Hi Backyard Dog Trainers! Today is the last day of the May BINGO Challenge. Thank you to all who participated! Congratulations to Emily and Dunkin, Lori and Drover, and Lori and Doby for completing Bingo! And EXTRA congratulations to Charlotte and Bluebell, Jen and Sommer, Emily and Tali, and Emily and Brady for earning Bingo Blackout! Now, for something more serious. I've invested a fair bit of time and effort in this Skool group, but probably not enough to grow it to the point of being worth the money I'm paying every month to keep it open. This is my fault, but between looking at my dwindling bank account and my limited time available, I think that I need to make a change. I imagined this would be a group where people would interact with each other and drive the group a bit, but it seems to have dwindled to only a few people who interact with me based on my prompts. Skool is designed to be a site for people who want to make money and sell classes in their communities. I've not monetized the community in that way. However, to keep it going, I need to figure out something so that I'm not spending hours of time each week AND paying Skool to keep it afloat. My credit card bills say I need to take a different route, ha! I'm also very scattered across platforms, and that's making it difficult for me to have a successful work/life balance. As I see it, the options are for me to 1. create short courses or offer lessons through this Skool (but there would have to be people who want to purchase these regularly), or 2. move the group to a free platform and change up how it works. I'm leaning toward #2 but could be convinced of #1 if there is interest. In regards to moving the group, I feel like my options, based on what I know right now, are to create a Facebook group, which most of you are familiar with, or to create a Substack. I already run Facebook groups, and I already have a non-dog-related Substack, so I'm comfortable using both platforms. A Facebook group would allow people to post easily and would allow and encourage a lot of general chatting, which is what I thought would happen in this Skool group, but it's not. The notifications on Facebook are better than those on Skool. No matter what I do here, I don't get notified that people have posted until much later (if at all). I feel like it's easier to spot a spammer/scammer on Facebook and keep them out. I don't like trying to decide who is a scammer here and who is not.

Post your Bingo submissions here! Include dog's name and behavior completed with each post. Please no questions on this thread. Ask them in the Rules thread. Thanks! Good luck!

If you are in the US, today's a holiday for many people. Aside from being a day off work and an extra day to train or trial with your dog, Memorial Day is a day for honoring and mourning members of the military who died serving the United States. If you are grieving a friend or loved one who died during military service, much love to you today. ~~~~~ How have you spent your weekend? Do you have any training or trialing successes (or thoughts in general) to share? I've been busy teaching my Backyard Training Matters class in the Clean Run Learning Center. It's a very busy 6 weeks for me because of the demos and video editing involved. My own personal training is currently focused on conformation work for my puppy since I am entering him in his first show in June. I'm pretty nervous about it. There never seems to be enough time! Congratulations to Charlotte & Bluebell and Jen & Sommer for completing BLACKOUT on the May Bingo Challenge! Want to play for Bingo or Blackout? Check it out here: https://www.skool.com/backyard-dog-training-matters-2491/may-challenge-coming-soon As you may know, I pay to host this Skool group, so if you'd like to help support it a little, consider checking out my coloring books for sale on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/author/brennafender) or start your Amazon shopping through my storefront here: https://amzn.to/49j8XxX. You can also follow me on Facebook and share my reels, which I'm now earning money on! They're always dog/animal/nature related, of course. Here's me: https://www.facebook.com/brenna.fender Thanks for being a part of Backyard Dog Training Matters on Skool! Please consider sharing the Skool with your friends! More people mean more fun! Brenna

Let's play BINGO! Check out the May BINGO Information Thread (here: https://www.skool.com/backyard-dog-training-matters-2491/may-challenge-coming-soon?p=7a5f0753). Ask questions and get to playing! Let me know if you plan to give it a try. In other news, Backyard Training Matters, a Weekly Training Group with me :) in the Clean Run Learning Center starts today! Please consider checking it out and sharing it with your friends. It's fun, and you get TONS of stuff to work on that you can keep indefinitely. Here's the link: https://www.cleanrun.com/product/backyard_training_matters_a_weekly_training_group/index.cfm Check out the Skool group and tell us about your recent successes, or join in any of the other conversations. See you there soon!

Did you do anything doggy this weekend? I didn't do anything official; on Saturday, I just worked on socializing my puppy by having some family drop by and watch him pretend to be a show dog :) On Sunday, I took the show on the road by taking him to my parents' house to check out their pool. I brought my Whippet, who used to do a lot of dock diving, and he did a bunch of jumping in. My Chihuahua, who is suffering from liver failure, wanted to come too, so he did as well. You can see a silly video I made from our visit at the link below. Tell us what you did this weekend! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RBh4o-J1IFA