Thanks to all of you for your candid comments when owning up to being shaped by your dog.  Loads of funny stories that is for certain. Hopefully you will also consider how to make changes to your daily routine to prevent future issues with your clever dogs . . . but maybe not!

 

Today the best of the best (well, the best of the purebred best) are gathered in Austria for the FCI World championships. There are a lot of very impressive teams here.  I think we Canadians have one of our strongest teams ever, however it may also one of our youngest, so anything can happen!  

 

If you want to follow along the Canadian team’s journey my teammate and room mate in Austria, Tiffany Salmons is writing a World Championship blog. You can find it at http://blog.tntbordercollies.com

Canadian World Team 2009

Canadian World Team 2009

 

Thanks to everyone who have sent your well wishes to both myself and my teammates. Inspiration comes from all places. Preparing to make it to an event such as this one may appear too daunting for some people to even consider. I would like to encourage any of you that owns a fit and fast dog to not ever put yourself out of consideration.  Just preparing for the experience would be worth while. 

 

When people tell me they don’t believe they are good candidates  for a world team it reminds me of a great quote by the late Randy Pausch who said;

 

“Brick walls are there to stop people that don’t want “it” badly enough.” 


In other words brick walls serve to separate those that are serious about their goals and those who have a passing interest or vague dream.  The stumbling blocks are put out there for all of us. Some people trip momentarily but quickly dust themselves off and keep moving forward. Others will be tripped up but will choose to stay down in a heap deciding they don’t have the right stuff to play at that level.  That really is the only difference between a back yard enthusiast and a world champion.

 

 

For those of you that have never watch profession Pausch’s last lecture, it is well worth the hour or so it will take you to get through it. I was sent this for video for the first time about a year ago, yet I took the time to watch the entire lecture once more when it was sent to me recently. That is how powerful I think it is. Over 10 million people have watched it to date.  Well worth your time and a great message of keeping things in perspective as we head into our big weekend in Austria.

 

Today as Encore and I  head into our first runs of the Championships today, I find myself once again thinking of USA world team competitor Geri Hernandez who lost her great young dog Focus last week. I am so grateful to have been selected to this talented team of Canadians. I am so grateful to own an agility dog as talented as Encore. But Geri’s terrible loss makes helps to put this game in perspective and so today I am just grateful for the dogs in my life. Although pretty much a stranger to me outside of the agility world, I will say another pray for Geri today as she starts on her own journey of recovery.