Perfect Days

How do you define the perfect day? Does it involve learning something new? Executing flawlessly? Staying out of trouble? Winning the lottery? Romping in fresh snow with your dog? Having kept track of 2006 losses in my local agility community, I'd have to say my perfect day is any day I get to hang out with my loved ones, both furry and not-so-furry. And then there are super-perfect days.

I was privileged to witness just such a day during Thanksgiving Weekend. Gypsy, the Minnesota pug of Ultimate Weave Pole Challenge fame, was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition back in September. Treating it involved surgery, many trips to the good folks in veterinary medicine at the University of Minnesota, prayers, tears, well-wishes, held breath, etc. To make a long story short, Gypsy came through surgery with flying colors. No complications. Major sigh of relief. Fast forward two months. There, on the start line at a local AKC trial, is Gypsy. Not her sister Shaili, not Princess Daisy, but Gypsy. The one and only.

Let me interject here that I don't generally cry at agility trials. Whoop? Yes. Cheer? Yes. Do the Wave? Sometimes. Cry? Not so much. Nonetheless, as Gypsy launched herself onto the course in grand style (Go Gypsy!), I found myself all choked up, tears streaming down my face. Gypsy ran as though nothing had happened, as though she'd been getting her regular agility fix without interruption all through the fall. Surgery? What surgery? Gypsy ran happy. She persevered. And, let me tell you, nothing spells perseverance like a pug on an agility course.

These dogs are such a gift to us. Their passion, their focus, their joy, their ability to live in the moment . . . all these are things I discovered when dogs entered my life. Did I have perfect days Before Dogs? Probably. I certainly had less mud on the rugs, less dog hair in my dinners, fewer chewed-up shoes in the closet, but also far less fun. Nothing like my very own super-perfect day at a local NADAC trial this weekend, where Viva turned in six qualifying runs out of six entered. The Qs were nice. The smoothness and sheer uneventfulness of the runs were also nice. But the look in Viva's eyes on the start line of each run? The very fact that we were there at those start lines together? The snow angels Viva made during warm-ups and cool-downs? Those were the things that made Saturday super-perfect.

Wishing you many, many super-perfect days in 2007,
Agility Spaz