Chuck
Well-known member
There is not a day that goes by that Cooper and Nina don’t bring a smile to my face,
and make the day better. I love them both. It has been a blast learning agility with
Cooper boy. Someday I will get over my shyness and actually enter an event! In the
Meantime, class and practice have been a blast! It feels like Cooper knows just what I want Him to do even if I give the wrong signals.
Nina girl is always trying to please, and if I am down, she is right there wanting to snuggle.
This says a lot!
Not a Means to an End, THE End
and make the day better. I love them both. It has been a blast learning agility with
Cooper boy. Someday I will get over my shyness and actually enter an event! In the
Meantime, class and practice have been a blast! It feels like Cooper knows just what I want Him to do even if I give the wrong signals.
Nina girl is always trying to please, and if I am down, she is right there wanting to snuggle.
This says a lot!
Not a Means to an End, THE End
- by Donna Wasielewski on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 8:34pm
> I thought a lot about this going into Nationals, and I guess even before..
> As agility gets more and more competitive, it is easier and easier to
> look at dogs as a means to the end goal of winning rather than the end in
> and of themselves. It is easy to lose sight of just how awesome they are
> just because they are them because it is so easy to get caught up in the
> desire to win. It is easy to look at agility as a matter of winning or
> losing and forget what a treasure it is each time you have the chance to
> step to the start line or really each time you have the chance to hug them
> and look into their eyes to see how much they love you. Over the past
> year, I have been reminded more and more of what a mistake it is to take
> that for granted. Just ask the family whose dog died on the way to
> Nationals in 2008, the family whose dog died at the AKC Nationals this
> year, or the many people who have had dogs get cancer in the prime of
> their lives over the past few years. I bet, win or lose, they would give
> anything for just one more chance to step to the line with their dog. I
> think about that sometimes when I think about Siryn's water intoxication
> right before Regionals last year and what a huge hole she would have left
> in my life if she'd died that night after a routine trip to the lake. I
> think about the fact that Mindy was my first agility dog and, due to her
> orthopedic problems, I will never have any video of her doing agility to
> remember the little dog that changed the course of my whole life. Truly,
> we never know when this time will be the last time so I want to treasure
> each chance I have to experience time and life with my dogs.
>
>
>
> I look back on my journey and think how far I've come. When I got Siryn,
> I was so worried about getting a dog that would be structurally sound and
> do well in agility that I really didn't bond much with her over that first
> year "just in case she didn't work out". I look back on that now and it
> is insane to me. Agility, while very important to me, is still such a
> small part of our life together. I LOVE that dog and all the fun we have
> together in life and her doing agility well or not would not change that.
> She is smart, she makes me laugh with all her silly antics, and she is
> always thrilled to do anything I want to do like hiking, fetching,
> kayaking/swimming, learning new tricks, or just laying around watching a
> movie. She makes me laugh and I LOVE that about her. I got Puppy for
> agility and she did it for all of two years before I retired her, but I
> don't even know what my life would be without my constant shadow and heart
> dog. Agility is NO part of our life together and I will be crushed when
> something happens to her.
>
>
>
> Going into AKC Nationals this March, I was so worried about making it into
> the Finals that I forgot to enjoy the ride with Siryn until the very last
> run when our chance was gone and the only thing to run for was fun.
> Running the courses was a means to an end (winning), and not the end.
> When I started running it like the goal was to just go out there and have
> a blast pushing as hard as we could for the sheer love of running her, we
> started doing awesome. At USDAA Nationals this year, I was determined not
> to do that again. When I printed out my schedule, I put pictures of Siryn
> all over it doing all the non-agility things that I love about her, like
> smiling on the hiking trail, sticking her feet out while she's sleeping
> under the bed, holding the ball with her paws while we are playing fetch,
> and just generally being the fun-loving, laughable Siryn I love. I wanted
> to remind myself that our life together was what was important, regardless
> of how we did at the dog show. It still took some effort to concentrate
> on that in the Team runs because I really thought we had a shot of making
> it into Team Finals so honestly, one of our best runs came in Grand Prix
> semis when I ran it just for the sheer joy of running it not thinking we
> had a prayer of making it into the Finals. I ran it just for the love of
> stepping to the line with my amazing agility partner and that was when we
> did our best and made it to the Finals!
>
>
>
> Ironically, the same thing happened to me with Top 10 last year. For
> 2009, I ran Snooker and Jumpers just because I LOVED them. I put
> everything I had into them just because they were so much fun and I loved
> the confidence and adrenaline of knowing we were great at those games. I
> didn't even know about Top 10 or how to keep track of it and we ended up
> placing #5 and #8 in the country! Someone told me a few months later
> about it so the next year, I wanted those awards again. I started running
> the Snooker and Jumpers courses because I wanted to win, not just for the
> sheer joy of the adrenaline of running them because I loved them. When I
> started JUST focusing on the Top 10, I lost the joy of each run, and with
> it, we lost our typically great performances in those classes. I finally
> realized my mistake, started just going out to run them because I wanted
> to do awesome because I loved them, not just because I wanted a pin at the
> end of the year, and wouldn't you know we started doing amazing again.
> Don't ever get so caught up in the destination that you forget to marvel
> at the journey!
>
>
>
> While we were at USDAA Nationals this year, our teammate was feeling
> pretty stressed about a run. On my way in to watch her, I saw this senior
> gentleman running the lure coursing alongside his old Papillion so that
> the dog would make it all the way through. I thought, wow, this is what
> it's all about. It's all about sharing the journey with your best friend
> and creating memories and experiences together. His dog wasn't going to
> have the fastest time but his will be the only run I remember watching
> because his relationship with his dog was what captured my attention in
> the long-term. When we can focus on loving the journey, we can truly
> appreciate these amazing animals for what they bring to our lives, not
> what they bring to our trophy shelves. I was reminded of this again
> watching Angie Benacquisto run her amazing dog, Dylan, at Nationals and
> place while Dylan is currently being treated for cancer. I am sure Angie
> just felt so much emotion at being able to have that experience with
> Dylan. I felt that, too. Having the opportunity to run in the Grand Prix
> Finals with Siryn was such a treasure that I honestly was not the least
> bit disappointed that we didn't run clean. I was just so thrilled to be
> able to have that experience with her, an experience that only twenty-four
> 22" dogs in the world got to have, that I just felt so grateful for the
> journey. Would I have liked to run clean or even won? Of course! But
> the fact that those things didn't happen didn't at all diminish the honor
> I felt at being able to have such a special experience with my first dog
> to ever go to a Nationals with me. I remembered to treasure the chance to
> have that experience regardless of the outcome, and for that I am very
> grateful.
>
>
>
> I have been mulling over these ideas but finally decided to write them out
> tonight after watching a beautiful tribute video Tori Self made for a
> gentleman I didn't even know who just died. This man, Dennis, apparently
> did agility in a walker and wheelchair in Florida with his amazing Border
> Collie. You know what? That video and his death are spreading around the
> agility community like crazy and bringing tears to people's eyes and was
> it because he did something amazing like win Nationals or be on the World
> Team? No, it was because he remembered how precious it was just to have
> the opportunity to step to the line and feel the power of just being able
> to run your dog even with obstacles the rest of us couldn't even dream of
> overcoming. What an amazing testament to the power of just loving the
> chance to run your dog even if winning Nationals is never in your future.
> I bet those runs on that video will be remembered by many people for a
> very long time even though his success came in a very different package
> than what most people typically think of. So inspiring.
>
>
>
> I know I won't always remember this. There will be times I am very
> disappointed in a run and forget how lucky I was to even have the chance
> to run it. There will be times I take time with my dogs for granted. I
> hope that those times are fewer and further between as I make every effort
> to focus on the sheer joy they bring to my life. Siryn will be 7 in 3
> days and as her career starts to get closer its end than its beginning, I
> hope I remember to be thankful for every chance I get to run a course with
> this amazing girl who leaves everything she has on the course for the love
> of me and the game. I hope I remember to appreciate her and everything we
> have gone through together to get to this moment. She has been my first
> "big" agility dog, my first Border Collie, my first dog of my own that
> I've taken to Nationals, my first dog I've run in a Finals (3 times!), my
> first dog I've taken kayaking, and so much more. I love her, I love all
> my girls, and I want to always remember how much they have done for me and
> how special each moment I have with them is. I want to always remember
> that my dogs are not a means to an end of winning in agility, their
> presence in my life IS the end. The rest is all just part of the journey
> to be treasured each step of the way.
>
>
>
> My girls (Puppy-10, Siryn-7, Mindy-12)