13 Years.

 To this day, I have people come up to me, people that I do not recognize, that I do not know, and tell me they remember how Diane used to sit my baby chair on the table at Top Dog while she trained her Lhasa, Sandy, in Obedience. Or how I used to hide in dog crates at shows and take naps. Or remember me bopping around the shows with my little fuzzy blond thing, and how I used to run around the outside of all the obstacles just to keep him running. That of course was well over 10 years ago...

I now find myself being blessed with 13 years playing this game. With 17 years being part of a wonderful community, and in many ways, my very extended family. I'm actually quite amazed at how much impact the agility community has had on my life.... It was like growing up with a few dozen parents, none of which could ground me, muhahaha, well except for Diane. For those of you unaware, Diane is actual my mom. She got me into the sport, at 4yrs old, when she gave me her dog to train in the backyard, she also bought me my first dog (pictured above, Jack the lhasa). She took me to shows, she taught me handling (...which I'm still working on figuring out, although its a bit more of an "independent study" now), and today she is not only my mom, but my training partner, my coach, and my travel companion, AKA: my ride to shows. 

Now of course, all those parental figures are some of my closest friends. Granted all of you who know me well do tend to regress back into mom-mode from time to time, but I suppose you are all entitled. So many of the people I know have not only let me into their lives, but let me into the lives of their dogs. For that I will be forever grateful. With all the dogs that I've run over the years, I'm amazed I can keep track. But each one, no matter how long we had together as a team, has made an impression on me and altered how I look at the sport, how I handle, and how I train. From borrowing Diane's Border Collie, Kayla, back in 2003 to play in the Preferred Class and taking Demon to the 2005 Purina Incredible Dog Challenge in the Juniors Division and then making finals. Playing with Dallas, the Border Collie, in Novice and Open in 2007, to all of my current "rent-a-dogs". All the hours we've spent training, all the lessons I've learned from them inside and outside of the ring, all the dogs I've had to say good bye to...I can't imagine going through this sport without the joy of working with them all, in addition to my three.

I may be 13 years into my journey, but this is still just the beginning. But I wouldn't be anywhere near the person I am today without all the people who have watched me grow up all these years. I'm not really sure how to say it, or if saying it a thousand times would ever be enough. 

But thank you.