My dog Bella competes in Agility. For those of you who don’t know, Agility is a sport where you and your dog navigate an obstacle course, the goal being to complete the course with speed and precision. Bella is a Shih Tzu, which does not exactly put her at the top of the list for either of these criteria. However, she really loves it and actually does quite well to boot. We started taking her to agility training classes about two years ago and it was an immediate hit for Bella. My husband and I told ourselves that as long as she was having fun we would continue with classes and eventually start competing in the sport.
So, fast forward to early October, Bella was finally ready to compete in her first agility trial. My husband was going to be running the course with her and although we felt prepared we were both definitely nervous. We kept reminding ourselves the purpose was to have fun and bond with Bella and the results or competition aspect was secondary. With our great mindset in place and our expectations in check we set off for our first competition. We were so thrilled that weekend when Bella had two perfect runs! We continued to compete in upcoming trials over the next several weeks. Everything was going wonderfully and she was completing the course without errors and having fun. Then something started to change…
The more things went perfectly, the more my husband and I started to think about keeping the “winning streak” going. We started to think about the progress we were making and the competition goals. Our focus shifted from “let’s have fun” to “let’s get it right”. As I am sure you have experienced in your life, trying to “get something right” is the opposite of feeling free and having fun. We changed and Bella felt it. She started to slow down in her runs and became less connected with Jeff in the ring. She didn’t come when he called her and she was distracted from the task altogether.
Bella was responding to the shift in energy and letting us both know exactly what she thought about it. She wasn’t interested in the heavy, anxious, and demanding energy of wanting to “get it right”. All she wanted to do was play and have fun with dad. Most importantly she wanted him to have fun and be light-hearted. Something that is not exactly my husband’s strong suit. By Bella sending us such a clear signal with her behavior, we were both able to take an honest look at what we were doing. We saw how quickly we got sidetracked from our original goal and intention, which was to focus on fun!
I am happy to report that Bella ended 2018 with multiple agility titles and is now competing in the Master Agility Class, but that is not what we are most proud of. We are most proud of the fact that her journey and our journey along the way was perfectly imperfect. There were mistakes, failures and mishaps along the way. And, as is often true, we learned more from each of the failures then we did from all of the wins combined. It was another wonderful reminder of how each and every day, in the smallest and largest of circumstances, our animals are always communicating with us to demonstrate just what we need to know to help us live our best lives.
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