This weekend marks one full year of showing and competing with Bolt.
Really? Really.
In some ways, I feel like the time has (to be cliche) flown by- in the blink of an eye. At the same time though, I feel like he and I have been a team for so much longer. I'm lucky with that, and I know it. Bolt is a deep soul. He is goofy, he is funny, he smiles (a lot, if you hadn't noticed). He has the best energy about him than any dog I have ever been lucky enough to live with or spend any real amount of time with. Never mind train, compete and share awesome adventures with. He has incredibly intelligent eyes. He's sensitive. He knows when I'm upset. He knows when I need to laugh & when I need to cry. I can't help but be totally in love with him. I have my heart dog-- a thought that is both incredible and terrifying.
Incredible is the obvious. Terrifying is harder to explain.
My greatest fear about getting a puppy was that I would not do justice to the him. That we might not be compatible. That I might face some of the issues I've had to work through with other dogs. What if I couldn't work through them? What if I made a mistake? What if things don't work out? I do a lot of worrying, if you couldn't tell. I had wonderful guidance when the time came to get my next puppy. Everything felt "right" about it. I had no reservations. No panic attacks came. The fears I had didn't disappear, but they quieted down. A lot.
I think this has been one of the most valuable years in terms of experience I've had in agility, probably life in general too. I still have fears-- it would be unhealthy without them. But I can honestly say that more than anything esle I'm really excited for everything coming our way. I made this blog as an attempt to follow some of our adventures. This first year has been incredibly exciting, and I'd like to think that we have many, many, many more to follow.
We have many more mountains to climb, beaches to run, places to see, dinosaurs to find, friends to meet, cities (countries?) to explore & agility to play, of course.
This life is beautiful.
This past weekend left me with a lot to think about. Bolt earned QQ#4 and Q#20 towards AKC Nationals 2014! We're still missing about 40 points, but a couple single qualifying scores will cover that & especially since we have until the end of November I'm confident that is achievable.
So...We're going to Harrisburg!
This has been my goal since learning the nationals would be held in Pennsylvania and (finally!) be close enough to drive to. I didn't entirely expect it to happen, though. I considered all of the factors going into the time frame for the qualification period. He began showing at the end of September 2012, and had made into the Masters level for both Standard and Jumpers by the middle of December. Even still, my previous experience with trying to qualify for the nationals proved to be a difficult endevour, even for a more seasoned team-- something we're not yet. When I was competing heavily with Nike several years ago we struggled to get the qualifying scores done and it took several years for us to get there. I was incredibly thrilled to go when we did, and was very pleased with our results. I understand though that I'm a different handler, and trainer with a different dog than I had in 2009-2010, so comparing the two results is not fair. Even still, I took this into account and didn't want to set myself up for dissapointment if we weren't able to make it.
Bolt & his buddy SirPrize
At the end of the weekend we had the scores I was most fixated on, the ones I thought might be more of a struggle. I'm incredibly thrilled that my two year old-- my baby!-- has come as far as he has. But what this weekend started me thinking on was what my next goal should be. Not in terms of competitions, titles, etc., but what else we could work on. I think ring criteria will definitely be what we focus on in the coming months when Harrisburg & World Team Tryouts begin to creep a little closer on the calendar (March/May 2014...I plan ahead, ok?). I'm really pleased with what I get from my young dog in the ring. I think in a lot of ways he is mature beyond his years, which is why when he sometimes does something a young dog will do I scratch my head and think, what was that? He's spoiled me in a lot of ways, but I'm making a conscious effort to take the pressure off of him. To treat every run like practice becasue, essentially, that's what these coming shows are for. To practice the skills we work on at home in a different environment in preparation for the bigger events. Let's hope I can keep this mindset ;)
I'm happy to say that our contacts have really become solid in the show ring in the past month or so. He's performing his criteria perfectly (something I could seriously dance around the room like an idiot over.. omg, contacts that work? They DO exist!!!)
The last piece is our start lines. I'm definitely going to work to make those rock solid too. As Paulette would say (and I'm sure she is saying) "make it black and white, there is no in between." You got it, girl ;)
So here's to the coming months & beginning our preparation for Nationals & Tryouts. To maintaining & sticking with our criteria. To keeping our dogs healthy & sound. To keeping our minds & bodies strong. To taking the time to enjoy this journey & all of the inevitable ups and downs that come with it. To, above all else, thank our teammates every day for all they do for us.
Thanks Bolt :)
Our QQ#4 runs:
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Also, on a different yet still exciting note, I've started back into photography! I'm still looking to sell my current dSLR (hint, hint: someone please buy it) to upgrade, but in the meantime I'm happy to be back playing with photos. Looking forward to getting back into it & maybe finding a class at some point to learn more. If you're bored please check out my page here (don't judge the name, I was 13 when this thing was made, ok?) where most of my photos live.www.x0megster0x.deviantart.com
My last year of grad school at Emerson starts Thursday. Bittersweet. Better get going on that novel...
