Whimzical Update: Becoming a Team

Yesterday I found myself explaining how effortless Jenna is to run now. With years of showing, training and trial and error, all that experience comes together to form a team. We can run fast, we can run slow, we can run with fronts, we can run with rears, we just flow. There isn’t a doubt in my mind when we step to the start line that we aren’t going to be able to handle some aspect of the course. That feeling, is something I can’t even begin to describe. It’s not something you can see on a score sheet, it’s not something you can see by looking at the timer, sometimes you can’t even tell by watching the team run. It’s the invisible bond between dog and handler coming to life on course.

With Whimzy, it’s always been a little hectic. Surprising faults or bobbles, handling plans that just don’t seem to fit the dog, and as nice as any given run would look, it didn’t feel great. Now 4 years ago, Jenna and I felt the same. She’d ignore my turning cues, go too wide here, and pull off a jump there, nothing out of the ordinary with that at all. All dogs start off green, and I think that’s something we all forget once in a while. There is such a push for young dogs to be at the top sooner and sooner, people placing expectations on puppies to compete nationally and internationally in the future. As Whimzy and I start to come together as a team, it’s reminding me how green she still really is. How all those little mistakes matter less and less as we grow. A bar here, a missed jump there, who cares? We are finally flowing, it isn’t controlled chaos every run. I can walk to the start line and know where she is going to be, where I am going to be, where I need to give more support, or add an extra collection cue. Looking forward I know my handling plans won’t be perfect, and that we are going to fault, a lot, but all those silly green team mistakes will only better prepare us for the courses we encounter in the future.