Before I brought Spire home I was entertaining the idea of doing one of those “puppy diary” things that’s so popular in the agility world. Now I laugh at the thought. First because it’s about all I can do to keep up with Spire herself alongside the needs of 7-yr-old Zi and 14-yr-old Riley. (Whoever said raising a puppy around older dogs is easier did not have this puppy, ha ha!) Second because if there’s anything Spire is making abundantly clear to me it’s that rules don’t exist and puppies don’t follow a manual.
Every day I remind myself not to let any one idea of what she can or can’t do become too set in my mind, because she changes so much and so fast. There is no possible way being attached to a set of linear instructions would serve us. There is no possible way squishing her into another puppy’s timeline would help.
What DOES help is a firm grasp of fundamental concepts we’re working towards and a clear vision of the picture I’m trying to create, within which I can make well-educated guesses about what to do with her each day. What does help is a bunch of resources loosely held — a variety of online classes in my “archive” from which I can draw ideas for ways to do things and things to do without getting too attached to any one process. What does help is access to a few trusted experts whose values align with mine to periodically check my work.
So basically, it’s complicated. It’s a bit fuzzy and it requires feel. It demands presence and artfulness and a whole lot of nuance. And I don’t think I would love it nearly as much if it didn’t.
This is the ART of agility, after all. And as with all art, the deeper you’re willing to dive the more powerfully you can create.
