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What are your expectations for this event?
In my mind, my“ ideal” of what I’ d like the WAO-2013 to be for Argentina, I expect( above all) for everyone to have lots of fun. And, don’ t get me wrong, we do have competitive teams with international experience here and I’ d love to see us win, but it is important to never forget the fun factor, to always keep in mind that each moment we get to spend with our dogs and friends is unique, precious and will not happen again, at least not under the same circunstances. I’ d love to see my team mates smiling and celebrating each course regardless the result. Come to think of it, I am competing with an Australian Shepherd against so many spectacular Border Collies and amazing, World-Class Handlers! Where would I be if I were only thinking about winning a first place..? Probably not in Madrid if my only goal was to win, I can tell you as much. So my expectations there is FUN, and give our best. If we can manage those two, I believe we’ d already won. The rest, ribbons, rewards, rossettes, are extras.
Tell us a little of your debut in agility... How did you get involved with Agility?
Oh my..! Well, my first competition was on July 2007 with Shadow, it was raining heavily and I was freezing. I was so very nervous, but we managed to finish our very first course with only one fault( up-contact of the dogwalk, since he had a huge stride). He didn’ t have a strong foundation on anything, there was no youtube or the likes to look for information either back then, so he was sort of my‘ trial dog’, and I made lots of mistakes without knowing so with him. For a Dobie, he was really fast, so I had to retrain his contacts and jumps not too long after we started competing. It was quite a rich learning process with him, learning all the things NOT TO DO, how to correct them, even if it meant disqualifying us in an otherwise good run.
As for how I got involved.. Well, when I was little, I got up really early on weekends to watch AKC’ s competitions on Discovery Channel, I watched them for a long time, believeing there was no agility in our country. Years later, my parents gave me this suprise present, a dobie pup, who was TOO full of energy for his own sake, so I started looking for extra activities for us-I was finishing high school thenbecause even a 3 hour run did not satisfy him, and that’ s when I found out that Agility existed in our country( even if it’ s not as massive as in other countries) and how we ended up signing up for classes.
From that point to these days, I can simply say it was“ meant to be”. Agility has allowed me to stay fit, get to know people and places I never thought I would otherwise visit, it made me laugh, cry, learn the true meanings of patience, love and resilience. I took so many seminars I lost count, not only agility related, as I’ m also a certified Dog Trainer from the Vet Council in the University of Buenos Aires now, have taken seminars of Freestyle and Disc-Dogging too, so these days, whenever there’ s a chance to learn something new and I can access to it, I will!