I
have found people often express surprise that out of the five or six
dogs in our van only a couple actually compete - what are they all for,
if they do not all compete? After all, if our hobby is agility, surely
we only need agility dogs?
If we didn't have so many non-agility passengers we wouldn't need a van, we could drive a normal car like normal people. But is it really the agility that is the reason we have six dogs? Are we, in fact, normal?
None of our dogs are acquired just for agility. I walk, feed, brush, talk to, stroke, laugh at, play with all of my dogs multiple times during the week for every tiny bit of agility I do with my "agility dogs". If I didn't like living with multiple dogs it wouldn't make any difference how much I enjoyed agility, I wouldn't have dogs I didn't want just for a few minutes of agility each week
I have also been told we should have normal holidays, that don't involve agility, or even that don't involve the dogs. Wierd idea.
Camping at a show is like a little mini-holiday with my dogs. No tv, no computer, we spend a lot of time sat around together in the caravan or garden. We also do lovely long walks in new places and meet lots of friends and their dogs - things the passengers enjoy just as much as the competing dogs.
The retired dogs are the history, teachers, happy memories, companions and comfort.
The youngsters are the future, hopes, the potential of good things to come, challenges and entertainment.
The passengers are the oldies that are retired, the injured, the youngsters in training, the puppy. They may be past agility dogs or future agility dogs, or just not suitable for agility dogs, but they are still my dogs.
If we didn't have so many non-agility passengers we wouldn't need a van, we could drive a normal car like normal people. But is it really the agility that is the reason we have six dogs? Are we, in fact, normal?
None of our dogs are acquired just for agility. I walk, feed, brush, talk to, stroke, laugh at, play with all of my dogs multiple times during the week for every tiny bit of agility I do with my "agility dogs". If I didn't like living with multiple dogs it wouldn't make any difference how much I enjoyed agility, I wouldn't have dogs I didn't want just for a few minutes of agility each week
I have also been told we should have normal holidays, that don't involve agility, or even that don't involve the dogs. Wierd idea.
Camping at a show is like a little mini-holiday with my dogs. No tv, no computer, we spend a lot of time sat around together in the caravan or garden. We also do lovely long walks in new places and meet lots of friends and their dogs - things the passengers enjoy just as much as the competing dogs.
The retired dogs are the history, teachers, happy memories, companions and comfort.
The youngsters are the future, hopes, the potential of good things to come, challenges and entertainment.
The passengers are the oldies that are retired, the injured, the youngsters in training, the puppy. They may be past agility dogs or future agility dogs, or just not suitable for agility dogs, but they are still my dogs.