11 July 2011

Sunday agility practice for champions or people who are just sort of working on the champion bit.


When I am having a bad agility day, like when Gustavo can't read my pansy ass handling or Otterpop is staring at me like I have 3 heads and machete blades for arms, I try to remember that I hit some kind of lotto jackpot just by not living in a drought stricken region of Africa with actual machete blades slicing off my limbs. And also that the zombie uprising has not yet begun and I don't have to worry about being bitten or scratched by the undead and having my brains eaten straight from my skull every time I walk out my front door.


I am also really lucky to have a great set of agility practice buddies. We try and practice every time all 4 of us have the same free Sunday. A tall order, with lives and kids and jobs and dog shows. No matter if some of us are on World Teams, are desperately trying not to step on their tiny 100mph tugging machine or are just trying to remember where is the goddamn front cross, we are all trying really hard to get better at agility by helping each other get better at agility. Without losing our senses of humors.


I'm not sure what I bring to the table. I was going to bring mimosas yesterday and then I didn't. Thankfully they have not yet kicked me out of our practice group. I am definitely grateful to have friends who help me not get stuck behind the wing in a serp and who yell at me for lollygagging around out there on the course where I should be running. Friends who think up nice hard courses and who always make me laugh.

When I first started dog agility, I thought I'd never make friends. Too many crazy dog people.

Now I'm realizing, hard to do agility without friends. They're who I'm learning from.

And they're the ones who are are keeping ME from being the crazy dog person. Hopefully. Maybe. Unless it's too late. Then, hopefully, friends who will still practice with me just the same.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"too late" goes with "never," and "crazy" goes with "dog." these are positive word combos,
valpig

KristineD said...

"When I first started dog agility, I thought I'd never make friends. Too many crazy dog people.

Now I'm realizing, hard to do agility without friends. They're who I'm learning from."

Yes, yes, and YES! I'm surrounded by teams with ATCH's, MACH's, N-ATCH's, C-ATCH's. Meanwhile, I'm widdling away on my novice titles with my first agility dog. They are just as excited for my novice HIT ribbons as I am for their championships. I never imagined that the Champions could actually be my FRIENDS!