#NakedNovember

Changing the Agility Culture one Post at a Time

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So, I’ve been thinking…..

Maybe its the time off from teaching, maybe its getting to see my students go out and start competing, maybe its because of my own burn-out at the end of the Summer, or more likely all of these things combined. Anyways, I’ve been thinking about the images we portray of Agility to both outsiders and insiders. I’ve been thinking about all those Facebook brags; the requisite post-weekend ribbon photo, the selective cropping and editing of videos and training sessions, that “Just One F*ing Thing” post (#JOFT). My Facebook feed is filled with Agility successes, failures, and inevitably each day, I encounter someone who is considering quitting the sport. Now don’t get me wrong, my Facebook feed is also selectively curated for maximal puppy cuddles and sarcastic wine jokes.

But it’s those people who are thinking about quitting that I’ve really been thinking about. This sport has given me so much: sheer joy, a new passion, new friends, and dare I say a new obsession. The thought of someone wanting to quit breaks my heart. It leads me to wonder about what they must be feeling, and having known some of these people first hand, I’m able to get a fairly good appreciation for how the love was lost. Essentially, I think it all comes down to the picture we put out there of ourselves and our Agility journeys. We all pay lip service to the “don’t believe everything you see on the Internet” thought, and theoretically we know people only put their best foot forward on social media. But when it comes right down to it, if you see person after person on this podium, or winning that ribbon, or having successful repetition after successful repetition, and you’re over here just trying to stay on the struggle bus, let alone ride it, it can be downright demoralizing.

The reality is, we all struggle. Every. Single. One. Of. Us. But I’m not really sure that sank in for me until I progressed far enough in this sport to be brought into the inner councils of trainers and handlers that I look up to. Why do we hide away our challenges and struggles? Especially from our students? I know I am responsible for doing this. Maybe they’ll think I’m a fraud, or they’ll realize I don’t have all the answers. Maybe they’ll wonder “If she can’t even teach her dog to do that, why would I pay her to train me?”. And sure, there’s definitely some ego wrapped up in there, I know I’d rather just remember the podiums and ignore the alphabet soup days.

But look what it’s doing to our friends, to our students, and to our sport. When people feel overwhelmed and attacked every day because their dog isn’t as perfect as the 100 imaginary Facebook dogs on their newsfeeds they turn to judgement and are quicker to criticize than to build one another up.

So I’ve been thinking a lot about what kind of trainer, friend, and competitor I want to be in this sport. And I want to change the message that I’m putting out there. My life is a challenge, especially now with my new house and longer commute and lack of yard. Sometimes I train my dogs, but more often I run them out for a quick leash walk before heading out the door for several days at a time. Sometimes my training sessions are great, mostly they’re mediocre, and occasionally they’re abysmal. Sometimes my dogs can stay and pose beautifully for pictures, most of the time Rue is eating garbage off the street while Riley runs away from his leash, Fin pees on one of the other dogs, and Casey plants her feet and begs to go home so she can snuggle with Pete.

My life is far from Instagram perfection, and I’m going to change the picture you see. For the month of November, I’m going to post raw, unedited videos of life with my dogs. These might be from training sessions, or from Agility runs, or from random hangouts around the house. You’re going to see the good, the bad, and the downright weird. But my commitment to you is that for that month, my video posts will be an accurate representation of my doggy life. If you’d like to join me, use #NakedNovember and tag me in your unedited videos. Feel free to post every day, or only once. You do you. My only ask is that we all check our judgements at the door on these videos. We’ll never change our culture if we continue to reinforce the status quo.