10/09/2025
The Fall YDS Newsletter with registration dates and other valuable information has been sent! If you did not receive it, it can be read here.
Happy Fall from Yellowstone Dog Sports!
Fall is in the air! The leaves are beginning to change color, there's a dusting of snow on the mountains, and birds are preparing for their trip south. It must be Fall at Yellowstone Dog Sports!
What a year it has been! We hosted 25 weekends of trials, two summer camps, and ten seminars, including events in Agility, Obedience, Rally, FastCat, and Dock Diving across AKC, NADAC, UKI, ASCA, and UKC venues. We love seeing so many of you try new things, and we thank you for your enthusiasm and support!
Our new permanent FastCat course has received rave reviews from our canine athletes and their handlers. The flat grassy surface has helped dogs achieve personal best times chasing that "bunny"! We have been told it's the best FastCat course around! Thanks everyone for the lovely comments!
We were also delighted to host the Belgian Tervuren National Specialty for a week, immediately followed by National Specialty events for the Flat Coats. It's always a pleasure to host Specialties and witness the remarkable versatility of these breeds firsthand.
While a few of our Canadian friends made the trek to YDS this year, many could not. We hope circumstances allow all of you to return to your "happy place" next year. We truly missed you!
Our ten very successful seminars in 2025 included two new clinicians, Terra Lamping (February) and Jodi Dillard (mid-May), both of whom were a huge hit. You can expect them back this year, along with most of our clinicians from last year.
Camps are always a blast! If you've never attended one of our camps, you truly need to check it out. Camps are five days long, starting with a welcome party on the first night, followed by three fun-filled days of activities for you and your dog, such as Obedience, Agility, Dock Diving, Paddleboarding, Disc games, Crafts, Canine Massage, Tracking, Trick classes, FastCat, and more! A new team relay event in this past July Camp ended in a tie, leading to a very exciting tie-breaker involving the "My Dog Can Do That" game. Congratulations to Kate and Kinsey for breaking the tie in a nail-biter finish! Additionally, we introduced a "Sip and Paint" event on the last night of each camp, which was a huge hit. The portraits of everyone's pups turned out incredibly well—we have some truly talented artists among us!
Sign up for one of our vacation camps and try new things! You never know, your pup might surprise you, and you both might fall in love with a brand new sport. Remember, it's always fun to try new things, and at camp, you get to "Do All Things!"
Camp activities include:
• First night welcome party (dinner on your own)
• Three full days of dog camp activities taught by top instructors
• Meals on activity days and continental breakfast on the last day
• Dinner demos and lectures, plus other fun stuff!
• Four nights accommodation
NEW in 2026! We are planning to add another UKI trial at the end of May, with a full ISC day attached on Friday (pending club approval). UKI and ISC events are growing rapidly, and like their European roots, they feature fast-flowing courses. We encourage you to consider joining us for one of these exciting events and let your dog really stretch out and move.
We are thrilled to welcome the Nova Scotia Duck Tollers back in September 2026 for their National Specialty. The event will include breed-specific Conformation (of course), Agility, Scentwork, some Dock Diving fun, and most likely, FastCat events. The club is still finalizing the schedule, but we hope to include a day of all-breed events, which means you can join us even if you don't have a crazy Toller!
2026 will be here before you know it, so tune up those handling skills with one of our very popular handling seminars so you can keep up with your teammate!
We are excited to welcome back our Clinicians for 2026:
• Terra Lamping from right here in Montana will return this year just before the February NADAC trial and will focus on timing of those cues, handling discriminations, and creating better connection with your dog. Terra was a first-time clinician for us last year and due to popular demand, is coming back!
• Scott Casino will return in March for two fun filled days focusing on behavioral and other issues that can help you and your dog become better teammates. You can choose to attend one or both days, working on specific skills one day and/or joining the Elite/Open Skills, Drills, and Thrills session on the second day
• Lori Michaels from Missouri will be returning in late March to help you tune up your UKI handling skills before the UKI trial. Lori has been with us twice now and is a crowd favorite! She is excellent at working with dogs at all levels, but this particular seminar will be for Elite/Open dogs.
• Deb Hutchinson will be back in April (a little earlier this year). Deb's fantastic Distance and Discrimination seminar always draws a lot of interest. This seminar is for dogs at the Elite and Open levels.
• Jodi Dillard was also a first time clinician for us last year and was a huge hit! She will be here just before the Mid-May trial and will do Elite/Open one day and Novice/Intro the next. Jodi will work on timing, handling and course work with an emphasis on clarifying your cues and connection with your dog.
• Paula Goss from Maryland is always amazing. She offers an Elite seminar, an Open/Novice seminar, and a half-day session on the last day for puppies or inexperienced dogs. If you've been fortunate enough to attend a Paula Goss seminar, you are never disappointed.
• Steve Stochaj from New Mexico is returning to help you with fun, focus, and connection games with your dog. This is always a very popular seminar. He is amazing at creating innovative fun and focus games to build drive, confidence, and focus, whether you want to do Obedience, Agility, or simply create a better bond through engaging games.
• Pam Smith will be here at the end of July, working with us on problem solving skills. Is it weaves you are haing issues with? Contacts? Or just getting to the right place on the course so you and your dog have smoother runs? Pam runs in multiple venues including NADAC, AKC and ASCA.
• Desiree Snelleman (multiple World and International Team member) and Sarah Novak (multi-year Canadian World Team member) are coming back to help you tune up your AKC/UKI skills. These seminars are always very popular and filled with great information! Both clinicians are fabulous at working with "the dog in front of them," so don't hesitate to sign up for these seminars even if you do not have a "world team" dog. Sarah even offers a puppy/intro half-day seminar, which is always a blast to see how much these "baby dogs" can learn in such a limited time.
As you can see, we have an action-packed 2026 lined up for you, with so many options! We will be keeping the same sign-up process as last year. To ensure everyone has a reasonable chance to attend at least one seminar, I am asking that EVERYONE fill in their seminar requests by priority. Please put a "1" by the seminar you MOST want to attend, a "2" by your second most priority, and so on. You have up to 10 choices for seminars. If you only want one seminar, simply pick one and make that your highest priority.
• Saturday, November 1st at 9:00 AM (MDT): Priority registration will open ONLY to previous campers and previous seminar participants. We will take everyone's top 3 selections (still in the order they were received), and those selections will be "theirs" (unless the seminar is already full).
• Starting Saturday, November 8th at 9:00 AM (MST): People who are NOT "previous campers or seminar participants" will be allowed to sign up and select their top priorities. We will look at their top three priorities, and if that seminar is not full, they will be awarded a spot in the seminar!
• On November 12th: We will go back to the "Priority Registration" folks and continue with the rest of their selections.
After those are all done: We will continue with everyone else's selections until all seminars are full.
Seminars and camps fill incredibly fast, so get your registration in early!
Remember, NO EMAILS ACCEPTED AND NO SIGN UPS BEFORE NOVEMBER 1st
We will be offering regular lessons throughout the fall and winter. Email Lisa to tell her what you are looking for, and she will set you up with one of our fabulous instructors.
Thank you to everyone who continues to support YDS. I appreciate each and every one of you!
HAPPY TAILS TO YOU!! Hope to see you at YDS next year!!
Lisa and the gang at YDS
