Clean Run - November 2011 - 60

Life Lessons with a Polish Lowland Sheepdog

To Quit or Not:

Our second trial was a complete disaster. Despite our near perfect performance at practice the day before the trial, in our rst run Kelby charged around the ring like a wild dog, barely acknowledging my presence in the ring as her “handler.” She was not about to take any cues from me and made that fact quite clear when upon my O.K. at the start line. she refused the tire. took o around it, and made a beeline for the far corner of the ring. Tongue hanging out, hair peeled back in sheer delight, she ripped around the agility ring with speed I had not seen before, and she haphazardly jumped and climbed with not an iota’s interest in taking instruction from me. We were doomed from the start. To seal our death Kelby decided to climb up the A-frame and then hurl herself o the obstacle from near its peak, proceeding to run at lightning speed to the table, where she waited for me to meet her. Head cocked, tongue hanging out, a smile on her face and oblivious to my embarrassment, Kelby waited for me to leash her and we left the ring. Our subsequent runs were not much better than our opening performance. But through that trial I learned that my normally sni y, bored, and slow dog can actually run with speed and was having the time of her life, on her own. So why should I subject myself to further trialing embarrassment? Why not quit? As I considered quitting, it dawned on me that my involvement in this sport is not to qualify or to title. The real bene t for me in this whole agility adventure is the life lessons that I’m learning from my adorable companion dog that is not likely to climb the ranks of titles, points, and fast times on the agility course. Despite my personal disappointment and dismay over our performance as a team, Kelby and I did seem to provide comic relief to our co-competitors and the judges at our second trial. Thus, perhaps the greater good to come of our day was to encourage other handler/dog teams. Perhaps another team trialing that day was contemplating quitting, but when comparing their performance to ours, they may have thought, “Well, at least my dog didn’t do that!” If that is the case, then Kelby and I have encouraged another team to press on. And maybe someday that team we encouraged will make it to the national championships or world team. Thus, Kelby’s untethered speed, enthusiasm, and joy (and my embarrassment) will have been well worth it for our greater contribution to the sport of dog agility.

By Cindy Lynn Martin Photos by NewChaptersPhotography.com

Perhaps the greater good to come of our day was to encourage other handler/dog teams. Perhaps another team trialing that day was contemplating quitting, but when comparing their performance to ours, they may have thought, “Well, at least my dog didn’t do that!”

Clean Run | November 11

http://www.NewChaptersPhotography.com

Clean Run - November 2011

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