PrairieDawgs Agility

10/13/2025

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Being Thankful is a good habit to be in all the time, but together this weekend hopefully we can focus on it together. We are thankful for the excellent help we had in moving equipment this past weekend and we are thankful we had such good weather to be able to complete our last set of lessons without cancelling ever for weather!!!! These two groups of students were from Level 1 last week. Sorry, some of the pictures are awful, but with the low light at that time of day it’s really hard. Hopefully when you come back we can get better pictures in the future…

10/09/2025

I’ve been told I need to post more pictures of Nugget, so here goes….
He is an excited, happy, playful cuddly boy! Haven’t started “agility” training yet, but the biggest challenge of that is going to be getting him to wait quietly in the kennel, especially while I’ll playing with other dogs.
We have been working on impulse control, house training and just life in tte house with other dogs and cats. He does a good automatic sit, nose touch and enthusiastically comes running to his name (so cute - ears flying - leaps into my arms!)

10/08/2025

First you’d have to register your dog with AAC, and the dog would need to get measured. Here’s an AAC trial specifically aimed at Starters dogs and handlers.

10/07/2025

Don’t see this type of quote often enough. So often we see perfection - the high level acihiever. Sometimes I feel the pressure to create lessons where the dog improves and just “gets it” every time and when they don’t grasp the concept after the first or second time it’s considered a failure or the dog is “stupid”. However, I think we need to know that struggle is ok. Practice isn’t always amazing!

10/06/2025

Request for help- moving! (Thank you - we have 5 volunteers!)

Dan was in the Hospital this past weekend (blood clot in the lungs), so he’s on light duty and definitely shouldn’t be lifting anything heavy or exerting too much; therefore we need help!

It’s moving weekend- classes will be done at our acreage this week and we transition indoors to the building in Hague.

We would like a few helpers who can physically help load - then drive- then unload. We would possibly need to make 2 trips.

We have the truck and trailer and our son can drive, we just need the help with loading (securing), unloading and stacking the equipment away. Dan is to be a supervisor only!!!! No lifting! Our 2 kids are there to work as well, but it’s a lot of work and we are seeing if we could get 3-5 physically able-bodied workers.

Time: Approximately 2:30 pm to ?6 pm this Saturday, Oct 11).

Thankfully- no heavy A-frame to move- Woohoo for that!!!! (We are not moving all our equipment- just some of it).

10/05/2025

Agility training - How does the dog choose what side of you to be on while running.

10/02/2025

Upcoming trials that I’m aware of until February.

10/01/2025

October 1st. October 11th is the last day for outdoor classes. New classes start indoors near Hague on Saturday, October 18th. Here’s our calendar page featuring Waylon, Charmin, Carys and one of the Springer Spaniels named Penny from our classes.
I have been working on the calendar for 2026 with all new dogs! It’s almost ready!

09/27/2025

I just want to take a moment to tell you about one of my agility heroes. Someone I learn from and look up to and want to be like. Someone I admire. She always comes to class IN LOVE with her dog (and also leaves class still IN LOVE with her dog) and loves to see her dog happy. She acknowledges her dog's effort, even if things don't always go perfectly. She thinks her dog is "a star!" She is always happy with her dog and makes many opportunities to reward and encourage her dog. I have seen her overcome many obstacles in dog training to improve in focus and skill. She doesn't seem to feel pressure about her dog getting things perfect and just really enjoys being with her dog. Jenny is such a pleasure to be around and watch train her lovely dog Freyja. Next weekend, when I go to a trial with my dogs - I want to be like Jenny! Encouraging, happy, and just enjoying the time with my dogs and wanting to have fun with them! Right now Jenny is going through a tough time physically, but I just really wanted her to know how much I appreciate her and how much I have learned from her as a dog trainer! Be a Jenny! Be A STAR!

09/25/2025

Tried to get an updated picture of Dan and I with our poochies. We have the pleasure of 2 Bernese Mountain Dogs, 1 Bernedoodle, 2 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and our daughter’s Sheltie.

09/22/2025

New Schedule for October

A Level 2 has been added.
With the dogs interested, this is a schedule I could come up with that seemed to work best.
Whatever space that is still available can still be filled, but I will not be adding any more new classes. If you are still wanting to join, please contact Trish first to see if there is any room available in the class you want. The next classes will start in January!

09/19/2025

I saw an online class for working on STAY, and thought I'd share the link...
https://chasingthetaleacademy.com/solid-startline-stay/

Stay isn't something we spend a lot of time working on in class, but it can be HUGELY valuable for you to work on at home (and then also work in class). It takes quite a bit of time to train a good solid STAY.

This is ONE IDEA of how you could practice agility at home (especially during the upcoming winter).

Master your dog’s startline stay in 3 steps, 5 minutes a day! From improving trust and handling distractions to elevating your handler performance, our proven methods bridge the gap between training and competition.