Play. I’m not so good at playing. I’m a doer. It’s something I’m working on especially as I ease into ‘retirement’ the If You’re Not in the Obit Eat Breakfast style. Learning to be, not do. It seems there’s a correlation between play and be…although perhaps I’m thinking too much.
Some time ago my sister Lori commented that as children we weren’t allowed to play until all our work was done. Flylady says we hate to clean because as children we had to clean our rooms (perfectly) before we were allowed to play on weekends. There is merit to these observations.
In the past I have coveted the tools other agility handlers have in their toolbox. Tugging. Toy drive. Chasing a ball. Even their food treats. Lots of other dogs think kibble is a super fun treat. Ha! Not my dogs! I pack the Super Duper Treats – Doggie Crack, Meat-de-jour Brownies, chicken sausages, chicken bites, liver bites. That would be real liver cut into tiny pieces, not liver bites purchased off the shelf.
Something my agility teacher Lori said a while back popped into my mind. “But your dogs play with you.” …which means, when I think about it, my dogs always have their biggest reward on hand while we run. 🙂
Yesterday Kathi shared: Interesting! On my memories today up popped videos of Merry’s first run and Autumn’s first run. . .both at adams county fairgrounds. Both girls were happy and running. What in the hell did I do to make em not like agility. .. okay, Merry is older and has had shoulder ouchies. . .and Autumn was dieing and I didn’t know it. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make me keep this fun for Lindy, Arnold and Rita. . . or else I should find something else to do. Kinda breaks my heart 
We had a long soul-searching discussion. Video has been so helpful to me. Sure, it’s great when it all comes together and the run looks effortless. But that’s not the reality of agility training. I remember when I switched up Schoolwork to ‘complete the run’, appropriate at that time since I was always stopping when I made an error. It’s a kick in the pants to finish a run and, over time, that became my criteria – subconscious or not – for success. Just recently I added ‘Plan to train your dog’ to Schoolwork, shifting the focus back to actual training rather than running.
Play! Denise Fenzi wrote the book. Kathi gave me the book. It’s time to reread the book! The dogs ‘get it’ when we readily communicate what we’re doing next on the agility course. An elaborate game of chase, there are so many moving – literally and physically – parts to running a course together. The snag comes in our ability to communicate that without getting frustrated with ourselves or the dog when there’s miscommunication. I wholeheartedly believe that’s where the breakdown begins and (most) dogs start to think the game isn’t all that fun.
So here I am…learning to play. Play with each individual dog. Play with photography. Play in my garden. Play with my needle and thread. Play with videography. It’s a paradigm shift to go from ‘doing’ these things to ‘being’ in the moment with these things. A concept to play with, for sure.
