Life is all about decisions...

It's true. Life is all about decisions we have to make every day of our lives. There are easy ones and difficult ones, but it is never just that black and white. I've had to make some decisions lately that have left me questioning myself and the validity of those decisions. One of them is ending the boys' AKC agility careers when that is the most prominent venue in the area. I have to travel to do anything else. I didn't realize just how much I would miss trial weekends until I haven't gotten to do very many. In truth, it is a financial decision as much as anything else. I can no longer afford to trial every weekend and since I must travel for USDAA and CPE, something had to give.

Decisions are in every part of our life. From what to have for breakfast each day, to how much money to put away for a rainy day. Another of my decisions has been to wait to have a puppy out of Seeker. My house is in balance now and adding a puppy with having 2 senior dogs with medical issues that don't have a tolerance for puppies is just a bad idea. But it doesn't stop me from continuing my search for the right bitch to either buy or lease to breed him to for my eventual pick.

 

Seeker is an exceptional example of the breed, in my opinion. He has everything I want in a working bred Border Collie. Yes, I am rather biased, but having lived with this dog for over 6 years, and after seeing his puppies born and grow, I have every reason in the world to be enamored of him. He is exactly what I want and SOMEDAY, I will have a son from him to carry on his wonderful legacy. So I wait until the time is right. Patience is not one of my strengths. I am not the only one that needs patience as I have a waiting list of people wanting one of Seeker's puppies. We all have to be patient. It isn't easy.

 

Decisions are never easy when they are really about something you want, but it is a necessary part of our lives. Until the right time comes, it is back to my existing life and making all those day to day decisions necessary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Switching gears...

It has been quite awhile since I did any formal obedience with the boys. I recently decided to enter them in an obedience and rally trial weekend held locally. Seeker had LOTS of obedience training when he was younger. Then we delved into the wonderful world of agility. The last time he did any rally was at the 2009 BCSA Nationals where he finished his Rally Novice (RN) title. Piper got to do rally over 2 years ago with a friend as I had been injured the day before the trial. He managed to squeak through for RAE leg #3 with her. So, it has been a long time for them both.

I entered them both in the rally trial on Friday and only Seeker in obedience the entire 3 days. Piper earned RAE leg #4 with respectable scores of 95 in Excellent B and 94 in Advanced B. Seeker surprised the heck out of me and won the Advanced A class with a 98! Whoa!!

Putting Seeker into the obedience ring in Novice B was a trial by fire. I had no idea if he would remember the training I did with him when he was younger. Never fear, he did. His scores were okay, not placement worthy, but for a dog I hadn't really trained in several years, I was pleased. Seeker is a character. His personality shines through no matter what he does. Being in the obedience ring was no different than any other activity we do. His personality jumps at you and his enthusiasm is infectious. I truly love this dog. He reminds me of our late, great Kastle... He too was a shining star even when our performance was less than stellar.

He missed some sits, lost focus from time to time, raced me on the fast and bounced me on the recall, but it didn't matter. Seeker had fun and that was all that mattered. It is interesting how much I have grown and changed as a trainer in the 25 years I have had Border Collies. With Kastle and Duncan, I was all about perfection. Questing for that perfect score of 200 was my primary goal. This weekend, I was more concerned that the boys had fun and the scores didn't really matter. Ribbons are nice, but green is a just as pretty a color as blue, red, gold or white. It is still about the journey and not the destination...

 

MACH ADCH ATCH Applegarth's Quest For The Grail CD, RN, PT, CGC, MXB, MJB, MXF,  TDInc, and then some...  "Seeker"