Clean Run - March 2018 - 66

those events are just as important as
other things in your calendar
Incorporate Agility
in Your Activities
We all have activities and events that
we need to go to for either ourselves
or our families. We have things to do
around the house, both inside or outside. It might be a kid's sporting event,
a music lesson, or picking up someone from school. It could be washing
the dishes, dusting, or mowing the
lawn. Figure out a way to incorporate
your dog into your daily routine. How
can what you are doing work with
agility? How can you be practicing
with your dog as you are waiting for
an event to happen? Bring your dog
with you and if you have an extra five
to ten minutes you can work with your
dog. We waste time just sitting around
waiting for an event to happen. Time
isn't going to magically appear; you
need to take advantage of down time
whenever it happens to get in your
agility practices.
Another goal I am sure most of you
have is practicing agility more with
your dog. I feel like I never have
enough time to do this. Three or four
times a week, in small sessions, to
work on agility/obedience with your
dog is a good goal. For the busy
mom or dad this can be difficult, but it
doesn't have to be as daunting a task
as it seems. Figure out what you want
to work on with your dog and then
figure out what are the things you do
with your family and see how you can
incorporate them together.
Agility has many different facets;
there is the technical aspect like doing a front or rear cross, but it is also
about impulse control, watching the
handler, and being driven. The latter
types of skills don't need physical agility equipment to accomplish. You can
do these foundation exercises, which
need to be worked on constantly, in
many of the places you go on a regular basis: sports games and practices,
your kid's music lesson, hiking, etc.

I have two kids who take music lessons and participate in sports and everything else in between. I don't have much time for practicing agility every day
either. I wish I did, but the truth is I just don't. So, when I am at my kids' sporting
events I bring the dogs with me. Of course, they are not the kind of dogs that
like to just sit at your feet and watch the game. They need to be walking and
doing something. So, when I drop the kids off at practice I take my dogs for a
walk, work on impulse control, go on the school's jungle gyms, and walk on
the stadium seats to practice our agility. I think this is a wonderful way for me
to still be watching my kids play their sports while I'm working with my dogs.
Plan Agility Trial Days
Practicing agility and going to classes is fun, and many people just do this and
that's fine, but some of us like to compete and work toward titles and ribbons.
When I take a picture of my dogs with the ribbons we have won, I am proud for
not only myself but for them.
As we all know, most trials are on the weekend. This is supposed to be family
time, house chore time, and cleaning up the yard time, but it can also be agility
time as well. Just to make sure we are all on the same page here-you are not
going to be able to go every Saturday and Sunday to agility trials, sorry! I can't
tell you how to get away with that and still have kids and a marriage. Set reasonable goals for trials. Most agility trials you know of well in advance, so you can
schedule around vacations, sporting events, etc.
I live in New England so there is an agility trial I could attend almost every weekend. I would love to go every weekend to a trial, but I have heard loud and clear
from my husband and two kids that is not going to happen! So I have made it a
goal, and I put in my calendar, to go to at least one agility trial a month, sometimes two depending on where they are. If it is close by I will go both Saturday
and Sunday and if it's farther away I will only go one day. This is an arrangement
that has worked well for our family. This arrangement also means that I probably
won't ever get a MACH but that's okay. My dogs don't know the difference; they
are having fun and so am I.
Have Fun!
Finally, just have fun with your agility dog! Most people and their dogs will never
accomplish the wonderful things we do when we are running with our dogs
through a course. Our dogs are doing agility because of us, not the other way
around. Make the classes, the practicing, and the trials fun for you and your dog.
It is not supposed to be stressful!
My family usually doesn't attend trials with me. Sometimes, if it's close to home,
they will stop by to watch for the one minute I am running, but usually I am just
by myself with my dogs. They don't understand why I want to be there for the
entire day, but I probably don't need to tell you that hanging out at an agility trial
is not as bad as the outsider thinks. You can volunteer, watch the other dogs and
handlers run, you can bond with your dogs, talk to other agility handlers, and just
have a nice relaxing day enjoying yourself and having fun.
Making sure you are happy will help you to be a better parent, co-worker, and/
or spouse. I have thought about giving up agility so I can take better care of the
house or have more time for the family, but then I think about how sad it would
make me. Agility makes me get out and exercise, makes me laugh, makes me
think, and allows me the outlet to just enjoy myself.
Juggling life and agility can be difficult. No one has ever said it would be easy,
but it can be done. Good luck! D

Teresa Merisotis lives in Coventry, Connecticut with her two very active teenage children and husband Manny. Her day job is a state legislative lobbyist for a public
employee's union. Teresa trains at Tails-U-Win in Manchester, Connecticut, with her two Australian Shepherds: Cash (Croix Feu's Pocket Change AXP, AJP) who is 10 years
old and Daisy (Hemlocks Daisy NAP OJP) who is three. She enjoys hiking, reading, and obviously agility. She can be reached at tmerisotis@gmail.com.
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Clean Run | March 18

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - March 2018