Comrades in a Storm

Somehow playing agility on a Friday afternoon is supposed to be relaxing & fun - time away from work, taking a 3-day weekend with the dog - something that makes them "smile" and time with friends rehashing the last run, a run last week, or "Remember when we were at that trial in ..."

Well, this week it was the start of a 3-day trial in Glen Carbon, IL, at "The Game". Perfect conditions - relatively small trial, air-conditioned, on soccer turf. The part that is not mentioned in the premium for the trial is the weather. As all of us know, this spring/summer has been an active weather season. I left Columbia in the morning in a deluge - and I was a bit tired from waking and then staying awake with the line of storms that went through circa 3 a.m. Arriving in Glen Carbon and unloading the 3 crates for others arriving later, the sheets, the water containers, the chairs, the training bag, the leads, setting up and letting Baker have his beloved crate, it started to rain. No big deal, we were inside and the trial had started.

The afternoon was peppered with periodic rain and it got warmer & more humid. Baker had a nice Jumpers run - until he met his nemesis, the weaves. It was an off-side entrance (his preferred) and he went along nicely for 5 of the 12 poles and then decided to skip one, make 2, skip another and ended up in the wrong place as he finished. The consequence (apart from seeing the judges hands go up for a Wrong course and then a Failure to complete an obstacle) was that he was in the wrong place for the next jump - which he missed. Oh, well.

The focus for us shifted to the Standard ring (the course with the A-frame, dog-walk, teeter, etc.). This time instead of being entertained by the dogs competing at the other jump heights, "stuff" began to happen. The lights went out, the thunder rumbled and clapped overhead. some dogs began to yodel and some to whine and some to howl, some dogs were nervy with the storming when it began to hail (on a metal roof, it was loud) and then the sirens sounded.

The Game is your basic open structure so the big question was Where to go? The building sits on the edge of a flat set of filed (now with corn only 2-3" high and standing pools of water). You can see all the way to downtown St. Louis and the Arch. The consensus was to move the "interior": a set of men's and a women's locker rooms.

I chose the Women's as the door was directly behind my crating area. Apparently the Men's locker room became co-ed. Baker & I picked a corner on the floor with a bench to our left. The room rapidly filled up - in an orderly fashion.

By the time all was said and done, our area held 25 women and 35 dogs. From what I recall among the breeds packed into this space were Golden Retriever (Golden), Bearded Collie (Beardie), Brittany, Shetland Sheep dog (Sheltie), Border Collie (BC), Beagle, Labrador Retriever (Lab), Australian Shepherd (Aussie), French Bull Dog (Frenchie), Belgian Malinois (Mal), soft-coated Wheaon Terrier (Wheatie), Boxer, Papillon (Pap), Cocker Spaniel (Cocker), Beagle, and my English Springer Spaniel. Large and small, male and female, intact and neutered, all quiet and contained. Waiting and wondering (all of a sudden the great big building didn't feel particular substantial.

I have no idea how long we were there - at least 3 but less than 15 minutes. The air-conditioning was off and it was hot and stuffy, but the dogs and their owners were remarkable for their ability to share a limited space. It reminded me, among other things, that we can expect more from ourselves and our dogs than we presently do. The dogs are not "born bad" and they can,even in trying times, coexist with each other If the expectation is that they WILL be civilized and they WILL behave.

After the line of storms passed the competition resumed. Mr. B was still of a mind to enter the weaves and then slip one. Oh Well! Tomorrow is a clean slate (and hopefully without a weather feature).

Ginger