I've just looked up exactly what pivotal means and it is 'of crucial importance in relation to the development or success of something else' and that is exactly how I felt yesterday. Again, the weather was unbelievable for mid October - windy but warm and sunny - Julie and I met early and walked our dogs on Figham Common, and as usual they found the muddiest spots. We got to Ruth's at Wagtails, set up the agility field and took our classes - which again were exciting with so many dogs and handlers working hard and showing lots of promise - even in these very early stages. Then we trained our own dogs and what a difference a few weeks of regular training is already making. We spend a long time during the week planning the afternoon so we don't have to move any equipment once it's set up, and the tiny sequences that we use for the foundation classes can be joined together to make larger courses for the more experienced dogs. We ran two different short courses with each dog, and the total training time is probably less then one minute with each dog- but, boy, do we put everything we have into that minute! I'm feeling calmer and quieter and able to get into places easier. Both my boys felt like a dream to run and Julie's all seemed to have gone up a gear, speed and enthusiasm-wise! And then the pivotal moment! Ruth is kindly letting us use more of her land for agility and had the grass cut this week so, as the sun was setting, Ruth, Julie and I were in the new field raking the loose grass up and playing with the dogs - which seemed to involve which dog could balance in the wheelbarrow and do the silliest tricks (the award went to Stan the oldest at age 14 by the way) and I looked round at the gorgeous sky and knew it was a point where in the future we would look back and say 'can you remember that day......?' |
1 Comment
Leave a Reply. |
Authors
Ann Jones Categories
All
Archives
February 2019
|