Where We Belong

Man, oh man. Rather than make it all suspenseful and drag on the story forever (kind of like I did after our very first trial in November), let me just cut to it.

Today could not really have gone much better. Our first taste of AKC agility - our first runs under its newly instituted Canine Partners program - was deliciously sweet.

As I hope will be the case several more times this year, I woke up at the crack of dawn and geared up for a long day out at the park. Louie (thanks so much for everything) was at my house before 6 AM, and we were at the trial site before 7. After what looked like some intial nerves to me, Marge settled down and trotted around in the dew-soaked grass. My feet were completely immersed in water within minutes of getting there.

She was measured by the AKC field representative, who was extremely nice and patient with Marge, who was somewhat afraid of his hatted, sunglassed, and tall self. She measured 20.5", putting her well within the 20-inch jump height range.

Then, the wait began. My good friend from the club offered to let us stay in her tent, since Louie, Marge and I are still basically trial nomads (think I'm going to invest in a tent later this year). This turned out to be really good for Marge, who was able to settle in her crate repeatedly for long periods of time, even while I left her with Louie to go walk the courses.

Novice Jumpers with Weaves was the second class to run in the first ring, following a smallish Open class. I have the course map in a folder somewhere, but haven't uploaded it yet.

All of a sudden, I found myself back in the ring with Marge. It feels like it's been an eternity since we competed, and, in many ways, still felt like it was our first time out (it kind of was).

We ran really well on this course. I knew the opening would cause us trouble, and it did. I know exactly what I did wrong. But, I didn't fret about it then and I'm not fretting about it now. Why? Because Marge came out of this run with a big grin on her face and her tail swooping back and forth. One silly off-course kept us from a qualifying score, but nothing - nothing - could stop our happiness.

Then, more waiting began. We walked around a lot, hung around the crate a lot, mingled with friends from both near and far. Though there were a couple of things that took getting used to (like the sudden voice coming over the loud speaker), Marge ultimately took everything in stride. This may not be the usual indicator of a dog's comfort, but she even pooped in public. On leash. She hasn't done that in nearly a year. Don't worry, no photos of that.

After at least two or three hours, I was back in the ring again, walking the Novice Standard course. I do have the map of this one uploaded to my computer. I could already tell from the map that this flowy course was one that Marge and I would enjoy immensely.

And, we did. You'd better pinch me, because I might be dreaming, but Marge QUALIFIED in this class with a CLEAN RUN. It was close on the teeter (because she thought it was the dog walk and barreled over it quickly), but the rest was flawless. Really and truly flawless.

We were a few tenths of a second out of first place. We went and got our second place rosette.

Our future trials won't be perfect, and many won't be as good as this one, but I think this was just about the best start we could have gotten off to.

While talking to a friend, he said to me that he knows that "it is not easy," referring to our shared experiences of working with fearful dogs. I told him that no, it was not easy.. but that this makes her come alive. And, then I thought to myself, that this is why I do it. This is what makes it all worth it.

I'm so happy I could cry. Not because of the agility - but because my dog spent nine hours at a park today, surrounded by hundreds of strangers, and actually enjoyed herself. Because my dog slept in a crate. Because she tried to play with other dogs (and only grumbled at one). And because of the image that will be for ever embedded in my mind of Marge clearing the final jump and spinning around to look at me with an expression on her face that seemed to say, this is where I belong.