Great write up

I just wanted to share this well writen article. I know it is written in regards to Agility, but I think it applies to all dog sports.


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.


Stephanie Morris

Yeah I love being able to go out and work and play with my dogs more than competions. I lost my dog snowball this year and I drive truck. I thought my dog was fine maybe starting to get old but I thought I still had years with her. When I left the house for the week I didn't have the least worry that she was going to die. The next nite she had a seizure and died in minutes. I will never forget the times we had back packing (even when I had to put her in my back pack and carry her because she was to tired)and all the nights she kept me company on the couch. The only fault a dog has is that they die to soon.