We started the season with some amazing results! All those podiums are the result of rest, canine fitness and our midnight winter trainings.

MORE ABOUT OUR MIDNIGHT TRAININGS

The first weekend of November 2025 marked Tiger’s debut in A3 and also our last competition of the season. After that, we took six weeks off to recover. We started training again in December (1–2x per week). With very limited training options during winter, the only way to improve is to train smart.

I keep a small notebook where I write down observations from each training and competition. It quickly became clear where our weak spots were—some repeated handling mistakes on my side, and some gaps in training that needed attention. Each session was planned to build on the previous one, and I was so happy to see how not just Tiger, but all the dogs progressed from one training to the next.

I have the best training group—a bunch of crazy agility addicts meeting every week at 8 p.m. to carry the obstacles into a riding hall and train. Winters in Slovenia are cold, and the dogs get dirty training on sand. We usually get home around midnight, and the first thing to do is wash the dog. Then, of course, you can’t fall asleep right away because you were running in cold just a bit earlier. The next morning, you wake up and question your life choices… and then do it all over again the following week. 😛

But this is what we have, and we’re all incredibly grateful to our horse friends for letting us use their riding hall—it has the best footing for the dogs. They even allow dogs in the club room, so they can stay warm while waiting their turn. As a coach, I’m not that lucky—I survive due to endless layers of clothing. Anyone who knows me knows how badly I handle the cold. Still, I wouldn’t miss these trainings for the world.

We may not have fancy heated agility halls in Slovenia, but we are resilient and know how to find solutions where there seem to be none. Our options are limited, so we’ve learned how to multitask, train away from equipment, and train smart. We don’t like the cold, the dirt, or the lack of sleep—but we show up and make the most of every single training.

Besides our trainings in the riding hall, we also regularly attended canine fitness classes with Beata Luchowska. The exercises were all sport-specific, and on top of that, she has the same turf used at major competitions in her studio—giving Tiger a great opportunity to get more familiar with it.

COMPETITIONS

In January, we competed at DogFlow Arena in Hungary, and in February at Rose Speedlight Dog Camp in Slovakia. Tiger struggled with turf, and I wasn’t always confident in my handling, as we had only trained on a much smaller area and on sand. Still, we managed some really nice runs, including this final run at the 3rd Lord of the Winter competition in Slovakia.

What you can see in the video—and what I should also mention—is that we don’t carry all the obstacles into the riding hall. We used the dogwalk 3 times, but not even once the A-frame, which we NEVER train in winter.

At the Hungarian Open at the end of February, he ran all the jumping courses clean and made the podium every time (1× 1st place, 2× 2nd place). He was super fast and there were so many amazing dogs we competed against.

He also had really nice agility runs, but with one unlucky bar in each and a wrong obstacle after the dogwalk (or taking it from the wrong side). That part is entirely on me—like I said, we only trained the dogwalk three times and used simple, straight exits. Tiger is exactly the kind of dog that performs what he’s been trained to do. I promise I won’t be that lazy next winter and will use the dogwalk in training more often!

Here is a video of all our runs from Hungarian Open:

Two weeks ago we also participated in the Croatian tryouts, judged by Angelica Brandl (this year’s EO judge). We could only compete for one day, but Tiger made the most of it—running both qualifying runs for the World Championship clean. The hall there is quite small, and I didn’t expect him to be that fast—but he didn’t just win both runs, he set some incredibly fast times, even though the lines were quite tight for such a long-striding dog.

We don’t plan to compete much this spring, but I’m really looking forward to the trainings ahead and preparing for our tryouts in May and June. We’ll do our absolute best!

The amazing photos in this post were made by Hana Lah and Art’s Dog Photo!