2008 - The year that was

As we roll into the last week of 2008 I find myself reminiscing about the year that was and all the training milestones that Sonic and I have achieved in his (almost) 17 month existence. The hours upon hours of training that as agility enthusiasts we pour into our wonderful fur kids. Being the fourth destined for serious competition agility dog in my household my expectations of performance levels are pretty high. I'm a big believer in if your going to do something, do it to the best of your ability. Some don't like the level that agility has gone to these days, however like all sports, many people are inspired to be their best. It's great to see people running dogs in agility for fun but I don't think that those who aspire to train for the ultimate dog and handler combination should be critisised for that. Personally I find watching these amazingly fast dogs run around an agility course breathtaking and I doubt I'll ever tire of it. Those magical moments when it looks like dog and handler are reading each others minds. I am privileged enough in Perth that we have a few of these combinations and I'll always be inspired by them. I really look forward to the day when Sonic and I are able to compete against them and pit our skills against theirs. And may the best team win!

Sonic and I have been working our backsides off on jump drills recently. Partially because I believe they are the cornerstone of skill building and partially because I want us to do well at the Greg & Laura Derrett seminar in about four weeks time! I'm a combination of excited and nervous about it being as Sonic is going to be the youngest and most inexperienced in the group that I've been put into. There may well be some things that we can't do however we'll just sit out the bits that I'm not comfortable with him doing. I have no doubt that it will be great fun though and a wonderful start to the 2009 agility year for us. The experience of Greg and Laura and the opportunity to have that imparted on us will be invaluable and I know that Sonic and I will only be the better for it.