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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 !