2023 New Year’s Resolutions – All About my Dogs!
The tradition of New Year’s Resolutions goes back thousands of years. Many say New Year’s Resolutions started with the ancient Babylonians. While many people make Resolutions, according to Inc.com, only 9% of people keep and achieve their resolutions.
Am I part of that elusive 9%? Nope… like most of you, I tend to set big goals with the best of intentions and give up on them way too quickly.
I’m going to try a different approach this year. I will make my New Year’s resolutions about something I am passionate about – my dogs.
Resolution #1: More Massages
This is something I have intended to do for quite some time. When Sienna was recovering from surgery, she got massages several times a day, but lately the dogs been lucky if it’s once a month. Given Willow and Sienna’s medical issues, regular massages would really benefit them. To that end, I will aim to do dog massages at least once a week in 2023.
Resolution #2: More Training
As I write this, on December 31st, 2022, we have had Sienna for just over 2 years and Willow for 3 and a half years. Both have attended several group training classes and both have done 1 on 1 training classes. I haven’t put as much effort in as I should, and that is all on me. This year I completed and passed an online dog training course, an intensive 10-week training program. While I have been learning a lot, and have certainly been better at recognizing that every interaction is training, I have not been good about keeping up with the more formal training. To that end, my training goal is to do at least 1 quick training session with each dog 5 days a week. Ideally, I will be doing 2 to 3 3-minute training games every day.
Resolution #3: Keep Learning
As previously mentioned, I completed an online dog training course in 2022. I’m already enrolled the next level of the course (but I haven’t started it yet). My 3rd goal is to finish the next program so that I can have a better understanding of my girls’ behaviours and drivers. I would also like to learn more about\ dog nutrition and will look for opportunities to learn more in those areas.
There we have it! 3 dog-specific, achievable New Year’s Resolutions! I will provide monthly progress updates on my blog in order to keep myself accountable and update my progress.
Have you made a New Year’s Resolution for your dog? Please share in the comments below!