The Drug I Can't Give Up

Ok, so apparently I needed some time away and a chance to adjust my attitude, because now I find myself missing agility. (Surprise, surprise).

Being on Facebook makes it difficult to remove that part of my life because virtually all of my friends are posting pictures of agility, videos of agility, talking about agility, etc. At first I found this annoying. Then I thought, hey, there are some dogs having fun. Finally someone posted this video:


Watching this made me all me happy and fuzzy, which led me back to watching my own videos. Happy dogs with big smiles and tails wagging. Good stuff. Then Tori posted something inspiring. Then Daisy posted something sweet and beautiful. And another friend, and another about how much they love their dogs and how wonderful they are no matter the results. Sigh. So I took the dogs out the to practice field for the first time in many, many weeks and we had a blast. Xander was fantastic. Spot on and so happy to play. Trudy, who has only had foundation work and had never really done any REAL agility before, took to it like a beaver to a stream. She did A-frames for the first time right into target position with cute little nose touches. She took little jumps into the tunnel, and even a few assisted teeters. She stayed focused and happy the entire time. Who knew?

Remember this post? (for those few of you that followed me back then)
http://doggiedojo.blogspot.com/2011/01/her-name-is-agility.html

Yeah, so apparently I know myself fairly well. At least I did when I wrote that, and I do again now having gone back and read it again. While there are a number of things about the sport I don't like, it really is a part of me and who I am, and I can't give it up.

I CAN, however, strive to maintain moderation, a proper attitude, and not place importance on titles and scores. I CAN love and enjoy my dogs for who they are and what they each have to offer without comparing our team to other teams. I CAN work to block out negativity, surround myself with positive and nonjudgmental people, and enjoy the good things. One of my weaknesses is that I tend to focus on the negative in myself and others, but I can work on that. What I can't do is stay away.

Agility, you are the drug I can't give up.


Also, today is Trudy's 1st birthday! Time flies...except it seems like she's been pestering Xander, barking like a maniac, and bouncing on my head much longer than that. Here's to many more years of partying!!