Repentance Repercussions

One week until our next trial.  I always say I can’t wait then get there and realize that this is it, my stomach is turning loops and why-oh-why didn’t I wait?  It passes, if nothing else I buy some Reece’s Cups, get a sugar high, and move on.  (Always works, trust me.)

This trial is in the sauna that is normally a soccer center in Louisville.  It is not air conditioned but it is “climate controlled”, along the same lines as the planet Venus.  But the surface is wonderful and they offer FAST.  The opportunity to run FAST with Layla makes up for a lot of my picky, whiny issues with any location, usually.

Last June I swore off this Louisville trial.  My mind was just oozing out of the food processor that was the trial I attended before June’s edition of Derby City, and the effects were obvious on every run. It is amazing how much chaos can explode into a tight relationship just by one party being mentally in that “bad place”.  Layla and I were basically non-communicado.  We hadn’t actually had a falling out, but I tried to change our entire approach to agility and poor Layla had no clue why I would do such a thing.  At this point I don’t either (there’s that dog smarter than people deal again).

Just before these two trials, I stupidly got myself into a situation where I was slammed pretty hard by my Vet, not for improper care of my canine buddy, but because I let it out that we don’t use a start-line stay in agility.  There it is, I said it, my unforgivable sin has been admitted!  They’re lighting the grill in Hell right now (they think I’ll taste like chicken).  The unfortunate thing is that my (fmr) Vet badgered me until I caved and decided to try the “getting THE stay” process again.  This attempt ended after the next trial, when frustration set in on both of us and neither knew what the other was up to until Layla stayed, THEN ran to the nearest obstacle and was OFF.  I immediately forgot how to handle her at all and pulled her out of the ring.  It was a terrible experience.  I know the good people commit themselves to the proper stay devotion, they will spend anything and everything in time and money to get “the stay”, it’s probably more important than enjoying agility or taking pleasure in training your dog either one.  It might be more important than replacing bald tires before hauling off to Murfreesboro.  More important than a clean run, said one friend, with whom agility is no longer discussed by ME.  And far more disgraceful than the minor sin of running contacts, which aren’t a bit more errant than a traffic ticket, now that Susan Garret will teach you the skill for like a gazillion bucks.

I was so NUTS from all this by the time we hit the city limits of Louisville, that I had no confidence, lots of fear, with a big helping of "I am USELESS".  Layla would be thinking agility and I would be thinking "we couldn't we learn THE STAY!"

I’m not putting us through that again.  It took forever for Layla to even calm down enough to learn in class when we started.  She had a fear of most of the obstacles but not of running around like she needed a doggie strait-jacket.  Her mind was everywhere and nowhere, our teacher had patience, while I had no clue.  Really, only I and folks close to me in classes and practice know how hard I’ve worked; and they’ve tolerated my low agility-IQ. I have no excuses for my aberrant start-line behavior but I will say that I don’t make enough money to spend it on ensuring that agility is as miserable as possible for me and my dog for the lengthy time (if ever) that it would take to become a saint.  Maybe we won’t work out at this hobby, but maybe we will.  “Not ideal, but there’s work abounds” is a great quote one very skilled handler told me.  I’ll take that and see what mischief we can find on every course at every trial!  I don't even like the word anymore, but we'll HAVE FUN! (gag)

My mind is not puree right now, and training is a blast.  So who knows?  Maybe Louisville will be good to us (or us it).  Here’s a salute to the Derby City and the August, AKC agility sweat-lodge; if nothing else I might walk out thinner after three days.  And by God, we will have run FAST!