The other day I was sitting at my desk filling out some paperwork for one of the dog clubs I belong to. It was regarding awards earned this year. It got me to thinking, about this last year, what we did , where we went, the goals we met and those we did not meet. It got me thinking about priorities, and where to go from here.
Trying to think about what ultimately my goals for each of my dogs is-do I really have any, or do I just want to keep going, doing and playing, or do I want to focus on something specific? One of my frineds really wants an OTCH, another a MACH. What do I want, I am not really sure. I dont know that I really want to excel at any one thing, I think I like just playing around and having fun. Doing lots of things but nothing to exclusion? I have 4 dogs, do I want to focus on one or two, or do I mess a little with all of them?
How do you decide your goals and priorities?
4 comments:
Great thought-provoking post!
What drives my goal (to get a MACH with Jimmy) is a couple of things. First, I absolutely LOVE agility!
I love the classes, the seminars, practicing, the trials, and the social aspect. Second, all the stuff I love about agility also eats up most of my discretionery money (and then some!) so I really can't opt for a 2nd performance event to train for. (If I could, I'd be trying herding and nosework!) Also, my agility addiction pushes my spouses patience to the limit, so fitting in anything else would be, shall we say, frowned upon.
So my goals are shaped by love of the sport, finances, and "trying" to keep an agility-dog-stuff/ life balance.
I only have 2 (and a half!) dogs so it's easier. But I find myself torn with both time and money.
I love so many things and have ultimately decided that I want to do all (well not all I guess, just 4 of them!). This means that I can be good or ok at all of them but I will never be great in any of them. I can't get an OTCH, or the ultimate disc dog, or... To do so I would need to focus on one activity and be really committed.
I train the most with whatever dog is closest to my little goals. So Vito is competing in agility while Lance does maybe 1 class each trial as I try and get him qualified for CPE nationals. Next year I will split runs between them so each dog does only 2 per day instead of 4.
Teaching Via to keep to herself is my goal for the moment. But I'd also like to get her in the show ring.
I look at what the DOG needs. My goal for Blue is for her to drop about 15 pounds and to clean up her alerts for my spouse's over night low sugars. My goal for Red is to teach him 6 new tricks. My goal for Via is to install some house manners...
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