Some Days You're the Dog; Some Days You're the Hydrant

Crappy day at work.  Semi jack-knifed on the Don Holt Bridge.  Traffic at a standstill.   Drive home took over an hour.   On arrival, discovered that landscapers cut privacy shrubs down to nubs.  No time for dinner.  On the road again.  Late for class.  Tropical Storm Beryl threatening rain.  Exhausted.  Why am I here?  Ugh.

And so it goes.  All the “stuff” we human partners bring to the agility field and to our canine teammates.  Frustration.  Bad moods.  Job loss.  Death of a loved one.  Illness in the family.  Break-up.  Divorce.  Marriage.  Birth of a baby.  New job.  Final exams.  Big presentation at work.  Filling orders for clients.  The list goes on...given all that “happens” to us in our lives, it is a wonder that our doggies run agility for us with all of our human baggage.  But, they cheerfully oblige and are happy to be with us.

For many of us, we became involved in dog agility because it is fun to train our doggies and to escape from all the trappings of the real world.  During the hour or so we spend in classes and practices, we focus solely on our relationship with our dog and how to be a better team when running agility.   If just for that little piece of time, we are (or should be) oblivious to all the outside “stuff” in our human world.

But, if it were only so simple...I was exhausted and plain ole “didn’t want to be there” during Tuesday night’s class.  Of course, I did not tell anyone (especially Jefferson!) but he had trouble running a simple 5-7 obstacle jumping exercise without running off and sniffing.  At first, I blamed it on all the yummy treats on the ground from Intro class; next, I determined that he must be “stressed;” lastly, the instructor recommended I give stronger commands to get him focused.  All these explanations were probably true to some extent; but, the biggest reason for Jefferson’s lack of attention was me and my “didn’t want to be there” attitude.

As a handler, my biggest responsibility is to be true to my teammate:  to want to be there.  I have the good fortune of owning such a sensitive, soft dog who knows my mood even before I acknowledge it.  So, it is up to me to be in the moment whenever I am “doing” agility with Jefferson.  He picks up on my attitude – for better or worse – and sometimes we do not get a desired outcome. 

Dr. Phil would say that the first step to overcome any undesired result is to acknowledge it.  You cannot change what you do not recognize.  So, from now on, if I do not “want to be there” then I owe it to my partner, to not be there.  If I am unable to give my best to my doggie during a practice or class, then I should respectfully not attend and wait for another day when I am better able to be there for my dog. 

Sometimes we can tune out all the outside “stuff” and sometimes we cannot.  It is up to the human to make an informed decision that is for the betterment of the dog agility team.  

Sometimes you're the Louisville slugger; sometimes you're the ball!

 

“The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to its level of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged the dog down to his.”
~ James Thurber