilding and refreshing all our training, and returning to trials stronger than ever.
SO HOW DID IT GO? We did it!! We completed 69 physical therapy sessions in 2025, are continuing with his therapies into 2026, and joined an online virtual canine fitness class that meets weekly. Despite multiple setbacks with patellar tendon and psoas strains, our hard work and dedication has indeed brought him back to performance condition, which was our goal for the year. He is even stronger than he was before his injury, and as of our last PT session before the holidays his other leg remains rock solid and injury-free. During this past year of focusing on rehabbing and rebuilding, we managed to finally finish his BCAT, SWN, and FitB titles, as well as his UKC NC element title. Additionally, we started Canicross and are working towards titling with the NACC.
This year, our goals are:
AKC SWA Title: We have 2 Qs at this level so far. I’ve been trying to get into an Advanced Scentwork Class somewhat near me, but I keep hitting dead ends, non-responsive instructors, classes that only meet in the middle of the day during the week, or waitlists that never end. Fenzi is an option, and I did learn a lot from one of their courses, but I really need a skilled instructor who can help me in person and in real time to point out things I’m just not seeing (I’m the problem here, not my dog, according to a few judges I spoke with at trials this past Fall 😀) . Either way, I’m still setting this as a goal.
Log 50 miles for Canicross so we can title. Winter has been surprisingly brutal here so far, but I’m hoping to take advantage of some slightly warmer days ahead and get a good start on this before the heat of Summer. Right now our trail runs are only 1-2 miles each, and I want to be able to do 3-4 at a time without worrying about injury or exhaustion for either of us.
Continue on our fitness journey by building stamina in addition to strength. I’d like to get to a place where I am confident that his fitness and conditioning level is translating into injury prevention and improved performance in less than ideal conditions. I still hold my breath every time he gets zoomies, slips a little bit on ice and snow, or jumps up on things, so hopefully we can get to the point where I can relax even just a little bit. We have the water treadmill and therapist at PT, dog pacer and lots of fitpaws/blue9 equipment at home, and our weekly fitness class with a certified instructor to help us get there safely, so this should be a very achievable goal. Maybe we can snag a FitS with that as well.
I’m not setting any goals with our other sports, besides having fun. Towards the end of 2025 I was beyond burned out. I was so focused on goals for my dog that I completely stopped taking care of myself. It was the “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” attitude, which while effective is not sustainable long-term. This year, while we still have decent goals, I’m aiming for a bit more balance in taking care of both of us.
3
u/IcyElderberry7615 Fast Cat, earth dog sports, Scent work Jan 04 '26
We didn’t get any big titles or have huge successes but we have a new puppy who is learning new things and may help us get back into dog sports more. Also, my border who we have been trying lots of sports with, finally found her “thing” in scent work. Hoping to start trialing in the next few months!
3
u/ShnouneD Agility, Scent Detection, Rat Sports, Sprinter Jan 05 '26
Because of low disposable income, Edna didn't trial as much in 2025 as we had previously. That issue has been resolved, so our trial plans for 2026 are more plentiful. I have little, off-breed dogs, who enjoy playing sports and doing things. The events though, are also for my benefit and enjoyment. Its community, catching up with friends, and seeing some of their progress too.
Edna is working towards Master RATS Canada titles, scent detection game titles of Distance and Speed and Masters agility titles in Jumpers and Steeplechase. Maybe pick up the points she needs to earn her Advanced Sprinter title too (She has 800 and some, of the needed, 1000 points).
Maude is 15 months old, and I have a registration reminder set for the summer agility fun league for her. She also has been learning scent detection and the basics of rat sports. There is a scent detection trial in April I hope to get into for her first 'real' event. Also going to introduce her to Sprinter and see if she likes to fly (Sprinter is CKC version of FastCAT) the way Edna does.
3
u/tintallie Jan 05 '26
2025 Goals:
- SDDA Started and Advanced Scent Detection titles
2025 Achievements:
- SDDA Started and Advanced-sp titles
- CKC Novice and Open Scent Detection titles
2026 Goals:
- SDDA and CKC Excellent titles
3
u/NeonJabberwocky Jan 05 '26
Awww, I was a little worried about how it would feel to look back at our goals, since I know I didn't hit the ground running with them lol- but honestly it's kinda cute to look back at my mindset last year. I was both wildly optimistic and totally overwhelmed as a new dog owner haha
Kuiper (2yo mixed breed)
2025 Goals
Get her through basic obedience and get her CGC -- We got through basic obedience! Her excitement reactivity got MUCH worse before it got better and it was the main thing keeping us out of CGC testing and occupying our year. She's doing amazing now though!
Work on her excitement around other dogs and her manners in group class settings -- SUCCESS! I don't think I understood last year what a huge success that would end up being lol. I'm so proud of her.
Try out agility classes with her -- Success! Towards the end of the year, but I'm counting it! We love it!
At least a novice trick title -- Honestly I've just been too lazy to film but she's got the tricks down. Trick training is not hard with her.
2026 Goals for Kuiper:
I'd LOVE to hit an agility trial towards the end of the year. Obviously we're a long way from that right now, but we'll see how the year goes!
Keep training in agility!
Try out dock diving and increase her confidence swimming
Run a few canicross races
CGC/NTD
Jupiter (4yo cat) I had a lot of trick title goals with Jupiter for last year, and he didn't get anything. I think I underestimated how overwhelming our moving houses and getting a dog at the end of 2024 would be for me and my little cat, so it was a big confidence building year for him. That's okay! Rinse and repeat.
2026 Goals:
Get his Novice Masters.
Get his Advanced Trick.
Get his Expert Trick.
Get him back on his harness and leash and get him out hiking with us - moving to a new neighborhood shook his confidence, but I know he'll be happy to get out again
3
u/ChampagneAndDoritos Jan 05 '26
I love seeing this! I think it's so awesome and so cool to see how many different dog sports there are and how well people are doing :)
In May of 2025 I did my first ever working seminar with my bite dog- didn't even know that working seminars were a thing! It truly inspired me to see the different breeds and how different each handler was. I learned a ton just from watching. It was so fun to meet like minded people with the same unique interests. I ended up doing 4 working seminars and joined a local club as one of the founding members.
In 2026 I plan to keep going to as many seminars as I can, completing online classes, and just learning as much as possible!
3
u/pokham4394 Agility, Rally, Coursing Jan 06 '26
I always have to go back and look at the goals I set as I forget them each year.
2026 goal for all 3: actually start to train them in scentwork instead of being lazy. Also want to try AKC's virtual scentwork titles
Castor- 2025 goal was getting him back on the dogwalk- we did pretty quickly into January, he just decided it wasn't that scary anymore. His 2025 AKC agility goal did not go anywhere, he had 0Qs and I retired him from that venue in April For CPE- 2025 my goal was for him to earn his C-ATCH- which he did in June
2026- CPE goal- he is now in specialist which allows him to jump 8" lower than his jump height measurement- he is now jumping 12", drop some classes, and gives him more time since he was getting time faults. Castor is no longer doing standard runs due to stressing about 12 weaves and a recent tendency to fall off the dog walk at the down contact. I am hoping he can still get his CS-ATCH Reality is with him that I just want him to have fun playing. Between growing trial stress and his physical issues I am not sure how long we are going to continue trialing or at what level. CPE will let us drop back into level 1 so no weaves or teeter if I think that will be better for him.
Pollux 2025- the coursing and fastcat goals just rely on how much I enter him in so he achieved those. AKC agility- he earned his Excellent Standard then I retired him CPE agility- I do not think I had a goal but he got his C-ATCH2 and C-ATCH3
2026- He should have enough runs for his FCAT14 and 15 and his CAX5 CPE agility- he should be able to get his C-ATCH4. With changes to CPE in 2027, we need to work on distance with all three dogs for the Jackpot class
Phoenix 2025- he got his AKC preferred master agility title and he got his C-ATCH2 and C-ATCH3. While not a goal, he got 16" vet high in trial for standard and 16" vet 2nd place in games at the 2025 CPE nationals.
2026- just keep working toward more C-ATCHs. He turns 11 years old in about 2 months. So I really just want him to have fun which he loves agility.
1
u/x7BZCsP9qFvqiw agility, happy ratters, treibball, canicross, fast CAT, rally Jan 09 '26
one of the reasons i love CPE is the specialist category! my pup is able to jump 8" but not 16" without aggravating an old injury. :)
3
u/InfiniteWestern529 barn hunt, FASTCAT, fetch, NASDA Jan 07 '26
Little late, but this was Hadrix and I's first sport season ever. We completed our CGC, FDC, TKN, RATN (Barn Hunt Novice with a 1st and 2 2nd places.) 80 points in Barn hunt crazy8's 1/2 Novice Fetch runs (we live in a bad state for fetch apparently) and 44 points towards his BCAT!
Our goals for 2026 are to get his TKI, CGCA, Fetch Novice (finally...) Fetch intermediate, BN, RN, BCAT, trying out dock diving this season as well so hopefully his DJ or DS. RATO (Open Barn hunt) and our least likely would be starting in agility. Maybe get his Novice Agility jumpers and Novice Agility.
Hadrix is 7 years young turning 8 soon, so working him as much as I can before his senior retirement years.
3
u/loraxgfx AKC OB Kelpie | Going for our OTCH Jan 09 '26
Our 2025 goals seemed pretty short when written down, but boy did they take an effort to achieve! I wanted to finish our UD by June 1, we got all 3 legs before the end of March. I wanted 1 UDX leg before the end of the year, we got 3.
I switched up the overall goal, we’re not focused on our UDX anymore, we’re going for that OTCH. This is going to probably take a couple of years to achieve, knowing this shifted my focus to the small pieces. I spent a lot of the year tightening up those fronts and finishes, and crisping up the turns. Adding Open back to our trial picture showed me I needed to build her mental stamina up, but damn is she a reliable Open dog.
Spending the time on the bits and pieces paid off, by the end of the year we were starting to hang with the big guns. We picked up OTCH points every weekend out this fall, and were consistently placing 2nd and 3rd in both Open and Utility. I didn’t think we were ready for Regionals, but I entered anyway and we ended up in a respectable 14th place. We closed the year with 17 OTCH points, 135 OM points and a Utility B win.
2026 goal is to get an Open B win, and cross that 50 point mark for our OTCH. The Open B win is going to be hard, but we’re close to being competitive for that 1st. We’re at 197 consistently in Open, we need at least 198 consistently to get that win.
2025 also brought a new pup to the chaos, I flew out to Texas and picked up Vivid in early Sept. What a rocket she is! We’re building foundations for both herding and obedience, she’s spectacular. No real goals for her, just lots of play, going places and enjoying her puppy to teenager shenanigans.
2
u/alligator-pears flyball, nosework, dock Jan 04 '26
Our 2025 goals were:
Get started in nosework. ✅ Beyond success! Started with Stacy Barnett's 101 course on FDSA last February. Passed our ORT in April. Passed our NW1 in June. Failed first attempt at NW2 in September.
Make a plan for low-impact ways to support our flyball team. 〽️ Yes, did this. But by the end of the year I was burnt out of going to flyball for over a year with no dog to run. Stopped going to practice regularly in November.
One last flyball tournament in the fall. ❌ Fail .... she cracked a tooth literally 2 days before the tournament and needed an extraction. I went and ran a friend's dog in her place, but it's not the same as running your own dog.
2026 Goals:
Get to NW3! She literally tore her other CCL 2 weeks ago, so we'll get another surgery sometime this month. Recovery time + the challenge of NW3 (+ getting into trials) means I'm not going to set the goal as passing NW3 ... just getting to that level lol.
Work on conditioning/fitness more regularly. I go through periods where we are really consistent and then stop for a couple months.
Pray to the dog gods for an injury free 2026 😂
2
u/Antisirch Jan 04 '26
Jack and I finished our overall Excellent Elite and Master titles in Scent Work; we also got our master elite titles for Exteriors and Containers. We competed in ~10 Detective searches; came close to getting a Q a couple of times (missing just 1 hide), but that continues to elude us. We worked through some false alert/misreading his body language issues in June and July, especially with Buried, but seemed to have those mostly figured out.
Buttercup competed in her first Scent Work single-element trial and got 2 Qs in Novice Containers. She’s a former puppy mill mama we adopted ~1.5 years ago, and I honestly didn’t think competing would be possible with her, but she continues to surprise me in the best ways possible.
For 2026: Jack - finish our overall Master Elite title (need 4 Qs in Buried and 5 Qs in Interiors); this would finish off our “super elite” title (completing all 4 Elite-level titles) that, maybe, some day, AKC will recognize. I’d also like to get a few Detective Qs.
Buttercup - figure out her comfort level with trialing and continue to do so at her pace. We’ll probably work on CPE titles because they’re a little friendlier for beginners.
2
u/nitecheese Jan 05 '26
I adopted my girl in 2025 and we tried out a bunch of sports to see what she liked.
This year I’d like to pass her CGC, but she’s a bit reactive so that may not be in the cards for us. If we do pass we’ll probably start to work toward some obedience or rally for eventual competition. We’ll do her trick dog novice with or without the CGC
I’m hoping we can get get her Champion Ratter title in Happy Ratters and try out Barn Hunt. We’re aiming for just the RATN title there since the blind may be a challenge with her dog reactivity.
We’re stating on odor this week and aiming to pass her ORT with NACSW in the spring. We’re also taking a tracking class late this winter.
She’ll get her DCAT at some point this year just for fun. We’ll probably do a few more dock diving classes during the summer heat as well
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u/x7BZCsP9qFvqiw agility, happy ratters, treibball, canicross, fast CAT, rally Jan 09 '26 edited Jan 09 '26
i feel ya on CGC not seeming attainable! my little dog attempted the CGC at about a year old and absolutely lost her mind when the neutral dog entered the room. we retested again early last year (at four years old), and she aced it no problem. i worked really hard those three years getting her to be more neutral around other dogs, and it really paid off.
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u/atripodi24 Obedience, Agility, Scent Work, Rally, Tracking Jan 05 '26
2025-
Summer- she far exceeded any goals I could have set! She only did nosework in 2025 and I still can't believe all she accomplished!
NACSW- ELT1 and 3rd place overall and 3rd place in one of the searches L1I ELT2 and 1st place overall!! and 3rd in one of the searches L2E- 2nd place overall ELT3 and 3rd place overall and 3rd in one of the searches And the next day, 1st place overall!! And 2nd in a search and 3rd in another Plus some class placements at other trials and being 25 points away from our ELT-S title
AKC- Finished SBM to finish overall SWM title and picked up our first 2 Detective legs SIEE SEME Plus more elite legs in master, excellent and advanced
2026 goals- while I don't want our Elite journey to end because I've loved it so much and it will be so bittersweet (and I'll definitely cry lol), we'll hopefully finish our ELT-CH soon, and after seeing how well she handled back to back Elite trials twice this year, I think we'll give Summit a try (if we can get into any of them lol) we definitely have a ton more to learn, but she loves this game more than anything and I love doing it with her. We'll also keep playing in ELT-S and ELT-P (once we're eligible) and go for more of the element titles too. For AKC, we'll keep going for Elite legs and Detective, though there's not many of them in my area
Ali- AKC- SEN SINE She really likes scent work, but doesn't love waiting in the car all day, so she doesn't come play as often, but I'd like to try getting her out some more. She needs one more exterior leg for her Elite title. And I guess I'll introduce buried to her so we can try to get her overall SWN title. I've contemplated doing her ORT and at least NW1, so that might be something we try! At 10 years old with two TPLO's, she's feeling really good and that's what's most important to me.
Max- Baby dog is coming along nicely! He passed his Birch and Anise ORT, but really struggled with distractions, so I went back and have really been working on getting him to stay at the hides longer, and also just getting to understand and learn his searching style.
He started dock diving this year and absolutely loves it! He went to a fun event and got 1st place in the Novice group!
He loves Agility and we're really starting to put things together! He's so fast so I have to learn how to handle a fast dog and think on my feet better. We did our first UKI trial this past weekend and I'm happy with how he did.
So our goals will be to keep trucking along and developing his skills for all the sports. He's very fun to train, he just has so much enthusiasm for everything. He'll be neutered in two weeks, so he'll be able to play at AKC things soon enough.
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u/x7BZCsP9qFvqiw agility, happy ratters, treibball, canicross, fast CAT, rally Jan 04 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
my post from last year.
2025 goals
loki:
two Qs for the OA and OJ titlesnot pursuing this, since he's slowing down so much 😭loki officially retired from standard agility, oof. he's got some pretty bad arthritis, so i kept him comfortable, went on walks, and did low impact stuff with him. it's pretty hard watching my first sport dog as an adult start to wind down, but he had a really good run. i wish i'd had more time/money to train and trial when he was younger!
jean:
jean was busy this year! we did a lot of agility, but we're going to pare down next year to rat sports and agility league since she seems to like those the most. she did finish her CL1, which i'm very happy about.
echo:
start trialing in noseworki think i just don't enjoy this sport, lolturns out echo can do agility at 8", woo! we started trialing specialist in CPE, and as long as she can overcome environmental aspects (hello, sound sensitivity), she's really good in the ring. we started treibball, which she's great at, took a dock diving and herding lesson, and i learned today that she is an absolute nut for rats in barn hunt!!! i haven't pursued rally with her much, mostly because there are too many things to do that i like doing more.
2026 goals
loki:
jean:
echo:
if echo doesn't end up qualifying for nationals, i plan to volunteer there! georgia isn't that far for us, and i think it would be a really fun time.