Temptation and Obsession

When we began agility, it was just a fun hobby to take up one night a week at our local training facility. As I've mentioned before, we had no plans to compete. However, times changed and we did, and I have to say it has been a lot a fun. Not only the agility, but the really nice people that we meet at agility events. And while most of my family would already say that I'm obsessed by agility, I don't mind taking a few weeks off here and there to relax at home, clean the agility junk out of my car, etc. After 2 or 3 weekends off, though, I get anxious to get back to it. We normally take off from Thanksgiving until mid February... mostly because there are no shows locally, and it is a worry to travel during the dead of winter, often driving back in the dark on Sunday night.


But something happened this week that might change my opinion and tempt me to enter some of those Dec and Jan trials.


On the AKC website, you can see the top 5 agility dogs of any breed for free, or download the top 25, 50, or 100. About a year ago, we downloaded the top 100 and in July of this year, a friend downloaded the top 50, and we didn't make either list. I wasn't terribly surprised, because there is really tough competition in Border Collies. While Maggie is fast, we regularly compete against two or three who are even faster, so when they "Q" they normally capture the "multiplier" points- extra points given for 1st and 2nd place finishes. However, these "multiplier" points stopped earlier in the year, but I didn't think about how dramatically this would affect the rankings. Early this week I checked the AKC website to see if our good friends Kathy and Johnnie were in the top 5 Border Collies for next year's Invitational (2012). Johnnie is freakishly fast and they are a great team. They have been invited to the 2011 Invitational, so I expected to see them at or near the top-so I only pulled the "free" top 5.



However, I was STUNNED at what I saw.

My own little (Tulla) Maggie was in the top 5. At first, I thought this meant that she was in 5th place, until someone pointed out that they are alphabetical, and that you have to pay to see the actual rankings. I quickly coughed up the $4 to find out that Maggie is actually in 3rd place.

While this has clearly left me ecstatic, it has also created a dilemma. I don't think I can hold onto this while taking off two months during the winter. It has created a monster in me... how far do I want to drive in January? How much snow will there be in Chicago in Feb? Ahhhhh!!! The temptation to chase this, is killing me.....