Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

It’s that childhood locket dangling over the white lace, the bride herself scented with a custom bridal perfume, with the groom carry grandfather’s pocket watch, and the bride’s delicate fingers wrapped tightly around the fistful of hydrangea, delphinium, and white lilies. That’s something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

While that wedding tradition rhyme is constantly used by zillions of brides, it is something we agility folk are slowly losing our grip on, and I'm not quite sure we should be tossing away the bouquet so soon. We seem to be perfectly fine with something new and something borrowed, the majority of handlers are open to trying new moves, training more complex courses, and incorporating new training methods into their routines. That’s part of the evolution of the sport. But we are letting go of the old, which isn’t always ideal. I am the first one to say I love all those newfangled, fancy agility moves we are all slowly experimenting with, trying new things is never bad. And yet, similarly it doesn’t hurt to K.I.S.S, keep it simple and stupid. I don’t think there will ever be a combination of handling skills that could ever prove more useful to me, for my dogs, than the basic front cross and rear cross. They are the foundations for handling at a more complex level, they teach people how to read lines, execute, and plan effectively for their own dog’s preferences. Personally I don’t think one can progress as a handler until they understand the principles of good, old-fashioned, basic handling. Really though it comes down to a balance of the new and old; applying the most effective skills we have to each course, whether it be a ketschker or a pull and flip rear cross. I just hope I can always keep the tradition going with my own handling...remembering the old, trying the new, and never being afraid to borrow. 

And hey, if you have something new, something old, and something borrowed, something blue is bound to follow. 

Uncomfortable Moments...

In agility, even when it seems like nothing is going your way, there is something positive to take from the experience. Because whether you like those moments or not they will stick with you forever. Sure it won’t always be easy to accept those not so pretty runs, or to look back and laugh at all your embarrassing moments, but the sooner you come to terms with the past the sooner you can enjoy the present and look forward to the future.  Being able to brush off the bad runs, laugh at your mistakes, and just keep moving, simply makes agility so much more fun.

Personally there are moments in my career that seemed like the end of the world when they happened, but now looking back, I think they are simply hysterical. And being able to look at these moments puts everything else in perspective. For example:

1.       2011 AKC Agility Nationals, on Thursday the AKC was kind enough to give the competitors a demo run in the brand new “Time 2 Beat” class that we would be soon seeing at our local shows. I was in Ring 2, in the main arena of course, with Jenna, I was so nervous I could barely keep my hands from shaking. Honestly I’m not sure why I was so wired that weekend, but I was, and it did not help my performance on course at all. About half way through that T2B course, just off the a-frame, I sent Jenna out to pick up a jump and I took off for a front 2 obstacles down the line. I was being good, keeping my eyes on my dog, and I turned my head to check where I was going for just a second, and just in time to greet the giant white Eukanuba wing with my face. I smacked into the jump, I grabbed it and spun to keep from landing on it. But of course this was the panel jump, so about 4 bars went flying in every direction possible… Jenna and I were then excused from the ring as the judge and ring crew reconstructed the jump I had annihilated. Just a fantastic start to my nationals.

2.       For this we will go back a little further in time, 2004… I was about 7 years old, running my yellow fluffy poof ball of a Lhasa Apso, Jack, in Open 12”. Just before my Open Jumpers run I had to go to the bathroom, this was of course an outdoor show, because back then indoor shows were very rare. So for those of you who don’t know, this means port-a-potties. I walked down the row and selected a door that displayed a little green “Vacant” sign and yanked open the door. The port-a-potty was not in fact vacant; it was occupied by my Open Jumpers judge. Let’s just say he was less than thrilled to see me, and I was beyond horrified to see him *pants up, I think? Honestly can’t remember…and that’s okay with me*. Needless to say I now knock, always, no matter what the sign says.

3.       When I was 9, I was back in Open again, this time with Kayla, my mother’s first MACH border collie. In our first Open Jumpers run, I did a 2 jump lead out and was just even with the ring crew. I released Kayla; she took both jumps, visited the ring crew and bolted out of the ring. Leaving me standing in the middle of the ring alone, as I watched her run around the building looking for my mom. I then cried and hid in crate for the rest of the day, well until Diane bought me a stuffed animal westie from one of the vendors. Stuffed animals simply make everything better.

4.       Unfortunately Kayla leaving the ring is not the worst memory I have with her… on several occasions, particularly after the weave poles, Kayla would run off into the corner of the ring, squat and poop. Then, as if pooping weren’t enough, she would also run out of the ring. Diane used to tie a poop bag around my wrist so I would always have one in case she did. And she almost always did…

5.       Okay this memory isn’t exactly one I can laugh at yet, but it was a very good life lesson. I was in excellent standard with Jenna, and for those of you who don’t know Jenna and I have been battling contact issues since forever. This particular run was dreadful, Jenna jumped all three contacts, ignored my front cross to take an off course tunnel, jumped off the table before the count was over, and at the end of the run I was a less than happy 14 year old. I didn’t yell, I didn’t tell Jenna she had been “bad” or “naughty”, I simply asked her to come, so I could put her leash on. She listened, and we were on our way out of the ring when I heard the judge whistle me and ask me to come back into the center of the ring. She then yelled at me for a good 3 minutes, explaining to me how inappropriate my behavior was, and that if she ever saw me treat my dog that poorly again she would write me up. I took Jenna out of the ring when the judge was done, I went back to my car sat in the back seat and cried, hugging Jenna until my mom came to find me. My mom and friends all told me that I was fine, that I didn’t do anything wrong, and that they had heard from several other competitors that they were shocked the judge had yelled at me. Upon later discussion of that event, we learned that judge simply wasn’t fond of kids.

Those have to be my top 5 most uncomfortable moments in the sport, and unforgettable moments that will stick with me forever. But now I realize that they were not bad moments and they were certainly not the end of the world. Just things that I had to learn to be okay with. 

Half-Assed.

Half-assed [haf-ast] adjective:  refers to having a desired goal while consciously choosing not to put in the necessary effort to actually achieve it.

The difference between try and triumph is a little umph.

It’s one thing to say you have dreams; it’s another to say you are trying to achieve your dreams. Yet it is an entirely different thing to actually achieve them. The fragile line between these three stages is broken with effort. It isn’t enough to half-ass your way to your goals, if anything you need to get your ass in gear.  No if, ands, or butts about it. If you want to achieve your goals you won’t just try. You won't crack under pressure. You won't assume you can do it. You'll put effort behind everything you do...and you’ll excel. 

Flawed.

There will always be people in the world who tell you that you can’t. They say you aren't good enough, they remind you of your flaws…but what these people forget to mention is that you can. That you might not be good enough yet, but those flaws you fight are what will make you great. They focus on the negative, not realizing your true potential...and sometimes they can make you forget that you have potential. 

I’d love to say that you should just ignore them, that the words have no truth to them. But realistically I can’t, I can say I’ve been there though. I’ve watched my videos at home, and heard people in the background talking about my handling…or how pathetic my dog is…or wondering why I’m even doing agility with them. This being one of the reason I started putting music to my videos 3 years ago. The funny thing is, after being angry for a bit, it just made me sad. Not because those people said what they did, but because they were so hopelessly focused on my flaws that I doubt they could even see their own…. I knew, at least, that I was working on my problems.

Funny thing about progress, you have to know where to start to make the first step in the right direction.

 I've never claimed to have perfect handling, or to have a perfect dog(s). So of course we have flaws, but we are working on them, constantly improving. And I know that we will never be perfect, and that's okay too. Agility isn't supposed to be perfect, it's messy. There will always be bad runs, or sloppy plans, and there will always be great runs that remind me why I push my handling when I can. Why play it safe every run, when you can learn and grow as a handler? Sure this means a dip in your Q-rate, but I'm sorry, sometimes NQing is just too much fun not to do. 

Two shelties with Q rates well under 100%, and damn proud of it. 

What's the Rush?

The best things in life are unexpected because there were no expectations.

The more of my life I live, the truer this quote becomes. The best surprises in my life have been the ones I did not anticipate. Because sometimes things just happen, and it’s wonderful.  Holding onto expectations simply adds pressure, heightens the highs and lowers the lows…and at least for me, takes away from the feeling of success.

Now I’ll always plan, I’ll always have goals and dreams, but these will remain timeless things. Expectations put time limits on life, leading to the inevitable, expected, failure if you don’t reach your goals “on time”. In agility you truly cannot fail unless you give up completely…and same goes for life. You cannot be a “failure” unless you quit living. You cannot fail unless you choose to do so.  Yet so many people run around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to do all these things “in time”. Personally I think you've missed the joy of the sport if everything has to happen now, or if you believe this will be your only chance. This isn't a do or die type of game, not in the long run. The journey is for a lifetime so...

What’s the rush?

Whimzical Update: International Team Tryouts

Sometimes I forget, because it’s seems like it’s been a hundred years. A lifetime spent together, a million hikes, a million nights, a million days with each other. But then I remember we are still young. We are still new to one another, still babies on course.  We haven’t quite gotten our feet beneath us, and our toes are just barely dipped into the edge of the lake.

This weekend, each time I walked to the line with Whimzy I was very aware that we were the little fish in a very big pond. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if we could swim yet. I know that Whimzy is only 2, but this weekend she wasn’t the only one on the team who was new to the game, because I’ll be the first to say I’m not a perfect handler. But I could not be more proud of how we did at tryouts. Our mistakes, our little successes, and us managing to keep it together through 5 rounds was amazingly enough a group effort the entire weekend. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t perfect, but it taught me more about handling Whimzy then I could have ever learned in my backyard.

I’m not sure what lies ahead for us, I know we are still young and yet I feel like we are already so old. Maybe one day our runs will reflect the connection I know we have, but until then I’ll just be enjoying our messing, on the fly style kind of runs. Because I know it’s just a phase, and that this journey is just barely beginning.  

It's Who You Are

Our journey is not forward, or upward, you cannot move backwards. For the journey isn’t a physical thing. 

For a long time I thought it was, and I’m coming to realize more and more that it isn’t where you are, so much as who you are.  

It’s never the glory, it’s never the score, it’s not about seeing who’s less and who’s more.  Cause when you find out how fast and how far, you’ll know it’s not how much you have. It’s who you are.

It isn’t about climbing to the top, it isn’t about winning. The journeys we take, aren’t just about agility… it is a process. While many of our goals are physical, tangible experiences much of our successes happen within. Whether realized or not, each experience, each show, each dog, each run, offers us new material to learn from. The lessons we take from our greatest successes and most heart breaking moments, mold who we will become in the future. No dream is out of reach, we simply have to be brave enough to reach for it. For a journey isn't about getting somewhere, it's about becoming someone you want to be.

Have a dream so big you can never achieve it, and become the person who can. 

International Team Tryouts: Day 2 Finals

Whimzical's first day at International Team Tryouts was amazing, I can't believe she is only 2 years old. 

Round 1 Jumpers 18" : Finished 11th out of 30 dogs with 5 faults due to a rather heart stopping refusal, at least it was heart stopping for me... But my goal for Miss Whimzy today was to not E (have a wrong course).

Round 2 Standard 18" : Once again 5 faults due to a refusal. Apparently I've over trained backsides of jumps because Whimzy has taken it upon herself to add them to our runs just for fun. Oops?

Cumulative Results of Rounds 1 and 2: 6th place overall, and a spot in 18" Finals.

Finals: 5th place in finals, one bar down, 2nd to last jump.

I honestly can't believe how effortless it felt with whimzy out there. We were far from perfect, but there is just something about coming together with a baby dog that makes every run (clean or not) feel wonderful. My immy-whimmy is finally becoming a big girl. 

Then of course there is Jenna, my "slow" dog, as those of you who know me personally know I used to call her. Oh Jenna...what can I say? As always she was right with me every step of the way, saving my ass when need be, and giving every course 110%. 

Round 1 Jumpers 14" : Clean 9th place out of 30 dogs with 2 seconds worth of time faults.

Round 2 standard 14" : Clean with 2.8 time faults.

Cumulative Results of Rounds 1 and 2: 5th place overall, and a spot in 14" Finals

Finals: 3rd place in finals.

Beyond thrilled with Jenna and Whimzy. Tomorrow is a whole new game, a new day full of new challenges. Mostly I'm just excited to be back out on that floor once again. :) 

International Team Tryouts: Day 1

This is it. Hopkins, Minnesota. May 3-5, AKC International Tam Tryouts. This is my 7th trip to World Team Tryouts, my 4th year competing. And evey year when I step onto the turf (or rather dirt in 2010), I come to the same final realization.

No matter how much training we have done, no matter how many courses we've studied, drills we've trained, miles we've run, how much we are putting on the line this weekend, or how high we set our expectations, regardless of whether we meet our goals or not, when all is said and done... The one thing I'll always know is that I got to run with the best dog(s) I could ever ask for. Because in the end, this weekend doesn't change a thing. It's one competinon, three days, five runs...the dogs we take to the line have nothing to prove, no one to impress, because they brought us here. It isn't the trainer that makes the dog; its the dog that has pushed the trainer to be better.

So really this isn't it....this is far from "it". This is simply another opportunity to push our skills, test our handling, and have fun with our dogs.