Radical Canines

2022 has been a busy year. Honestly, I can’t believe it’s almost over. I haven’t been the best about keeping up with the blog, no doubts about that, so here’s a recap of our year all in one place.

Not much happened in January dog wise, I experienced a concussion at work mid month so it was pretty low key for the remainder of it.

In February, the boys and I moved in with Tom and began navigating living with another person. Ryder and Rumor are pretty easy, it definitely took Rugby a while to get used to a second person coming home. It has also been a huge adjustment for Tom going from living with no dogs to living with 3 dogs. It has also been quite an adjustment for me learning to let go some control over how I want my dogs to live.

March brought an opportunity to teach a disc seminar, which I absolutely loved!

April was another low key month with not much happening dog wise.

May meant our first in person agility trial at DDA since 2019 and the boys were fantastic. We also did a little dock diving and played some disc! Rugby placed 4th at the HVDF AWI qualifier but unfortunately missed the invite by 1/2 a point. Ratchet was born May 14 and the idea of potentially adding a puppy started to be tossed around, more so by Tom than by me. He knew I really wanted a puppy out of the particular female and didn’t want me to miss out on the opportunity.

June we played more disc and went to an awesome freestyle clinic with Jack Fahle!

In early July, I took a trip with Ryder, Rumor, and Rugby out to Michigan to visit our friends at Motor City Disc Dogs and play USDDN. Last July, after spending a week out of commission because I’d hurt my back we picked up Ratchet and roadtripped with a few friends out to Ohio for the SOFK9s Ohio Cup. The weekend brought torrential downpours, high winds, wrecked tents, sprained ankles, hyperextended knees, and a USDDN SuperOpen qualifier 1st place with Rugby!

August found me teaching more and hosting GSDD’s USDDN qualifier. Rumor earned a SuperOpen Auxiliary dog slot and retired from competitive freestyle. He’ll still get to play disc and do some demos but no more competition for the giant beast. Ratchet and Tom also graduated from their first puppy class together!

September was a low key month as school started and I attempted to adjust back to the normal everyday routine of working and then doing dog stuff.

In October, Rugby, Ratchet, and I took another roadtrip to MO with friends for the USDDN National Finals. We didn’t do as well as I’d hoped but I also didn’t prepare the way I normally would have. I also did my first official freestyle judging in LI which was so much fun! Early October Ratchet started limping and went on crate rest. Multiple vet visits later, he was diagnosed at end of October with Osteochondrosis. Not really a diagnosis I wanted for my puppy.

November we met with an orthopedic surgeon, scheduled surgery, and ran a fundraiser. The surgeon decided to do additional testing and found his joint surface intact so surgery was postponed until he started limping again or showed he was in pain. Rugby and Rumor started getting used to wearing booties for a demo in December! Ratchet took a trip to a tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree and handled the sights and sounds like a champ. Tom and Rugby started their first Level 1 obedience class together and have done a fantastic job together!

In December, Rugby and I performed with GSDD at our first college basketball halftime show for UMass Lowell Men’s Basketball. It was a ton of fun and Rugby was amazing all day.

We’re looking forward to 2023 and all the adventures it has in store for us!