I spent part of my afternoon, reading through the blogs involved in the Dog Agility Blog Action Day and to say it gave me some "food for thought" is an understatement. To read some of the posts for yourself click here.
Reading other people's take on the subject of "Improving Agility Organizations" specifically those that compete at the highest levels of Agility, makes me feel any attempt at writing my own post on the subject is as though I am pitching against the likes of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Jackie Robinson. To put it simply; it's intimidating as hell.
Good thing I love baseball, otherwise I don't think I'd go through with actually publishing this post. Or maybe, just maybe I have enough courage (or heck, maybe I'm just stupid enough) to step up to the occasion of playing in the "bigs" with such a stellar group?
Initially I was going to post a bit about my own personal feelings towards rule changes that I think would be influential in each organization that I currently compete (AKC, USDAA and UKI) but quite frankly other dog bloggers have written (probably better than I ever aspire to) thought provoking articles that sum up my feelings towards any possible changes.
Instead, I have chosen to write about the "Improvement" part and pretty much leave the individual organizations out of the picture. I hope too anyway.
Where to start? Well, what exactly is improvement?
Improve: [im-proov] verb. Definition: To make or become better.
I will say, that improvement is the single most important goal I have for myself at this point in my Agility career. Not a MACH, not an ADCH, not even winning a highly competitive class at a national event. My goal is to simply improve. Myself, my handling, my dog's understanding. Without improving, there is no progress. Without progress where does that leave me? Standing still and in the exact same spot I was previously.
There was a time when a MACH and an ADCH were what I gauged my success upon with my dogs in the Agility ring. Once I attained both, my desire to repeat that specific goal waned and I began a mundane cycle of simply running courses for the "fun" of it. That cycle of monotonous mediocrecy continued for quite some time, until one day the realization that I had simply become mediocre dawned upon me.
That realization made me almost want to puke.
If that statement was a bit of a shocker for you, I'll be the first to admit I am a competitive individual. I always have been. I have never been comfortable with second best nor do I feel that I should apologize for that facet of my personality.
It has helped lead me towards bettering myself in Agility, if not for my sake but for my dogs. I like to think that if they could they WOULD thank me for it! My desire to improve has lead me to countless seminars and online courses as well as purchasing an unheard number of books and DVDs. All in the name of improvement.
Although it is a relatively new concept to me (and I've been competing in Agility for nearly a decade now...) the idea of having my voice heard is one that I have had to work towards gradually. Gradually? Yes, gradually. Simply because, it has been a long standing "rule" (at least it has always felt that way to me) to accept what Agility Organizations throw at competitors and say absolutely nothing about it. Unless, one is behind closed doors or whispering about it fleetingly to others when judges/reps/trail committee members are nowhere in sight.
Maybe I'm totally off my rocker (and so what if I am...)?
Maybe I'm not?
All I know, is that with all of the improving that I have done for my dogs and the sport of Agility, I find it somewhat surreal that we the competitors are so unwilling to make our voices heard. Mind you, I'm not saying ALL but I am saying a large percentage of the masses...
When did we hand the Agility Organizations (in this case we could refer to them as "The Man") all of the power? Is it not OUR money that funds the local, regional and even national events? Now, I'm not trying to start a full scale riot here (even though I'm sure everyone has enough rebel in them we could start one if we so desired.) but I do hope that more and more people realize that their voices do have a right to be heard.
Social media (cough, cough, Facebook) is such a strong source for change, that I often wonder how it hasn't already evoked said change? For the past few years, I have noticed that more and more of my FB friends are Agility people and less and less are not. At times I find this humorous and at others, it makes me a bit worried...
Where am I going with this you ask?
Well, I have met some pretty fabulous people simply from having a mutual friend-of-a-friend on FB. A select few of those people have quietly gained my respect for openly being their dog's champions. Two such people come to mind and although others may not agree with them and their decisions, just from their posts I can tell their dog's best interest is always their first priority. Be it, poor running conditions, equipment not meeting set guidelines, newly instated rule changes, course designs etc... their dog's well being always, ALWAYS comes first.
How can a simple FB post change anything? That's easy, it can change EVERYthing. If just one person reads a post and it evokes action in them, it has the power to change anything they wish.
Take the "Internationalization" of Agility in the United States. I remember when a select few people started talking about approaches to backsides of jumps, when it was simply a figment of their imagination at least on US soil. Those select few not only made their voices heard, they were the ones that began the first ripple in the very large Agility "pool" that started the new wave of European style approaches in the US.
For the rebels out their, why not stick it to "The Man"? Take the time to make your voice be heard via FB, emails, surveys, or even typing up a blog post for a Dog Agility Blog Action Day? This is your time, this is your money, this is your sport. Be your dog's champion. They'll love you (even more) for it!
Improvement.
It may be an incredibly simple aspiration, yet that is my hope for Agility.
"Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change: this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress."
~ Bruce Barton
