The Spaniel Annals

The end of 2024 brought some initial disappointment when I assessed my dog training goals for the year. Neither Kerrie or Brian achieved the titling goals in obedience that I had laid out, ones that I thought at the start of the year were quite achievable. In AKC obedience, I expected Kerrie to finish her Beginner Novice title and for Brian to finish his Open title. But both dogs ran into challenges. Kerrie’s was relatively minor, with her having trouble maintaining a sit stay while I walked around a 40 to 50 foot ring, which included walking behind her. Being a 2 1/2 year old springer who is still working on her impulse control, this turned out to be a challenge in the last show weekend of the year.

Brian’s journey last year was more arduous, with a benign lump in his leg that ulcerated and lip fold dermatitis (a common cocker issue) that bothered him far more than I realized. Plus a life-long issue with digestion became worse. The skin/lump issues were resolved in May with surgery, and I finally found a diet that works for Brian by the end of the year. But showing him with those issues (that I thought were minor) built up his stress level, so we spent a good half-year rebuilding his confidence and enthusiasm. While he didn’t have the titles to show it, I could happily say by year’s end that his attitude had improved tremendously. And look what happened at the start of 2025:

Brian earned his first leg in Open with a solid performance, and Kerrie finished her Beginner Novice title! Re-assessing what my real goals were at the end of 2024, and realizing more important things than titles did occur, was a key element to moving forward positively.

Here’s an excerpt of the mini-chain of behaviors that Brian struggled most with last year:

This mini-chain consists of Command Discrimination (a mini-signal exercise), the Drop on Recall, and the retrieves. In the second half of last year, Brian would fail just one of these. (With the retrieve, the error was running around the jump; the retrieve itself was fine.) We’ve worked a lot on chaining these exercises, having positive transitions between them to maintain connection, developing distance, handling judge pressure, and jumping at angles. Between 2024’s last trial and this one, I also switched from a hand signal for the drop on recall to a verbal cue. It worked!

Kerrie’s solution was simpler: using a PVC box to help her keep her feet still during the stay, and practicing the stay in many different locations, including with “judges” who stared at her for the whole exercise. Then I needed to gradually fade the box. She did a super job in both trials on this exercise. Now we need to go back and work on her focus, which slipped at times. But overall I was really pleased with her performance.

Sometimes we humans make human-centric goals without recognizing or anticipating the challenges the living beings we work with might experience. It’s okay to not know, but once I do know, I need to be able to quickly adjust to their needs, and remember that the important goals, the ones that truly matter, are not measured by ribbons and titles. I’m glad to have this lesson brought to my attention once again, and that I responded as I should.