My relationship with the sport of agility began more than half a lifetime ago, well before I had ever seen it or knew what it was. I will admit that I started out a cat person, which was mostly imposed upon me by my inability to get a dog. After my brother was diagnosed with asthma and a cat allergy, the cats had to go and my pursuit of dog ownership began. After years of relentless begging which culminated in a full scale Christmas day temper tantrum, and was told that I could have a dog for my 11th birthday.
I had spent years researching dog breeds and had narrowed my choice down to a sheltie or a corgi. Of course, my parents were poor and I was instead taken to the local animal shelter and presented with a litter of cocker spaniel/lab mix puppies. Immediately I was enthusiastic about bonding with my puppy and teaching him everything he should know, as well as fun tricks. He knew how to roll over, play dead, shake and many other things before we ventured to the local park and began learning to climb up the stairs, slide down the slides, and jump over the net on the tennis court. In essence, I was teaching the skills for agility, well before I had ever actually seen or heard of the sport. Sadly, the jumping skills I had so deftly trained led him to jump the fence and lap up enough anti-freeze from a neighbor's driveway to land him in a hospital for a week before dying of kidney failure. However, that's a whole OTHER story.
My next dog, acquired sadly only one year after the first, was a little black cocker spaniel purchased from an ad in the local paper. He was not registered, and had his full tail, which made him the best cocker spaniel ever. He was actually far easier to train and much more eager to work with me than the first, and would do simply ANYTHING for a tennis ball. He would also work for anything you could throw: a stuffed squeaky toy, a racquet ball, a pine cone from the backyard; with a tail that never stopped wagging. When he was several years old, we attended Jacksonville's first Pet Fair/Expo at the fairgrounds. A fledgling little group of members from Pals and Paws agility club had set up a small demo course to introduce people such as myself to the sport of agility. I had seen something similar on TV, and had played at these concepts for years, but this was the first time it was presented as an actual sport. We signed up for classes and my mother drove me 45mins both ways to attend class once a week. I set up a course in my backyard, and I was hooked.
At 14 I had no money to speak of, so we only attended a couple of competitions, or trials as we call them. Back then things were very different, much smaller, manual timing, there was no AKC agility, only USDAA, but much of it remains the same. Matt never learned to be good at the weave poles and was always distracted by smells on course, but we had some fun. I eventually became too wrapped up in the demands of high school, and agility fell to the way side.
I went to college, lived in various places, and eventually Matt grew old and lost his vision to glaucoma. He was 10, and we had occasionally gone out to places to play on equipment, so I never totally lost my interest in agility. When he went blind, I decided it was time to get another dog, and one that I could really seriously train to be competitive. I finally ended up with the corgi I had wanted many years before. Kaylee was born brilliant, and was very easy to train. I rejoined Pals and Paws and began taking her out to practice. We never attended classes, however I studied training videos and books and enjoyed the process of learning. At one and a half years old, Kaylee attended her first competition, and by the time she had just turned three, she earned her first Master Agility Champion title with AKC, with many blue ribbons along the way. I had pursued this title with single minded determination, and once achieved, I lost a bit of interest. Kaylee also hurt her back playing in the yard, and although we did rehab and got her running again; in fact she competed in the 2006 AKC Nationals in Tampa; it just wasn't the same. Life also got a little crazy for a while and we took about a two year break from competing. Once life had settled down, my interest was renewed. I had adopted Kirby along the way, yet again, a whole OTHER story, and had made some half-assed attempts at beginning his training. However, it wasn't until I settled into my own apartment and decided to get a border collie that the spark was truly reignited.
As with Kaylee, I had plans for Xander from the start. Kaylee had spent her first year coming to work with me as I taught classes at Petsmart, and Xander also benefited from coming to work with me in my small office job to learn basic manners and how to play and learn and enjoy being with me. Living in an apartment, one has to be creative with learning opportunities. I had a small hatchback into which I crammed a tunnel, some jumps, and weave poles that I would haul to the park and local schools, and anywhere I could get away with setting them up. We also made the hour long trek to our club's practice field whenever possible. With advances in technology, I spent more time studying videos, articles, and more importantly, footage of top trainers running their dogs. People such as Silvia Trkman, Susan Garrett, Greg Derrett, and many other great handlers gave me a clearer picture of what I wanted.
To say I love agility really wouldn't do our relationship justice. It is far more complex than that. I am at times obsessed with it, and at the very least preoccupied on a daily basis. I spend much of my free time continuing to study videos on facebook and youtube, watching all of the handlers I admire. I read blogs and articles when I am bored at work and study course maps and handling strategies. I aim to train my dogs several times a week, in both the blistering heat and the freezing cold. I sometimes drift off the road when coming back from practice, as I am running through sequences in my mind. I spend hours watching the footage of my own runs with my dogs and analyzing our strengths and weaknesses. I began teaching my own classes almost 2 years ago, which has given me even more reason to pour over course maps and consider learning theories and techniques.
Sometimes, when I can afford it, we compete. I really love the competition itself: the excitement of running in a different place, with people watching, only one chance to get it right, and titles and placements on the line. It's exhilarating when we do well, and humbling when we do not. Kaylee had actually become so reliable that some of the excitement had been lost, since we almost always qualified. (I expect hate mail as a result of complaining about my consistent dog). Running Kirby the wild-man, and my fast and long legged border collie is far more variable and challenging.
To be honest though, sometimes life would be simpler if I just didn't do any of it. Getting up at 4am to drive one or two or three hours to set up camp, compete all day outside in the heat or cold, only to drive home late and possibly do it again the next day is exhausting. The cost of traveling to out of town trials really adds up. Besides the fact that weekends are precious and few, and it seems so hard to sacrifice the opportunity to sleep in, relax on the couch, and get things done at home. Going to work all day and then driving 45 minutes to build a course, teach two hours of class, play with my own dogs, drive another 45 mins home, and then get up at 6am to go to work the next day is also exhausting. Staying dedicated to training my dogs when I am sick, or tired from work, or it's really, really cold outside is also a struggle at times. I also really enjoy all the fun, easy, non-dog related things I do with Buster and friends. Things that involve alcohol, and goofing off, and not thinking so hard. So I occasionally consider giving it all up.
Then I think of how empty and boring my life would be, and I go out and practice with my dogs like I did this morning. I get a high from how exciting it is to ask another living creature, who doesn't speak my language and by no rights should be able to do all of the complicated and often unnatural things I am asking them to do, to play with me in this fun sport. And when I see how happy it makes them, and how happy it makes me, and to be typing this with three tired and satisfied dogs, I realize that I will never be able to give it up.
Blessing or curse, agility is my mistress.
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