Agility photos

Kevin Devine Photography

I buy a lot of agility photographs. Those of you that do agility will understand this... we put a lot of time, effort and money into a 26 second or 42 second run. And while we are at it, our mind is on "don't forget the course" "will I have time for that front cross?" "oh crap, I'm not in the right place" etc. etc. and we never find the time to admire our beautiful dogs. Without the videos and the photography, we might never know what our dogs look like on the course.

Normally I buy a lot of action shots, jumping over bars, streaking out of tunnels. And rarely are these shots in sharp focus. I can't really blame the photographer; agility facilities are usually not lit well, and Maggie's speed can be up as high as 5 yards per second, so it takes some pretty sophisticated lenses to even get a shot. This is one of the few shots I have of her being still, and I just love it. First, it is tack-sharp focus... you can see individual hairs. It shows her nice muscles and shiny coat. But most of all, I love the anticipation on her face... she looks pretty relaxed, but you can see in her face that she is waiting for the end of the 5 second count when she can leave the pause table and head to the next obstacle to jump, climb, and tunnel her way to the end.

I know how much she loves to "go" and how much she hates the "sit and wait" so to see her so patiently waiting when I know that every muscle tensing for that command, makes me realize what self-control she has. And it makes me realize again, what a special dog she is and how lucky I am to have her.