- Joined
- Oct 22, 2005
Not only am I an adult skater, but I also "play" at agility competition with my dog. It's fun and great as a way to relieve stress and work on competition nerves (since you never know when your dog is going to goof off, it makes it easier to relax ). I play in a venue called NADAC which is very low key - everyone cheers everyone on and a great run is a great run whether you did it or someone else did it. All successes are treated as a major deal by the respected players (ie, the handlers I admire and look up to as amazing handlers are just plain nice people) whether it's the first time you get your dog to stay with you on the course (even if you don't beat the course clock or you have some other kind of course fault or you take him/her only through the last couple obstacles) or you just won Championships. This coming weekend, it is VERY likely that my rescue dog that came to us frightened of everything is going to earn his NADAC Trial Championship!
When we first started classes, he was like velcro - didn't want to be more than a few inches from me when doing stuff in class. We finally got over that and we started trialing about a year after starting classes (when he was 3). That first season, I spent more time chasing him in the woods and doing recalls than any real agility in the ring. I think we trialed about 20 days total and we got 3 total qualifying runs (clean within the standard course time). It was really frustrating. The second year, we had some issues, but started making progress. Last year we made tons of progress and since January of this year, we have made amazing progress and now need one final qualifying run for our first Championship. The amazing thing is, while I literally played agility with my other dog (who runs with my husband usually) before we started working with our current trainer (we used to do agility at a PetSmart with our older dog when she was young), my boy is my first agility team mate (well, he's 1.5 if you count my older dog). I am just so excited that something I didn't think could happen is going to!
When we first started classes, he was like velcro - didn't want to be more than a few inches from me when doing stuff in class. We finally got over that and we started trialing about a year after starting classes (when he was 3). That first season, I spent more time chasing him in the woods and doing recalls than any real agility in the ring. I think we trialed about 20 days total and we got 3 total qualifying runs (clean within the standard course time). It was really frustrating. The second year, we had some issues, but started making progress. Last year we made tons of progress and since January of this year, we have made amazing progress and now need one final qualifying run for our first Championship. The amazing thing is, while I literally played agility with my other dog (who runs with my husband usually) before we started working with our current trainer (we used to do agility at a PetSmart with our older dog when she was young), my boy is my first agility team mate (well, he's 1.5 if you count my older dog). I am just so excited that something I didn't think could happen is going to!