Hey Everyone,

So the first month of the year is finally over and we have braved some interesting weather! From storms in December to snow and ice in January. Despite teaching in the snow, it was actually great fun! 

Our classes and what we hope to offer continue to grow and expand to more and more different things. January brought with it an Introduction to Rally course, which I’m not going to lie, I absolutely love. Now having no current dogs to compete at agility, this soothes my competitive nature immensely. I see it as a bit like an agility course, but using obedience manoeuvres. I am absolute rubbish at it, so is AJ, but we have great fun. Just being able to do something fun with my broken dog has made me a very happy bunny again :-)! So if you fancy a bit of obedience, but with a more fun element to it. This is for you! Our next course is likely to move to a week day, starting at the end of February – all our current participants will be receiving an email this week about preferred days and times, but if this is something you’ve not tried yet and be interested in, then let us know and we’ll include you in the poll!

Also came the start of our new Scent Work course, taught by Lou from Surrey Scent Work. This has been a big hit and the course sold out almost immediately. Everyone seems to absolutely love it and we will be organising another block of courses so if you are interested then make sure to drop us a line so we can ensure you don’t miss out! 

The three of us have been planning yet again, to find new and wonderful things to bring to you over the next coming months. We are super excited to have our first agility training day with Nicole Turner on Friday 21st February. Having known Nicole from agility for a long time, she builds and judges, for me, some of the best courses to run and I often use her courses when teaching, as they flow beautifully. If you are wanting to brush up on some of your skills then this is for you. There are a few levels, so if you aren’t sure which one to book then just ask and we will help you. Each session is 2 hours and is split between:
G1-2 + Young Dogs 9:30-11:30 
https://HKMDogSports.as.me/Nicole12
G3-5 11:45-1:45 
https://HKMDogSports.as.me/Nicole35
G6-7 2:00-4:00 
https://HKMDogSports.as.me/Nicole67

We also have a training day with Kay Attwood in the pipeline. She has previously been awarded KCAI Dog Trainer of the year and has many many training awards under her belt. She comes to us with her fabulous canine cognitive skills training day. We are looking forward to learning lots of new and interesting things from this great trainer. This will take place on Saturday 6th September from 10am to 4pm. We are SUPER excited about this and spaces will be available to book on the website this week. If you’d like to reserve a space or would like more information, email us at HKMDogsports@gmail.com. 

Also coming up is a new agility clear round fun competition. We’re running 2 x all sorts agility rounds (no seesaw or weaves) and 2 x all sorts jumping rounds (no weaves). Enter either agility or jumping for £10 per dog, or try both for £15! Come and have a little bit of fun with your dog with a little bit less pressure than a competition environment. We’ve got a lovely regular crew for our Hoopers Clear Rounds, who all support and cheer each other on, so we’d love to replicate that with Agility as well! Speaking of Hoopers clear rounds, these are now running twice a month as they’re becoming so popular! Links to book all clear rounds are below:

https://HKMDogSports.as.me/AgilityCR
https://HKMDogSports.as.me/hoopersCR

We are hoping that Karen might finally move her life and furniture out of the shed (love you!) and we will see the return of the fabulous coffee morning. This is absolutely great for all dogs and humans alike. Have a nice chat and do some fun things with your dog. Get them on the scales and have a little weight check too. (EDIT BY KAREN: Rude… but yes, the inside of the shed is no longer a storage facility and the coffee mornings are returning on Thursday 20th February at 10:30am. https://HKMDogSports.as.me/coffeemornings – there will be CAKE….)

Whinge and whine makes its return on Tuesday 4th February … if you fancy a good old chat about what a knob your dog is, or generally frustrating they can be, then please come along. Karen and Helen are the ones who will be hosting. Karen loves a chat, so despite it being 1 1/2 hrs, set yourself aside 10 hours (I jest) but honestly bring some wine, come and chill out and have a chat. I should be going to this to have a bitch about how Molly never listens to me and screams at me and AJ just generally screams at every dog he sees, my partner genuinely hates walking him now. Trainers also do not have perfect dogs! Far far far from it! We won’t talk about the Squidge that doesn’t listen and the Munchie who seems to have become a neurotic mess! You are not alone! (ANOTHER EDIT FROM KAREN: Ditto this – you are not alone!! Come and let it all out – we’ll have hot drinks, nibbles and tissues – bring the alcoholic beverage of your choice! We are also opening this up to join remotely via Zoom so you can join in without having to drag yourself out in the cold or worry about dog/childcare! If you’d like to join remotely, book in as normal and email us at HKMDoglife@gmail.com to let us know and we’ll send the zoom link.)
https://HKMDogSports.as.me/WhingeandWine

Oooh puppy classes…… proper puppy classes where you learn basic things like ‘sit and down’ something that none of us could quite bring ourselves to teach. So we found someone who is hugely passionate about teaching puppies. Nicky is joining the team on Tuesday evenings to teach puppies from 12 – 20 weeks. She has compiled an awesome course for all those new puppies that are just so cute. So a huge welcome to Nicky and I hope you will all give her your support and come and join her in her new class. More information will be up on the website next week but this will start from the 18th of February at 7pm and will be INDOORS! Even if you don’t have a puppy currently, refer a friend and get 5% off your next course or workshop – just make sure they give your name on the booking form! 

121s for Hoopers, Agility and Puppies are all available to book on the website. Farley Green is now back up and running for Agility (thank you to Carol and Lynda for all your help! Holly will be taking 121 Agility there on a Friday afternoon and at The Shere on a Wednesday afternoon. Karen’s Hoopers and Puppy lessons are available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons at The Shed. For any other times please get in contact and we will do our best to accommodate you.

https://HKMDogSports.as.me/AgilityFG
https://HKMDogSports.as.me/Agility30
https://HKMDogSports.as.me/hoopers12130
https://HKMDogSports.as.me/puppy121

Carrie-Anne is back with her Wellness Workshops on the 1st of March at 12pm – we’re going to be running these on the first Saturday of every month until October. We love these workshops and we love Carrie-Anne too, so we’re really happy to have them back in the diary! We’re running them as two sets of four – each workshop is slightly different but they don’t need to be taken in any order so you can pick the dates you’d like to do – discounts are available if you book 2, 3 or all 4 at the same time:
Book 2 for 10% off – code WELLNESS2
Book 3 for 15% off – code WELLNESS3
Book 4 for 20% off – code WELLNESS4
https://HKMDogSports.as.me/WellnessSS2025

Our next taster day is Saturday 22nd of February! Come and try either Hoopers or Flyball (or both) before committing to a 6 week course – book below (and tell your friends!)
https://HKMDogSports.as.me/tastersall

If you don’t already follow us on Facebook, have a look at our page for more news, our photo competition and the current battle between the three of us to post the most embarrassing videos and photos of each other! 
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552798885753

Finally (honestly, you’re nearly there….) we’d love to hear from you – either pop a little review on google or fill in our anonymous survey – links below and all feedback is massively appreciated! 
https://forms.gle/yLFfvf7tkymnPUxw6
https://g.page/r/CUTIpnrPYLMIEBM/review

That’s it for this month – apart from to mention our usual weekly classes are now up on the website – no changes to the timetable this time round (apart from Karen’s Monday night group has moved back 15 mins to 6:45). So follow the link below for all our Agility, Hoopers, Flyball and Sports Foundations group classes!
https://HKMDogSports.as.me

Take care
Holly, Karen and Miche x