Pulling Through The Tough Times

You all know how generally successful Earl and I are in competition. Well, yes, we do have amazing days, with wins, and placings, and some brilliant runs... but we also go through some really tough times, too. As much as we don't like these times, it's all part of choosing to compete. If we weren't prepared to go through these times, we wouldn't have been so sure about competing.

And Saturday's agility competition was one of those days for us. A tough day with frustrations, thoughts of failure and crushed dreams, and a general lack of confidence on my part. Earl wasn't running at his best, and it was probably because I haven't been feeling on top of my game either, recently. We were struggling to pick up speed, and were gaining time faults on some runs. One run was 0.09 seconds out (really?) and another 0.3 seconds. It was angering. And it didn't feel quite like it normally does. And although we did come 4th in our first run of the day, I knew it wasn't our best. It wasn't a bad run, but it wasn't our best. Then we dropped speed again in our middle two runs. It was really down heartening.

Luckily, on our last run of the day, where I'd had some time to calm down and rethink a little (and had some fun camera lessons with a skilled friend of mine), we did a nice agility run. He really sped up, and although we still incurred a measly and pointless 0.3 seconds time faults, we gained a placed 3rd. I could breathe a general sigh of relief. There was still hope!

And, looking back on the entire day, there ARE good points to take away from our experience. Earl had some lovely, speedy and accurate contacts, even if it did take him a while to gain jumping speed. And although we had some annoying runs, we pulled it out of the bag and got placed on our last run. He had some bouncy weaves, which were a pleasure to see. We're always learning, and growing as a competitive duo.

Earl and I always pull through.

And we won't give up, we'll keep going. We'll keep striving, dreaming, and loving what we do. Because we do. It's out thing, and we're good. We have what it takes; we've already proved ourselves. Because something always comes out of what we do, even on a day like this. I'll keep learning, and running, and going for the win. We have ups and downs; we're only human and dog. And we make a brilliant team.

We also had Ethel officially measured for competition; she's 'SMALL small', according to the measurer! Exciting times lay ahead! She's almost ready to GO GO GO!

Only one more competition of only watching for Ethel!

We're joining our hosts Snoopy's Dogblog, Alfie's Blog and My Brown Newfies in the Monday Mischief Blog Hop. We send many thanks their way, and you can join in below.